Adlai E. Stevenson – 1900-1965

As assistant secretary of state in 1945, Stevenson was one of the architects of the United Nations and served as U.S. UN ambassador during 1961–1965, a period highlighted by his showdown with the Soviet U.N. ambassador during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A popular governor of Illinois (elected in 1948 by the biggest majority in the state’s history), he was twice defeated for the presidency by Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1952 and 1956.