Transcript
Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"The Man from Libertyville: High Cost of Living," Stevenson, 1956
MALE NARRATOR: The Democratic National Committee presents another visit with The Man from Libertyville! Here at the end of this lane, on a farm about four miles from Libertyville, lives Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois.
But before we look for the Governor, let's see the nearby town of Libertyville itself. Here is the main street, the shops, and the church. Here, in markets like this, is where Nancy Stevenson, the Governor's daughter-in-law, does the family shopping. She drives in several times a week. And because Libertyville is like many other American communities, and because Nancy Stevenson is like so many other young wives, she's learned quite a bit about how much groceries and the like cost these days. After shopping, she drives home four miles to Governor Stevenson's farm, where she and Adlai Jr. are staying until he returns to law school. The Stevensons are returning now from a shopping trip in Libertyville. The Governor is helping with the groceries.
STEVENSON: That's my daughter-in-law Nancy and my oldest son, Adlai Jr. He's a student at law school. I think they--they're staying with me during the vacation--I think they live pretty well, but they're learning a lot about something that worries a lot of people in this country, and that, of course, is the high cost of living.
In spite of the Eisenhower promise, the cost of living today is higher than it's ever been before in the history of our country. And this is a serious matter for young people, like my son Adlai and his bride Nancy. I was reminded, talking to them the other day about this, of the young husband who said every time he was about to make both ends meet, his wife moved the ends. Well, sometimes they have to.
And it isn't only young people that feel the pinch. It's also our older citizens: people on pensions, people on fixed incomes. For example, I believe almost one half of all of our older citizens don't have a sufficient income for a really decent standard of living. You can hardly blame these people for asking: Where is this golden prosperity that the Republicans talk so much about?
And there's another inequity. It makes it hard for millions of hardworking, thrifty, conscientious American citizens to make both ends meet. Eisenhower said that there would be tax relief, and there has been--to some degree. But it was for the benefit of the well-to-do and the big corporations. The Republicans gave the lion's share of it to them. Out of every dollar of tax cut savings, 91 cents went to the higher-income families and to the big corporations. And for the rest of Americans, 80% of all American families got only nine cents out of each tax cut dollar.
Now for older people, for you people who live on pensions, on fixed incomes, for the younger people just getting started, this is a serious matter. But I think it can be corrected. For example: when it's time to cut taxes, I think the cutting should start among the lower-income families, among those people who have to spend the largest portion of their income on the bare necessities of life. For no prosperity can really be true prosperity unless it is shared by all. And this I believe: that enlightened, vigorous, Democratic leadership can lead us over the threshold to the new America in which our abundance is used to enrich the lives of all of us.
Oh, Nancy!
NANCY: (Laughs) You're a big help!
STEVENSON: Oh, I forgot to deliver the groceries and made a speech instead!
MALE NARRATOR: Cast your vote on November 6th for the new America: for Adlai Stevenson for President, and Estes Kefauver for Vice President. Vote Democratic! The party for you, not just the few.
