Richard Joseph Daley, May 15, 1902 (Chicago, Ill.) - December 20, 1976 (Chicago, Ill.)
VP candidate for Youth International Party (aka Yippies) (1968)
Running mate with nominee: Pigasus
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
During his four runs for the Presidency 1952-1964, part of New Jersey pig farmer Henry B. Krajewski's (1912-1966) shtick was showing up in public with a piglet cradled in his arm. In 1968 the Yippies took the swine factor up a notch. They nominated a pig for President.
In what amounted to one of the more memorable bits of political theater in US history, members of the Youth International Party nominated a 145 pound pig named Pigasus for President on Aug. 23, 1968 shortly before the start of the Democratic National Convention. The event took place at the Chicago Civic Center in front of the famous Picasso sculpture.
Musician Phil Ochs was part of the crew that purchased Pigasus for $20 from a nearby farm in the Libertyville area. At the debut rally, with 250-300 people estimated in attendance, Jerry Rubin began to read the announcement ("We want to give you a chance to talk to our candidate and to restate our demand that Pigasus be given Secret Service protection and be brought to the White House for his foreign policy briefing") when the police swooped in and arrested seven Yippies (including Rubin and Ochs) and confiscated Pigasus.
They were charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic, and then placed in jail where a law enforcement officer was alleged to have told them they were going to be locked up for a long time because "the pig squealed on you." They were soon released with bail fees of $25 each but the fate of the original Pigasus remains unclear.
The Yippies campaigned with other pigs in the course of the election season, one of them dubbed Pigasus II. After the election they showed up at Nixon's inauguration (or in-hog-uration as the Yippies termed it) with Ms. Pigasus who delighted the press by escaping from her cage and giving the spectators and police a merry chase.
On Sept. 9, 1968 following the bloodiest and most violent political convention in American history, Jerry Rubin announced to the press that the Yippies had decided to nominate Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley as their Vice-Presidential choice. If Daley's response to being named the running mate with a pig has ever been documented I cannot find it. Since the Mayor did not refute or withdraw from the ticket, he is included in this third party VP project.
The Chicago Civic Center, where Pigasus was first "arrested," was eventually renamed Richard J. Daley Center, which is part of the "Honorable Richard J. Daley Plaza," as Elwood Blues called it.
Election history:
1937-1939 - Illinois House of Representatives (Republican/Democratic)
1939-1947 - Illinois State Senate (Democratic)
1946 - Cook County Sheriff (Ill.) (Democratic) - defeated
1950-1955 - Cook County Clerk (Ill.) (Democratic)
1955-1976 - Mayor of Chicago (Ill.) (Democratic)
1968 - Democratic nomination for US Vice-President - defeated
1972 - Democratic nomination for US Vice-President - defeated
Other occupations: attorney
Buried: Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Alsip, Ill.)
Notes:
His opponent in the 1959 primary for Mayor of Chicago was Lar Daly.
Two of his opponents in the 1967 race for Mayor of Chicago were Dick Gregory and Lar Daly.
One of his opponents in the 1975 race for Mayor was future 1976 Socialist Workers VP nominee
Willie Mae Reid.
Buried in the same cemetery as Lar Daly.
