Lee Roy Tillman, July 4, 1889 (Tattnal County, Ga.) - November 30, 1961 (Lyons, Ga.)
VP candidate for Farmer-Labor Party (1928)
Running mate with nominee: Frank Elbridge Webb (1863-1949)
Popular vote: 6390 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/531
The campaign:
After basically disbanding in 1924, the national version of the Farmer-Labor Party was back, sort of. They got off to a very late start in the campaign season, not placing their final nominations until early September.
The earlier Party national convention in Chicago in July considered merging with the Prohibition Party ticket, but that idea was tossed. Senator George Norris was nominated for President, but the Senator rejected the offer. Senator James A. Reed likewise declined to be on the ticket.
The VP nomination was offered to Will Vereen of Georgia, and Dr. H.Q. Alexander of North Carolina who both withdrew. Vereen, an anti-union card-carrying Democrat and cotton mill owner, said, "The whole matter is absurd as far as I am concerned."
The most interesting part of the chiefly collectivist platform was the idea of submitting the continuance of Prohibition to a direct national vote.
It was a bad year for third parties in general and an especially dismal year for the tattered remains of the national Farmer-Labor Party who made it on the ballot only in Iowa, Oklahoma, Colorado, and South Dakota.
Election history: none.
Other occupations: attorney, representative for the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce (1919), school teacher
Buried: Glennville City Cemetery (Glennville, Ga.)
Notes:
Lived in Brunswick, Glennville and Elijay, Ga.
Also called Leroy R. Tillman.
Headstone reads: Lee Roy Tillman 1889-1961, God has blessed my work, Co-Op Law, Torrens Land Law, Australian Ballot System
Baptist
By coincidence, this brief thumbnail sketch has been compiled on Tillman's 130th birthday.
