Both of the above images: John Mahalchik. Below: Irv Homer
Irving Homer, May 29, 1924 (Philadelphia, Penn.) - June 24, 2009 (Bryn Mawr, Penn.)
VP candidate for America First Party (1972)
Running mate with nominee: John Val Jean Mahalchik (1918-1987)
Popular vote: 1743 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
There was a certain kind of individual we used to see more of before online forums and Facebook eclipsed their method of expression. They generally lived in rural areas and leaned to the political Populist Right-- either Christian or Libertarian-- and declared their disgust and disdain with the political system through the medium of crude hand-painted signs on their property (now they simply post online). Such a person was New Jersey's John Val Jean Mahalchik.
Mahalchik owned 49 acres that used to be an airstrip but by 1972 had become something of a junkyard filled with surplus and salvaged mostly military equipment. He lived in a modified teepee on the property after his home had mysteriously burned.
Mahalchik announced his run for the Presidency under the America First Party early in the campaign season, but Philadephia radio talk-show host Irv Homer's name as the VP choice didn't surface in the press until much later since he wasn't nominated until Sept. 22, 1972. The Mahalchik/Homer ticket's America First Party did not have any connection with previous political parties using the same name. If there was any precedence for this version of the Party it would have to from his fellow Garden State gadfly Henry B. Krajewski (1912–1966) who ran several times for President under the Poor Man's Party banner. Krajewski and Homer had actually both shared the experience of being tavern owners at one time.
Below is a sample of Mahalchik's property signage which gives some clue as to his political platform. Punctuation has been cleaned up a bit so it is readable. Mahalchik didn't really bother about things like the proper use of upper and lower case letters:
I am the dissenter. I am the gypsy. I am the patriot. I am all races. I am all religions. I am this land. I am this land’s future... Join me, be a freedom fighter. Help me fight in any way you can. Add honor to your name.
[1972 was the Year of the Rat, and Nixon and Kissinger's heads are pictured on rat bodies] : 1972 China glorifies rats. Chickens coming home to roost. Nixon, Tricky Dick a tricky Red. Who is the #2 rat. Kissinger, Rasputin & pimp. Has Fate or Divine Power set the stage or arranged to show us our 2 biggest red rats. Kissinger went to Red China as a pimp to make a deal & set a price so Nixon like a 2 bit whore can hop in bed with the Reds and make us "The Bastard Children of Nixinger" red sell out to make American fathers & mothers of sons, killed or crippled fighting Reds now lay & reward the Red Communist killers of their sons. Nixon & Kissinger are defectors and now want all Americans to be prostitutes to Red compromise thru "Nixingerization" Pray to God that the Chinese do the defectors in
Why? Why? The Dollar Sign. Fathers & mothers, sweet hearts and wives, your loved ones are fighting in Vietnam. Why? Just read all of my signs here you'll soon find out why. It's to make rich men richer and to keep poor men poor. This war is not for freedom for you or those that fight, its the rich maniacs game of power to use guns to keep control. Yes the rich make all the money while the poor get all the grief. Yes its for someone else's dollar young boys must die like freaks. Establishment ([unintelligible] thought) hypocrisy if you kill someone for your profit you are called "a murderer," if you kill for Rockefeller of DuPont's profit you are called "a hero." Defense plants have become aggression plants. The Army, Navy & Air Force have become the private army-- killers for the Rockefeller DuPont G.M. I.T.T. etc. corp. known as the Military Industrial Complex.
Politicians invented the slogan Love It Or Leave It. Parasites and other kinds of rats who want to keep their own dirty little things going they want things to stay as they are so their selfish corruption and rot power remains but Mahalchik says if you love it you'll change it. You'll give gov't back to the people. If you don't do your share then you are one of the rats and parasites and someday those who love it will make you leave it.
In cadence count 1,2 kill kill hup, hop, kill, kill. Fathers mothers of soldiers in Vietnam while your sons are dying & fighting Communists and Socialists over there it's your duty to fight them here. Kill Kill Kill any Commie or Socialist you know. Drag them from their rat holes, hang em, stab em, burn em, bomb em, gas, choke, strangle drown, shoot, but kill em all. A rat in the alley is still a rat in your [parlor?]. A Communist over there or a Communist here, is still a Communist
Exactly how Irv Homer came to be the running mate is probably a great story but I have yet to find it. Homer was also a well known regional character, an outspoken pioneer of the radio talk-show format in the Philadelphia market who was known as "The Evil One" or "Evil Irv." Homer's curmudgeonly radio persona was part of the draw, making him one of the most popular local broadcasters in his genre. Like Mahalchik, he was a WWII veteran and a pilot.
Somehow several sources have erroneously listed Homer as being the VP on the Libertarian Party ticket, perhaps that is due to his political leanings? He later became a noted tax protester.
Homer reflected on the race in a 1980 news article: "We were on the ballot in the State of New Jersey and we actually got votes. We campaigned but we didn't spend one dime. We were out to show that to run for political office you have to have money and you have to lie like Hell."
Only on the ballot in New Jersey, the America First Party ticket placed 7th out of 8 (beating the Communist Party USA) with 1743 votes, or 0.06% of the state result. Although Mahalchik was something of a perennial candidate, this would apparently be Homer's only run for public office.
In 1981 Mahalchik was on the verge of losing his property for failure to pay back taxes and Homer helped out by spreading the word on his radio program. As a result of Homer's publicity, an anonymous gentleman personally paid the over $1000 required which reinforced Mahalchik's nickname, "Lucky."
Election history: none
Other occupations: soldier/pilot (WWII), lens grinder, hairdresser, paperhanger, insurance salesman, bartender/tavern owner, pizza company equipment sales, radio talk show personality, author
Buried: ?
Notes:
Moved from radio to Internet podcasts in his later years.
