IIRC in the Simpson episode where they dug up Jebediah Springfield’s corpse to see whether or not he had a silver tongue, and thus was really a lawless pirate, something somewhat odd happened. As groundskeeper Willie was digging up the corpse, he threw shovels of dirt on a vigil candle for Adlai Stevenson, thus extinguishing it. I don’t get the joke. Who was Adlai Stevenson? And why would it be funny they’d treat his vigil so disrespectfully now?
Thank you in advance to all who reply 
Adlai Stevenson was probably best known as the Democratic presidential candidate who twice lost to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The candle/vigil reference probably refers to this:
"[Washington Press Club Foundation] Eleanor Roosevelt award, in the form of a golden candlestick, to be given to the person whose contribution to life has been carried on in the selfless tradition of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Though no binding votes were taken it was the consensus that the award should be given to an American woman. It could be given annually or less often. It would be given at one of the large Club dinners, possibly the Editor’s or Diplomatic dinner. The American Ambassador to the United Nations would be invited as a special guest each year. Adlai Stevenson would be present each year to light the candle or to take part in the ceremony."
http://press.org/wpforal/groupapp.htm
Stevenson said, of Eleanor Roosevelt, “She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world.”
He was a Democrat politican (wiki), from around the same time as JFK, so that may be the reference they were going for.
Also I recall he appeared in another Simpsons episode. He was shown in a filmstrip from the 50s saying he had “no objections” to man walking on the moon. 
I have an Adlai Stevenson tie-tack of my father’s I use as a lapel pin on a jacket (it’s a shoe with a hole in it, Stevenson’s logo). My mother is still pissed off he never won. He was a very big deal for Democrats of the post-War years.
I believe this came from one occasion during a public event he was attending where he crossed his legs, revealing a hole in one of his shoes.
Of course there was his other logo, from when he bent over and his pants ripped . . . I never wear that tie-tack.
Oh, that tack isn’t made for your tie.
Of course not…that would be tacky.
Stevenson had a reputation of being an “intellectual” who looked at problems from every possible angle. As such, many of his public statements seemed noncommital.
However, he got credit for major cojones for staring down the Soviets during the Cuban missile crisis, when he was Ambassador to the U.N. Stevenson’s calling out the Soviet Union’s denial of missiles in Cuba was complete with aerial photos, maps and pointers, and was the model for Colin Powell’s presentation about Iraq, 40 years later.
During his prime, Stevenson was noted for witty, self-depracating remarks. After losing an election, he told reporters “It hurts too much to laugh and I’m too old to cry.”
No mention of Stevenson can be complete without a refrence to his vice-presidential candidate Estes Kefauver, who was chosen so that, to quote Dave Barry, if Stevenson died, the country would still be run by a person with a funny name.
He was considered an intellectual as presidential candidates go.
It’s because he was from Sprigfield Illinios and was part of their ‘what state is Springfield in’ running gag
I also recall that a reporter told him, “You have the support of all thinking Americans!” and Stevenson replied, “That’s fine, but I need a majority to win.” Not the most politically savvy thing to say to an open mic . . .