At the Democratic National Convention, also held in Chicago, the delegates heard a kind of talk they thirsted for like weary travelers crossing a desert of parched rhetoric. “Intemperate criticism is not a policy for the nation,” Stevenson said, chiding the Republicans. “Denunciation is not a program for our salvation. . . . What counts is not just what we are against but what we are for.” Listening to the convention over the radio 1,000 miles away in New Hampshire, a young aspiring reporter named Mary McGrory heard Stevenson’s words crackling through the night. “Stevenson’s speeches seemed
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