regarding the plunderbund : Adlai Stevenson thread in Q and A, dr. bill writes,
"Remember the campaign picture of him sitting with his legs crossed, showing big hole in sole of his shoe?"
well, no; I was just a callow youth in '52, and it didn't make an imprint on my memory; but here, through the magic of GoogleŽ Images, is that photo:
http://www.flintj.com/125/paper/galleries/history/source/14.html
That's fascinating! I wonder what was the story behind it. Looks as though he's had the heels repaired too. He may have been 'aristocratic', as the caption says, but he was certainly parsimonious. Then again, maybe he just loved those shoes
.
ralph ellison, talked about poverty, and how it effected his thinking.
when he was poor, dirt poor, he felt compelled to look good, to have the best suits, the best shoes, the very best (even if he had to steal to get it)
but as he riched a level of success, and had some money, he realised he felt differently.
now, he didn't mind going out of the house with worn shoes, or ratty clothes.. HE knew, he had a closet full of good clothes, he could wear what ever he wanted, and if he didn't like anything in his closet, he could just go out and by something else.
stevenson had choices.. he could chose his footware, (and many other things in his life) with out worry.
we can speculate why he might have chosen those shoes, and the photo (before my time, too, but well known to me) didn't have a caption(nor were there other comments else about his poverty, his lacks (and leave him feeling more on the outs of society) but rather the whole thing was almost a joke.
Ellison (much better than i) brought together all the emotions about poverty and choice.
the image of Adlai's shoe became something of a campaign icon, with pins and tie tacks and the like.