Frank F. Jenkins, January 29, 1913 (Frostburg, Md.) - February 19, 1956 (Chicago, Ill.)
VP candidate for Poor Man's Party (1952)
Running mate with nominee: Henry B. Krajewski (1912–1966)
Popular vote: 4,203 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/531
The campaign:
Henry Krajewski (pronounced Kry-ef-ski) was a Secaucus, NJ pig farmer who also owned a tavern he called "Tammany Hall." According to his campaign material he had "been a messenger boy, errand boy, drove farm trucks, worked as a farm hand, sold newspapers, worked as a slaughter and skin man in the local piggeries and has also chopped wood for a living. He speaks and understands six languages and plays piano, accordion, guitar, banjo, organ, drum, and bugle."
After losing several local elections since 1949 under his self-proclaimed Poor Man's Party, he decided to go national in 1952. Frank Jenkins, a printing press operator and former Pennsylvania miner who lived in Rahway, NJ, answered Krajewski's newspaper advertisement seeking a running mate and was selected. Jenkins appeared to have had no role in the campaign other than handing out buttons that read: "For President Krajewski-- I Like." The Constitutional quandary of having two people on the ticket from the same state had apparently not crossed anyone's mind in 1952 but would come back to haunt Krajewski in 1956.
The Poor Man's Party used the pig as their animal mascot and the candidate frequently had a small piglet under his arm as he went out to electioneer (one piglet, named Stephanie which was also his wife's name, relieved herself on some important documents when Krajewski officially filed his petition for office in Trenton). He said the pig was a gentle animal, representing peace and prosperity, plus there was no waste with a pig since all parts were eaten. The Party also had a polka theme song, "Hay, Krajewski! Hay! Hay!," and sales of 45 single records of it helped finance the campaign.
None of the campaign buttons, banners, or marketing that I have seen mention Jenkins at all.
Some Krajewski quotes from the 1952 election:
--He wanted a two-president system because "if you had a Democrat and a Republican in the White House at the same time, they'd be so busy watching each other that there would be no danger of a dictatorship."
--On how to stop juvenile deliquency: "Let 'em rock'n'roll with the pigs and chickens at five o’clock in the he morning. By the time the sun goes down they would be tired enough to go to sleep and not spend their time thievin' and driftin' around the streets at night lookin' for mischief..."
--"The Democrats have been hogging the Administration at Washington for twenty years, and it’s about time the people began to squeal."
--"A pig in every pot! A porkchop on every plate!"
--On how to solve the problem of world hunger: "Da solution is simple. In every bundle a wheat we send ova'dere to India we ought to put in a little 'boit control'."
--"If I am elected I will give my 4,000 pigs to Truman so he can feed the people pork instead of donkey meat as he has been doing."
--"No piggy deals in Washington!"
Krajewski endorsed Sen. Joseph McCarthy's persecution of anyone suspected of being a Communist. His other policies included free milk for children and free beer for adults, lowering the age of eligibility for Social Security to 60, cutting taxes on gasoline and alcohol, a tax moratorium for all those earning less than $6000 a year (average family income in 1950 was $3,300), families of four or more should be exempted from income tax, huge cuts in foreign aid, and a national lottery to fund more money for veterans.
The Poor Man's Party was actually on the ballot, but only in New Jersey, where they landed in sixth place out of eight. Krajewski finished with 4,203 votes, or 0.17%, beating the Socialist Workers and Prohibition parties.
Election history: none
Other occupations: printing press operator, coal miner
Buried: Hillside, Ill.
Notes:
If elected would have died in office.
Lived in Coalport, Penn. in 1940. Moved to Rahway, NJ ca. 1945.
Had a serious head injury at work in the mines at Coalport in 1929 that laid him up for several weeks.
His first wife was Mabel. He apparently divorced around the time of the 1952 election and married Esther.
His mother was an immigrant from England.
Died in a Chicago hospital.
