Claude Alonzo Watson, June 26, 1885 (Wexford, Mich.) – January 3, 1978 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka National Prohibition Party aka Commonwealth Party) (1936)
Running mate with nominee: David Leigh Colvin (1880-1959)
Popular vote: 37,646 (0.08%)
Electoral vote: 0/531
The campaign:
The 1936 Prohibition Party convention selected WWI hero Alvin York as the running mate for D. Leigh Colvin (who was himself the 1920 VP selection for the Party) but the decorated soldier declined so the delegates turned to Los Angeles attorney Claude A. Watson.
It must have been a very difficult campaign year for the Colvin/Watson ticket. It was the first presidential election since the experiment with Prohibition had ended and for the veteran Party activists it must have felt like starting all over again.
The 1936 Party platform, seething with anger, roasted the two major parties over repeal of Prohibition. It also outlined policy statements on other issues and stated: "We present a sane, liberal and comprehensive program on the great problems of our time." This would probably be the last time the word "liberal" was used in a positive way by this group.
Other selected passages foreshadowed the future for this party:
"It is plain that the crass materialism of our dominant parties; their abandonment of moral precepts; their flouting of the majesty of the law; their double dealing; their supreme self interest must be replaced by a return to the early American principles of dependence upon Almighty God as the source of all just government and to a following of the principles of the Prince of Peace."
"Movie Censorship
We stand for federal supervision of the creation of motion picture films at the source of production so that the public effect may be beneficial and uplifting."
"Gambling
We are opposed to the legalization of lotteries, gambling and all other forms of exploitation of the people."
With recorded votes in 25 states, their strongest finish was in California with 0.49%.
Election history:
1938 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1942 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1944 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1946 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1948 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1950 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1952 - Los Angeles County (Calif.) District Attorney (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1954 - Republican nomination for Attorney General of California - defeated
Other occupations: minor league baseball player, attorney, Methodist minister, author
Buried: Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale, Calif.)
Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Forrest Ackerman, James Arness, Theda Bara, Joe Barbera, George Barris, Billy Barty, L. Frank Baum, Warner Baxter, Iceberg Slim, Wallace Beery, Joe Besser, Joan Blondell, Monte Blue, Humphrey Bogart, Gutzon Borglum, Clara Bow, William Boyd, Joe E. Brown, Vincent Bugliosi, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Francis X. Bushman, Jack Carson, William Castle, Lon Chaney, Charlie Chase, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Donald Crisp, George Cukor, Bob Cummings, Michael Curtiz, Dan Dailey, Delmer Daves, Sammy Davis Jr., William Demarest, Noah Dietrich, Walt Disney, Theodore Dreiser, Marie Dressler, Don Drysdale, W.C. Fields, Larry Fine, Errol Flynn, Dwight Frye, Clark Gable, Jerry Giesler, Samuel Goldwyn, Sydney Greenstreet, Jean Harlow, Edith Head, Edward Everett Horton, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Jones, Tom Keene, Ted Knight, Kathryn Kuhlman, Louis L'Amour, Alan Ladd, Carole Landis, Mervyn Leroy, Harold Lloyd, Carole Lombard, Ernst Lubitsch, Jeanette MacDonald, Chico Marx, Gummo Marx, Mike Mazurki, Chuck McCann, Victor McLaglen, Vincente Minnelli, Tom Mix, Clayton Moore, Hugh O'Brian, Merle Oberon, Clifford Odets, Edna May Oliver, R.F. Outcault, Lilli Palmer, Franklin Pangborn, Mary Pickford, Dick Powell, Blossom Rock, S.Z. Sakall, David O. Selznick, Aimee Semple McPherson, Norma Shearer, Red Skelton, William French Smith, Carrie Snodgress, Max Steiner, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Taylor, Irving Thalberg, Spencer Tracy, Ben Turpin, Hal B. Wallis, Mary Wells, James Whale, Bobby Womack, Sam Wood, Robert Woolsey, Hank Worden, William Wyler, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn, and Robert Young
The winner in the 1938 race for Attorney General of California was Earl Warren.
The winner in the 1950 race for Attorney General of California was Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.
Graduate of Alma College (Mich.)
His widow, Maude (1889-1996) lived to be 106.
Licensed pilot.
Sometimes called Dr. Claude Watson although the origin of the prefix is murky.
