At the Convention , Stevenson , as governor of the host state , was assigned to give the welcoming address to the delegates . His speech was so stirring and witty that it invigorated efforts to secure the nomination for him , in spite of his continued protests that he was not a presidential candidate . In his welcoming speech he poked fun at the 1952 Republican National Convention , which had been held in Chicago in the same coliseum two weeks earlier . Stevenson described the achievements of the Democratic Party under Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman , but noted " our Republican friends have said it was all a miserable failure . For almost a week pompous phrases marched over this landscape in search of an idea , and the only idea that they found was that the two great decades of progress ... were the misbegotten spawn of bungling , of corruption , of socialism , of mismanagement , of waste and worse ... after listening to this everlasting procession of epithets about our party 's misdeeds I was even surprised the next morning when the mail was delivered on time . But we Democrats were by no means the only victims here . First they Republicans slaughtered each other , and then they went after us ... perhaps the proximity of the stockyards accounts for the carnage . " Following this speech , the Illinois delegation ( led by Jacob Arvey ) announced that they would place Stevenson 's name in nomination , and Stevenson called President Truman to ask if " he would be embarrassed " if Stevenson formally announced his candidacy for the nomination . Truman told Stevenson " I have been trying since January to get you to say that . Why should it embarrass me ? " Kefauver led on the first ballot , but was well below the vote total he needed to win . Stevenson gradually gained strength until he was nominated on the third ballot . The 1952 Democratic National Convention was the last political convention of either major party to require more than one ballot to nominate a presidential candidate . Historian John Frederick Martin says party leaders selected him because he was " more moderate on civil rights than Estes Kefauver , yet nonetheless acceptable to labor and urban machines — so a coalition of southern , urban , and labor leaders fell in behind his candidacy in Chicago . " Stevenson 's 1952 running mate was Senator John Sparkman of Alabama
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican National Convention
Adlai Stevenson II