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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

were only a few minor scratches and bumps. The state trooper made me swear that I wouldn't tell Adlai about it.

When I got to the capitol, I discovered that Adlai was coming from New York and his plane was late. So I was left alone for two hours with Mrs. Ives, Adlai Stevenson's sister. She was buzzing around and getting things ready. We had a dinner party that night.

Q:

She was the hostess?

Cerf:

Yes. She was the hostess.

I was left to my own devices. I think that I told you that I walked down the steps of the Capitol, making believe that I was Adlai Stevenson and trying to figure out how I would have accepted defeat if I had been in his shoes. Then I went over to the Lincoln Memorial in Springfield. I probably never sould have seen it any other time. Then I came back, and Adlai arrived.

After the dinner party--it was a dinner party of twenty or twenty-two people--Adlai and I were left alone together.

I guess I should tell you this first. When he was running for President...

Q:

This is the governorship.

Cerf:

That's right. We were talking alone and I was saying that he ought to write a book someday. He answered that he was too busy. He had already lost the Presidency.





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