With all the political news right now, my own political contribution was a visit to Adlai E Stevenson II’s house, which is about 20 minutes from where I live. For those of you who don’t remember, Adlai was a Democrat from Illinois. He was born in Los Angeles in 1900 and grew up in Bloomington IL. He was governor of Illinois and was ambassador to the UN under Kennedy. He was also a Senator. He ran for President twice. The first time he said he was not interested but was nominated at the convention. That was when such things were not determined in advance. He only carried a few states, not even IL. He was running against Ike. The second time, also against Ike, backed by Eleanor Roosevelt, he also lost. He carried more states, but still not even his home state, IL. Eleanor tried to convince him to run again but he said no. He had a reputation for being an egghead, although he was very witty.
Around 1935 he and his wife (They divorced after 20 years.) bought 70 acres near Libertyville (the area is now called Mettawa) and built a house. The area is still much open land with big houses occupied by gentlemen farmers, if it is not owned by the Forest Preserve District. Shortly after it was built, the house burned down. A second house was built on that same site and that is the one where the family lived for 30+ years. It was a working farm. They raised sheep. Stevenson died in 1965. The family lived in the house for another four years; then it was sold. The next owner donated 35 acres of the property to the Lake County Forest Preserve District. The house was renovated and now it and the property are now open for tours and hikes. The land is lawn, prairie and woods backing up to the Des Plaines River.