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In 1956, by now notably critical of the Eisenhower Administration and all its works, Stevenson campaigned actively for the Democratic nomination, won it again, and launched a campaign in which he called Eisenhower a "part-time President," charged Secretary of State John Foster Dulles with applying "the power of positive brinking" to foreign policy. He also had some unkind words to say about Republican Vice President Richard Nixon: "He is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation." All the while, Stevenson's doubts showed through. Spotting children in an audience, he would ask: "How many children would like to be a candidate for the President of the U.S.?" Almost all the kids would raise their hands. Then Stevenson would ask: "And how many candidates for the Presidency of the U.S. would like to be children again?" At that point, he would raise his own hand.
His defeat was even worse than in 1952. Conceding, he told his supporters: "Be of good cheer, and remember, my dear friends, what a wise man said, 'A merry heart doeth good like medicine, but a broken spirit dryeth the bones.'"
At the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, Stevenson was placed in nomination by Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy ("Do not reject the man who has made many proud to be Democrats"), and the mere mention of his name brought storms of applause from the gallery. But John F. Kennedy already had a majority of the delegates sewed up.
Humiliation. Actually, that was just as well with Adlai: what he really wanted to be was Secretary of State, and he thought he had an excellent chance of achieving that office under Kennedy. Instead, Kennedy named him Ambassador to the United Nations, and for one of the few times in his life, Adlai Stevenson turned bitter. When a friend congratulated him on his appointment, Stevenson said acidly: "You must be kidding!"
Political Philosopher Stevenson did not fit very well into the highly pragmatic Kennedy Administration, and he suffered his greatest public and personal humiliation during the Bay of Pigs crisis. Speaking to the United Nations, he vowed that the U.S. had no active role in the abortive invasion of Castro's Cuba. Since he had not been accurately informed of the part the U.S. did play, he thought he was telling the truth—and when the truth came out, Stevenson arrived at the nadir of his many years in public service.
To the dismay and disappointment of many of his staunchest admirers, he stayed on the job, and had one of his finest hours during the U.N. debate over 1962's Cuban missile crisis. There were critics who thought Adlai Stevenson was soft but that criticism could not apply as he confronted the Soviet Union's Ambassador Valerian Zorin. Asked Stevenson: "Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R. has placed and is placing medium-and intermediate-range missiles and sites in Cuba?" Zorin sat silent. Stevenson, knowing full well that Zorin understood English, demanded: "Yes or no? Don't wait for a translation. Yes or no?" Zorin, flustered, tried to temporize: "You will have your answer in due course." Cried Stevenson: "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over!"