Griffin, Lester Maddox, George Wallace
Samuel Marvin Griffin, September 4, 1907 (Bainbridge, Ga.) - June 13, 1982 (Tallahassee, Fla.)
VP candidate for American Independent Party (aka Independent aka American Party aka George Wallace Party aka George C. Wallace Party aka Conservative Party aka Independent American Party aka Courage Party aka George Wallace Independent Party aka Petition Party) (1968)
Running mate with nominee: George C. Wallace (1919-1998)
Popular vote: 8,588,201 (11.73%)
Electoral vote: 25/538 (Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi)
The campaign:
The American Independent Party was created in Bakersfield, Calif. in 1967 as a Presidential vehicle for George Wallace, the former Democratic Governor of Alabama who was a segregationist in the Right-wing populist tradition. As the campaign became national Wallace's plan was to drive the election into the US House where his forces could negotiate with the major parties for policy concessions.
The AIP managed to co-opt most of the extremist Right-wing political parties and continue the process started by Barry Goldwater in the previous election of delivering conservative Democratic Party voters of the Southern States into the ranks of the Republican Party-- a process that would be complete by the next election in 1972.
Wallace's campaign managed to place his name on the ballot in all 50 states. The Party was filed under a variety of names but they all traced back to the same organization. In order to qualify for some of the Byzantine requirements frequently encountered by third parties (and designed to discourage them), Wallace had to name a running mate before he was ready. So as a stand-in VP he chose another former Democratic Governor who was a segregationist, S. Marvin Griffin of Georgia.
It had been almost a decade since Griffin had held an elected office, but he had hoped to be on the ticket permanently. The Wallace people felt that Griffin was basically the Georgia version of Wallace and they wanted someone who would broaden the ticket and appeal to more mainstream voters. When Gen. Curtis LeMay was announced as the real-life VP nominee in early Oct. 1968, Griffin was disappointed.
Because of the lateness in naming LeMay, it was Griffin's name that appeared with Wallace on the ballot in 44 states. Although the Electors were said to be pledged to LeMay, most of the AIP voters selected a ticket that read George C. Wallace-Marvin Griffin.
Of the 9,901,118 votes cast for Wallace, 8,599,201 of those were on the ballot as the Wallace/Griffin ticket. Wallace won 13.53% of the national total, and 11.73% of that was with Griffin. 25 of Wallace's 46 Electoral votes were with Griffin.
1968 would be the last year to date where a third party would win the popular vote of any state. Ross Perot in 1992 would be the only third party candidate to outpoll Wallace (Perot's 18.91% to Wallace's 13.53%) but the later effort failed to win any states as it did not have the regional concentration of the AIP.
Election history:
1934-1936 - Georgia General Assembly (Democratic)
1936 - US House of Representatives (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1946 - Lt. Governor of Georgia (Democratic) - primary - defeated
1948-1955 - Lt. Governor of Georgia (Democratic)
1955-1959 - Governor of Georgia (Democratic)
1962 - Governor of Georgia (Democratic) - primary - defeated
Other occupations: school teacher, newspaper editor, soldier (WWII), real estate
Buried: Oak City Cemetery (Bainbridge, Ga.)
Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Miriam Hopkins.
"I quit politics because of ill health. Yes sir, the voters got sick of me."--Marvin Griffin
