Vivien Kellems, June 7, 1896 (Des Moines, Iowa) – January 25, 1975 (Santa Monica, Calif.)
VP candidate for Constitution Party (1952)
Running mate with nominee: Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)
Popular vote: 3089 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531
The campaign:
Fired General Douglas MacArthur was the belle of the ball for the Right wing in 1952, but the extreme conservatives were unable to unite in his name. MacArthur was nominated by the Christian Nationalist Party, Constitution Party, America First Party, and endorsed by Mary Kennery's American Party. Each group had different running mates and in some cases multiple "substitute" Vice-Presidential candidates in the same party. MacArthur was on the ballot twice running under two different party names in some places. The General never accepted any of the nominations, but on the other hand did not take legal steps to remove himself from the ballot.
The Constitution Party formed in August 1952 and immediately fell into disarray when some of the founding members walked out when it was clear the Party had a prevailing anti-Semitic attitude. MacArthur and Sen. Harry Flood Byrd Sr. were nominated without their permission. Byrd managed to have his name removed before the ticket made it to the ballot box. Vivien Kellems was registered as the VP nominee in Texas and Colorado and in California was promoted as the Vice-Presidential write-in candidate.
Apparently this was all orchestrated without the approval of Kellems. She was a noted protester and resister of income tax since 1943. Her book Toil, Taxes and Trouble (New York: E. P. Dutton) was published in this election year. In 1952 she was concentrating on her Senate race in Connecticut, where Kellems was forced to run as a write-in candidate under the Independent Republican banner.
MacArthur/Kellems won 2181 votes in Colorado (0.35%) placing third, 730 votes in Texas (where they faced off with MacArthur/Tenney of the Christian Nationalist Party). If sources are to be believed the MacArthur/Kellems ticket also won 178 write-in votes in California.
Election history:
1942 - Republican primary for US House of Representives (Conn.) - defeated
1950 - Republican primary for US Senate (Conn.) - defeated
1952 - US Senate (Conn.) (Independent Republican) - defeated
1954 - Governor of Connecticut (Independent Republican) - defeated
1956 - US Senate (Conn.) (Independent) - defeated
1958 - US Senate (Conn.) (Independent) - defeated
1962 - Republican primary for US Senate (Conn.) - defeated
1965 - US Senate (Conn.) (Independent) - defeated
Other occupations: Founded Kellems Cable Grips, Inc. 1927, co-chaired Connecticut’s Citizens Committee for Goldwater-Miller in 1964.
Buried: ?
Notes:
After her death the government demanded $265,000 in back taxes from her heirs.
Winner of the 1942 primary was Claire Booth Luce. The animosity between Luce and Kellems, both
candidates being tart-tongued with acid humor, made national news.
Winner of 1954 Governor race was Abraham Ribicoff.
Winner of 1956 Senate race was Prescott Bush.
Winner of 1958 Senate race was Thomas Dodd. Ironically her papers are archived at the Archives &
Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center in Storrs, Conn.
Was raised in Eugene, Ore.
Supported the Equal Rights Amendment.
"As an aside, I think it’s strange that Ayn Rand ranks higher in the pantheon of lady libertarians than
Kellems. Kellems is far more likable, writes better, and actually did all the stuff Rand only wrote
about!"--J. Arthur Bloom
