1956 Eisenhower VS. Stevenson

"Equal Opportunity"

Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Equal Opportunity," Stevenson, 1952

[TEXT: ADLAI STEVENSON speaks for a NEW AMERICA]

MALE NARRATOR: Adlai Stevenson speaks for a new America, with equal opportunity for all.

STEVENSON: I'm Adlai Stevenson. When every citizen has equal opportunity with every other citizen, only then will we have a new America, worthy of our traditions. Yet, all over America today, doors are closed because minds are closed. Where doors to jobs are closed to women, we must open them. Where doors to housing are closed because of race, we must open them equally to all. Where doors to decent educations are closed to many of our children, because there are not enough schools or teachers, we must meet this crisis too. Remember this when you vote: No man is an island unto himself. The new America must offer equal opportunity for every citizen. The new America needs new leadership.

MALE NARRATOR: Vote for Stevenson and Kefauver.

Credits

"Equal Opportunity," Stevenson-Kefauver Campaign Committee, 1956

Maker: William Wilson and Charles Guggenheim

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1956/equal-opportunity (accessed July 9, 2025).

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1956 Eisenhower Stevenson Results

For President Eisenhower, the only true emergency of his first term was the heart attack he suffered in September 1955. After his doctor pronounced him fully recovered in February 1956, Eisenhower announced his decision to run for re-election. The Democrats set up a replay of the 1952 contest by nominating Adlai Stevenson. The result was an even greater Republican landslide. Eisenhower was a popular incumbent president who had ended the Korean War. Two world crises helped cement his lead in the final days of the campaign: the Soviet Union invaded Hungary, and Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt in an effort to take over the Suez Canal. Eisenhower kept the United States out of both conflicts. As is traditional during a military crisis, American voters rallied behind their president. The events also undermined two of Stevenson’s key positions: the suspension of hydrogen-bomb testing and the elimination of the military draft.

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