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If Lincoln Steffens was right, corruption is the norm of U.S. political life; in spite of reform, the pols always come back; the Sir Galahads, sooner or later, get licked, or get laughed out of court, or join the gang. But men like Adlai Stevenson have dedicated themselves to a more hopeful and more dynamic proposition: that the U.S. is not a static pattern but a still-continuing experiment—an experiment, among other things, in good government.
Last week President Truman summoned Governor Stevenson to Washington. Why? Did he want Stevenson to run as Vice President? That was one rumor. Or had Truman decided not to run at all, and to ask Stevenson to head the Democratic ticket? That was another rumor. Or was the oldest, biggest pol of them all turning to Sir Galahad for advice on how to win? That seemed hardly likely.
Whatever the truth behind the rumors, this much was evident: in a cold season for the Democrats, Adlai Stevenson is politically hot, and Harry Truman feels the need of a little warmth.
*Pronounced odd-lay. The name appears just once in the Bible (Chronicles 1:27-29). The text gives no clue as to why anyone would choose the name: "Over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite: and over the herds that were in the vallleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai." * A 1923 law passed by the Illinois legislature, when Chicago's Mayor William Hale Thompson was talking about "busting King George in the snoot," proclaimed that "American" and not "English" is the language of Illinois. * Regular sessions of the legislature are held in odd-numbered years.