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Only in the light of that relationship does last week's flap take on major political meaning. The antagonisms between Kennedy and Stevenson date back to the 1956 Democratic Convention, when Massachusetts' Senator John Kennedy placed in nomination the name of Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Kennedy then thought he had Stevenson's backing for the vice-presidential nomination. But Stevenson threw the nomination open to all aspirants; Kennedy was forced to fight for it —and just barely lost to Estes Kefauver.
At the 1960 convention, the Kennedy forces wanted Stevenson to make the speech nominating Kennedy. Stevenson, still halfheartedly running himself, agonized over the decision. Finally, Bobby Kennedy called him with an ultimatum: make the speech—or else. Stevenson hemmed, hawed, and eventually refused. To the Kennedys, the crime was as much in the agonizing as in the refusal.
The Bone. But political protocol still demanded that the New Frontier find some kind of Administration job for the two-time Democratic presidential candidate. Stevenson was widely mentioned for Secretary of State. He was understandably disappointed when the United Nations offer came instead; and again he hesitated about accepting. Many Stevenson supporters considered the U.N. post just a bone thrown to Adlai. But to some of Kennedy's Irish Mafia outriders, it was one bone more than Adlai deserved.
From the beginning, Stevenson was refused the policymaking role he had expected; sometimes he was not even informed of major Administration plans. The great humiliation came during the Bay of Pigs disaster. At the U.N., two days before the invasion, Stevenson, unaware of what was going on, waved photos of planes that he insisted were flown by Cuban Air Force defectors who had bombed their own airfields before fleeing to Florida. On the day of the invasion, he denied any U.S. responsibility. A few days later, Kennedy took complete responsibility for the Bay of Pigs—and the planes were revealed to be U.S. bombers that had been disguised, with little flair for the art, by the CIA. Deeply hurt, Stevenson was finally soothed with promises of better future liaison.
After that, things seemed to go a bit better. Indeed, some of Stevenson's U.N. performances have won even Kennedy's admiration. On one occasion, when Adlai called the White House to urge a tough speech warning Russia to stay out of the Congo, Kennedy remarked: "In this job, he's got the nerve of a burglar."