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Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Delmore Schwartz on the Stevenson/Eisenhower election, 1952



"A significant topic in the fall of 1952 was the candidacy of Adlai Stevenson, whose urbane intelligence appealed to many writers and academics. Delmore was convinced the Stevenson's election would pave the way to power for intellectuals, and that he himself would be among the first to benefit. Responding to the question 'What groups might be interested in knowing about your book?' on a New Directions questionnaire, Delmore noted: 'I was told that Adlai Stevenson said to a reporter during the campaign that he was particularly interested in my work as a poet, storyteller, and critic.' He took to signing all his letters 'Long Live Adlai!' and produced improbable commentaries on American politics.



"...it does seem as if we may be living through the last days of the Great Republic [he wrote James Laughlin] for if Eisenhower is the megalomaniac some say he is, it will be Julius Caesar all over again, and even if Thomas E. Dewey plays Brutus and assassinates him, and tries to take power himself, one of Eisenhower's nephews, Octavius Augustus Eisenhower (now a student of Blackmur's at Princeton) will win out after Dewey falls madly in love with Lana (Cleopatra) Turner (Topping!).



"Delmore's enthusiasm was echoed by his friends. One night at a dinner party given by the Schwartzes, everyone was shouting tumultuous praise of Stevenson to the accompaniment of Dwight Macdonald banging a chair on the floor. 'I don't want Stevenson to be President,' [John] Berryman shouted, 'I want him to be King.' When Stevenson lost by a landslide, Delmore was inconsolable."



From Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet by James Atlas (FSG, 1977)

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