Stevenson's 'egghead' hairline is now considered hip

This week I had lunch with Warwick Stevenson, grandson of Adlai Stevenson II and son of Adlai Stevenson III. We had just come from the Stevenson Historic Home, on St. Mary's Road south of Libertyville, which is opening to the public for the first time this summer.

The lunch conversation was wide-ranging: part politics, part Stevenson family lore, part just chatting. However, the oddest topic of all those we discussed was baldness. Not just any baldness, but the famous Adlai Stevenson hairline for which Warwick's grandfather was well known.

Adlai Stevenson II's baldness became famous in the election of 1952, when supporters of Stevenson's candidacy for president were labeled "eggheads." In "The Dictionary of American Slang" (1975), the term egghead is defined as "politically minded and liberal ... may have originated in reference to the high forehead of Mr. Stevenson ... " in the 1952 election.

Dwight Eisenhower, who won against Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, as well as other notables of the time, including Nikita Khrushchev and Winston Churchill, had the same hairline. But somehow Stevenson became known for it.

We got to talking about the famous Stevenson "egghead" hairline earlier in the day. I mentioned to Warwick's father, Adlai III - whose hairline is the same as his father's - that the look, once considered not particularly handsome, is now hip. He laughed in a self-deprecating way and said he had certainly never considered it hip. But I assured him it is currently a very cool look to have hair shaved short all around, leaving a sort of five o'clock shadow all over the head.

It occurred to me after the discussion that Adlai Stevenson is one of the few famous men whose receding hairline is part of their historical persona.

You can conjure up famous people with a similar hairline in your mind's eye, such as William Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin and Pablo Piscasso. Then there are those famous people such as Paul Simon and Elton John who alter their hairlines to, what? Remain youthful, I guess.

So for all those men out there with Adlai Stevenson's hairstyle - and there are lots of them - consider yourselves to be officially in style.

For information about tours at the Stevenson Historic Home, call Nicole Stocker at (847) 968-3422. Visit the Forest Preserve web site at www.lcfpd.org for information about the Stevenson Historic Home.