Mark Revell Shaw, January 22, 1889 (Grand Rapids, Mich.) - June 4, 1978 (State College, Penn.)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1964)
Running mate with nominee: E. Harold Munn (1903-1992)
Popular vote: 23,267 (0.03%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
At their August 1963 the Prohibition Party nominated 1960 VP candidate E. Harold Munn for President and Methodist minister Mark. R. Shaw, age 74, as his running mate.
Although the 1964 Prohibition Party had some strong anti military-industrial complex language, the Party continued to drift to Right in terms of school integration, federal aid to education, and states' rights. The Platform also stated: "We declare our belief that the Bible is not a sectarian book, but is a volume of universal appeal and application which is woven into our history, our laws, and our culture. We deplore any interpretation which would limit its use in any area of our national life."
VP nominee Shaw had a long history of promoting pacifism and had considerable travel experience in his role as a missionary. His statement on "confusionism" during the 1964 campaign is interesting and consistent with the Party's stand against growing militarism in that era:
Confusionism, which so permeates our social order and threatens our body politic, seems daily to be more confounded. Take, for example the case of Senator Goldwater. For years, he has been crusading against the Communists, at home and abroad. He has been so concerned that he talks of sending the Marines to Cuba and of using atomic weapons in Viet Nam. Few, whether or not they agree with his ideas, doubt his sincerity. Yet, who is doing more to aid the Communists that he because he seems unable, or unwilling, to see things in perspective?
Think of the hundreds of millions of underprivileged, poverty-stricken people among the colored races in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, many of whose parents suffered at the hands of White imperialism and colonialism. Today, they struggle to be free, to gain a new sense of dignity and equality, so long denied them.
In the contest between democracy and communism for the minds of these millions, what greater boon could be given to the thousands of communist propagandists seeking for converts in Africa and Asia than for the news to be flashed around the world next November that Barry Goldwater, after he had voted against the Civil Rights Act, had been elected President by the people of The United States?
Prohibition Party historian Roger Storms wrote: Shortly after Mark Shaw was nominated for Vice President of the United States, a Maryland woman wrote to him on a postcard: "Do you really think that Prohibition is something that can stir support from the American people in this election? I don't." To this he replied: "Neither do I. But, I think it ought to, and that makes all the difference."
With votes recorded in 11 states their best results were in Kansas 0.63%, Indiana 0.40%, and Delaware 0.21%. As of today their national finish of 0.03% has never been surpassed since 1964.
Election history:
1946 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1948 - Governor of Massachusetts (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1950 - Governor of Massachusetts (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1952 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1956 - Governor of Massachusetts (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1958 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1960 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1962 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1966 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1967 - Prohibition Party nomination for President - defeated
1970 - US Senate (Mass.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1971 - Prohibition Party nomination for President - defeated
Other occupations: Methodist minister, international missionary, editor of Peace Action
Buried: ?
Notes:
Winner of the 1946 race was Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., one of Shaw's other opponents was future 1964
Socialist Labor Party VP nominee Henning A. Blomen.
Winner of the 1952 and 1958 race was John F. Kennedy.
One of his opponents in the 1956 race was Henning A. Blomen.
Winner of the 1962 and 1970 race was Ted Kennedy.
Winner of the 1966 race was Edward W. Brooke.
Was raised by parents who were active prohibitionists.
Member and officer in the National Council for the Prevention of War starting in the 1930s.
Graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University 1913.
