Newsmen and Adlai Patricia Milligan Harris, Adlai: The
Springfield Years. Aurora Publishers
(Nashville/London), 1975, 194 pp. $7.95 THE RELATIONS of the governor with
the state house press corps were often less
than cordial 25 years ago, a former
Springfield news bureau manager recounts
in Adlai: The Springfield Years. Patricia
Milligan Harris (now with the Tennessee
state education department's public
relations section) followed Stevenson's
progress from candidate for governor until
his presidential candidacy in 1952; she later
returned to work in his pre-convention headquarters in Chicago for a few months in
1955-56. Her memoir of these years reveals
as much about the newsmen of that era as it
does about the governor who grew into a
world figure. When word got around that Stevenson
was planning to hold the traditional governor's dinner for the press at a local hotel instead of the Executive Mansion, Ms. Harris
realized the reporters were offended. So, she
picked up the phone and warned him, and
Stevenson avoided this mistake. Yet despite
her continued concern for his press relations, one of her last recollections is of his
bitterness toward reporters. At a staff dinner
at Stevenson's home in Libertyville in 1955,
she saw a scrapbook of clippings and remarked to him, "You'd be surprised to
know how many friends you had among the
press in Springfield." "Instantly, his pleasant smile vanished
and he stared at me incredulously. Then, in
an icy tone, he snapped: "'I certainly would!' " This book is a useful addition to the
writings about Stevenson, but it will be read
in Illinois also because of its anecdotes
about such newsmen as Pete Akers, Charles
Cleveland, Don Chamberlain, John Dreiske,
George Tagge, and Charles Wheeler and the
news they covered—gambling raids, the cat
bill and its veto, the horsemeat scandal, sale
of race track stock to insiders. However high
Stevenson's own standards of official
morality were, the political environment was
sordid. How it compares with the present,
each reader can judge for himself or herself. But the book does not pretend to be a
political or governmental history and is
quite incomplete on that score. There is a
bare mention of the Gateway Amendment
to the Constitution, and no mention at all of
the Schaefer Commission which prepared a
plan for the reorganization of state government and which included on its staff a young
lawyer, Dan Walker, too obscure to be
noticed then. For that he can be grateful; most of those in official life whom Harris
recalls are the ridiculous objects of
newsmen's private jokes. This makes for
entertaining reading but the picture that
emerges is two-dimensional at best. / W.L.D. A 'how-to-do-it' book Illinois' Constitutional Convention: A success story of revision Samuel K. Gove and Thomas R. Kitsos, Revision Success: The Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention. National Municipal
League, 1974. 177 pp. $4.00. IN THIS ERA of "how-to-do-it books,"
Professors Gove (University of Illinois) and
Kitsos (University of Colorado) have
provided for future state constitution planners, revisors, and implementors, a handbook on "how to successfully revise a state
constitution." The experiences of the 1970
Illinois Constitutional Convention are utilized by extracting from those experiences,
certain ingredients necessary for successful
constitutional revision. The authors, who
were present during the entire process in
Illinois, reveal that pre-planning commenced three years before the convention
with the appointment of a study commission by the General Assembly. Voter approval for the calling of the convention, and the election of delegates required strong support and efforts on the part
of various groups who had to be mobilized
and financed. The news media played a major role. Preliminary studies to provide
physical and financial convention needs
were carried out. Issue papers were drafted,
and proposed convention rules were written
so that the delegates would have a running
start when the convention convened on
December 8, 1969. Without attempting to probe deeply into
the substantive issues, the authors identify
basic issues facing the delegates such as
"home rule," revenue, judicial selection, the
structure of the General Assembly, and the
length of the executive branch ballot. Personal and subjective insights into the
leadership of the convention and attitudes of
delegates are provided. Although the convention, in theory, was
non-partisan, it had strong political influences, both internally and externally. It
did, however, manage to prevent political influences from coloring all of its decisions.
Independents are described as holding the
swing votes between Democrates and Republicans. The delegates are described as "a mosaic of interesting similarities and differences; a curious mixture of some political
'pros' and many novices." Although pre-planning and issue papers
were important, it was the delegates themselves, their willingness to work steadily and
hard; and some of their very human qualities
which contributed immensely to the convention's ultimate work product. The last seven days of the nine-month
convention involved exciting and unpredictable events which impacted upon the important decisions relating to the selection
process of public officials in the legislative
and judicial branches of government. These
decisions resulted in determining the
strategy of placement of the issues on the
ballot. The delegates decided to submit the
main document to the voters on a "yes or
no" basis and the politically controversial
items relating to how the legislators and
judiciary would be selected, were presented
to the voters as alternatives to be voted on
separately. Also, the emotionally controversial items, the abolition of the death penalty
and the lowering of the voting age to 18,
were voted on separately so as not to endanger the approval of the main document. Although the authors frequently express
opinions on minor matters, giving the impression that the convention was a "qualified" success, an analysis of the main ingredients in their monograph reveals that
the convention was successfully called,
successfully held and completed on schedule,
and most importantly, the convention work
product was a strong success with the ultimate decision-makers, the voters. Perhaps the comprehensive lesson which
is implicit in this study of the constitutional
revision success in Illinois is that the
delegates simultaneously and appropriately
manifested the characteristics of politicians,
statesmen, pragmatists, and students of
political science. In other words, it is a
recognition of the real world "give and
take," where every major faction in a state
must "win a little" and "lose a little," which
results in the writing of a well balanced constitution. Only such balance will attract the
broad-based support from civic, business
and professional groups, and especially from
the news media which is essential for voter
approval of constitutional revision. ˛
September 1975 / Illinois Issues / 277
BOOK REVIEW By JOSEPH A. TECSON
A member of the Regional Transportation
Authority, he was a delegate to the
Illinois Constitutional Convention.