VP candidate for People's Party (aka Populist Party) (1904)
Running mate with nominee: Thomas E. Watson (1856-1922)
Popular vote: 114,070 (0.84%)
Electoral vote: 0/476
The campaign:
The People's Party was reorganized, with the result being it was serving as a political vehicle for Thomas Watson, the VP running mate from 1896. Watson's running mate was Thomas H. Tibbles which seemed an unlikely alliance since Tibbles had a strong record of abolitionist activity and championing Native American rights while Watson was becoming increasingly xenophobic and promoting white supremacy.
Most of the old Populists had joined one of the major parties, which were co-opting policies originally proposed by the People's Party. William Jennings Bryan himself said that a vote for the Watson/Tibbles ticket was a vote for Theodore Roosevelt.
In Spokane, Wash. Tibbles predicted a financial crash by 1906. He was slightly off, the brief Panic of 1907 took place three years later.
Although their final poll numbers were dismal the Watson/Tibbles ticket did well in their home states. In Georgia they almost placed second with 17.28%, and Nebraska they finished third with 9.09%. Other states where they made respectable percentages for a third party: Alabama (4.64%), Florida (4.15%), Texas (3.45%), Nevada (2.84%), Mississippi (2.55%), and Montana (2.36%).
Election history: none.
Other occupations: author, journalist, Native American rights activist, Methodist preacher, farmer, novelist
Buried: Bellevue Cemetery (Bellevue, Neb.)
Notes:
As a teenager was one of John Brown's group under the command of James Henry Lane in Bleeding
Kansas. Was captured, sentenced to hang, but escaped.
In his role as a journalist he brought special attention to the case of Standing Bear, also to the
massacre at Wounded Knee.
Married Susette "Bright Eyes" LaFlesche.
His family moved to Illinois in 1845.
Tibbles' book Buckskin and Blanket Days was read by Louis L'Amour in 1958.
