Adlai Stevenson

Adlai Ewing Stevenson was the 23rd President of the United States of America, from 1901-1909. Before becoming President, he was Vice President to the one-term President Grover Cleveland. When Cleveland lost the 1896 election to James B. Weaver, Stevenson sought out the nomination in the 1900 election, with Cleveland among others endorsing him. The election saw the Democrats retake the White House over the American Labor Party.

Stevenson's first term largely focused on the Democrats modifying the new socialist model installed under the Weaver administration. Specifically, Stevenson focused on modifying the welfare system into a more moderate stance, without getting rid of it. Under the Weaver administration, the welfarism was a popular policy amongst the working class and impoverished Union populace, and Stevenson was careful not to upset them during the modifications.

His true legacy as President, however, would come in the foreign policy of his second term, specifically with the Union's position in the 1905 Confederate-Mexican War. With Confederate President John W. Daniel launching a second invasion of Mexico, President Stevenson did not want a repeat of the Pendleton administration, and ordered Union soldiers to begin marching in. President Daniel announced the Confederates were being attacked from the North, and the Confederacy panicked. It was not long before the United Kingdom came in to enforce a peace. Stevenson's only demand was for the Confederacy to leave Mexico, and President Daniel complied.

Union troops remained in Kentucky, and Britain, still wavy on their diplomatic position with the Confederates, agreed for the Union to annex the state. The Confederacy was furious. Although neither side had actually won the war, President Stevenson came out a political icon and a hero.

When it was time for Stevenson to step down as President, he passed the torch to his successor, William J. Bryan, but felt betrayed when his successor eventually flipped to Labor for his 1912 re-election. In 1914, Stevenson died, and was given a state funeral for his contribution to fighting back Confederate imperialism.