Since 1966, the Adlai E. Stevenson Memorial Lecture Series has served as a fitting tribute to the former Illinois governor (1949-1953), Democratic Party presidential candidate (1952 and 1956), and U.N. ambassador (1961-1965). Stevenson grew up in Bloomington, and the lecture series is alternatively hosted by Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University. On February 7, 1980, Democratic Party stalwart Paul Simon (wearing a bow tie as usual) echoed many Stevensonian themes in his address. “There is a danger in an election year that we cheer or jeer rather than think, that we react more than we reflect, and that we respond to national need with national cynicism," Simon told the audience at IWU's Memorial Student Center. “Responding to the Soviet threat solely in term of [an] arms build-up is responding in terms which serve our national passion, not our national interest." Simon, the longtime publisher of the Troy, IL Tribune newspaper, served in both the Illinois House and Illinois Senate before becoming Lieutenant Governor. In 1980, he was a journalism professor at Sangamon State University (now known as the University of Illinois Springfield). He would later served in the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1997. Simon's seen here speaking a press conference during his Stevenson lecture series visit. The Adlai E. Stevenson Memorial Lectures continues this month with New York Times columnist David Brooks, who will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24 on the IWU campus. The event is free and open to the public. For more information go to http://www.iwu.edu/stevenson/.
