With less than a month to go in the 1952 presidential election, Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson, the governor of Illinois, landed his chartered plane in Spokane for a stump speech Oct. 15, 1952. He had served as the secretary of the Navy during World War II, but now he faced Dwight D. Eisenhower, the top general of the war.

Stevenson rode down Riverside Avenue in a convertible with Hugh B. Mitchell, candidate for governor, and Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Stevenson spoke for 30 minutes while standing on a flatbed truck to more than 12,000 people at Riverside and Monroe Street.

Eisenhower had visited two weeks earlier and had spoken at the same intersection but to a smaller crowd.

President Harry Truman decided not to run because he was becoming unpopular due to the ongoing Korean War, the firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and corruption scandals within his administration. He had tried to recruit Eisenhower to run as a Democrat, with himself as vice president, but the Eisenhower went with the Republicans.

Stevenson said that though some Republicans helped plan the Grand Coulee Dam, it was “the wisdom and daring” of FDR that built the dam, which elicited applause from the crowd.

Stevenson criticized incumbent Washington Gov. Arthur Langlie for criticizing the financial management of the state of Illinois, saying that Langlie should “take care to check information supplied him by the Republican national committee.”

Stevenson affirmed his commitment to the Korean War. “Our men are fighting in Korea so they will not have to fight in Alaska or Spokane or Omaha. They will come home just as soon as our national safety permits. And, for my part, I deplore the suggestion that they can come home any sooner.” The crowd was silent during this part.

Stevenson paid tribute to Vachel Lindsay, an influential poet from Springfield, Illinois, who lived in Spokane at the Davenport Hotel between 1924 and 1929, then moved back to Illinois. He died in 1931.

Mitchell lost the governor’s race to Langlie, but “Scoop” Jackson was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he stayed for more than 30 years. He died of a heart attack while in office in 1983. Jackson had run for the presidency in 1972 and 1976.

Gov. Stevenson lost both the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections.