Stephen A. Mitchell (August 3, 1903 – April 23, 1974) was an American attorney and Democratic Party official. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1952 to 1956, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for

governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

Early life and career

Mitchell was born August 3, 1903, in

Rock Valley, Iowa Rock Valley is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, the North Western corner of Iowa, United States, along the Rock River. The population was 4,059 at the time of the 2020 census. Geography Rock Valley is located at (43.201624, -96.296379). According ...

, the son of a dairyman who had a small banking business. He graduated pre-law at

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

in 1926, and took a job in Washington D.C. as a credit and sales manager for GMAC (now

Ally Financial Ally Financial is a bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial services including car finance, online banking via a direct bank, corporate lending, vehicle insurance, mor ...

) while attending law school at night at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. He practiced law in Chicago from 1932 to 1942, returning to Washington as a Senate committee counsel.

Political activist

Mitchell helped Adlai Stevenson enter politics, and helped manage his successful gubernatorial run. In 1952, after being selected as the Democratic candidate for president, Stevenson designated Mitchell as chairman of the DNC. When Republican vice presidential candidate Senator

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

was disclosed to have had a private fund reimburse him for his political expenses, Mitchell called for Nixon's resignation from the ticket, a demand that "recoiled" on him with the massive public wave of support for Nixon following the

Checkers speech The Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by Senator Richard Nixon ( R- CA), six weeks before the 1952 United States presidential election, in which he was the Republican nominee for Vice President. Nixon had ...

, in which Mitchell's demand was referred to and he himself mentioned by name. While the Democratic ticket was defeated in a landslide in 1952, Mitchell worked with Stevenson to pay off the party's massive campaign debt and work toward recapturing control of Congress in 1954. He was successful on both counts. It would take the Republicans 26 years to recapture the Senate and 40 years to recapture the House of Representatives. He also put in place new rules to ensure that Democratic party officials would either have to support the ticket or resign—which had been a problem in 1952, with some Democrats reluctant to oppose Republican presidential candidate General Dwight Eisenhower.

Later life

Mitchell left the DNC in 1956, and in 1960 made an unsuccessful run for

. He was defeated in the Democratic primary in a crushing defeat, losing to Otto Kerner, Jr., receiving 17%, though he attracted 185,000 votes. In 1968, he worked as a campaign advisor for Senator Eugene McCarthy's presidential run in the lead-up to the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus maki ...

. He died in Washington DC in 1974.

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Stephen 1903 births 1974 deaths 20th-century American lawyers American political consultants Creighton University alumni Democratic National Committee chairs Georgetown University Law Center alumni Lawyers from Chicago People from Rock Valley, Iowa