Phyllis Ada Diller, July 17, 1917 (Lima, Ohio) – August 20, 2012 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
VP candidate for Independent (1964)
Running mate with nominee: John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917-1993)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Initially started partly as a merchandising gimmick for Jazz artist Dizzy Gillespie's album Dizzy For President in 1963, the marketing campaign did turn into a political campaign of sorts as social events were changing rapidly. Dizzy allowed the effort to expand because, in his words, "The proceeds from the sale of buttons went to CORE, SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and I could threaten Democrats with a loss of votes and swing them to a more reasonable position on civil rights."
A "John Birks Society" was formed, a takeoff on the John Birch Society and a play on Dizzy's real name, John Birks Gillespie. After an unsuccessful attempt of getting his name on the California ballot, an energetic write-in campaign was waged.
Dizzy promised to place several of his fellow Jazz musicians as well as Malcolm X in various governmental offices. The White House would be renamed the Blues House. He also advocated national health, recognition of Red China (as it was known on those days), and replace income tax with a national lottery.
Jazz artist Louis Jordan had recorded his famous "Jordan For President" song during the 1952 election, I could be wrong but I do not believe Jordan had named a running mate in that race. In Dizzy's case, there were two people named as his VP-- depending on what source you read-- Ramona Crowell and Phyllis Diller.
Crowell, a housewife in Concord, Calif. at the time, was named as his running mate in the press as early as Feb. 1964. She had been active as the producer of the Dizzy Gillespie for President T-shirts and was one of the campaign managers. In later years she recalled her potential office kept changing back and forth from Vice-President to Press Secretary and back again. It was a pretty freewheeling political endeavor to say the least.
Crowell has the distinction, as part of the Assiniboine people, of being the first Indigenous American woman on a national ticket. Since third parties are generally the leaders in having historically disenfranchised people serving as nominees before the mainstream political parties are willing to take the social risk, it is nothing short of amazing that the first Indigenous American on a Presidential ticket was Charles Curtis (1860-1936), a Republican who was elected Vice-President in 1928 with Hoover and was defeated for re-election in 1932. Curtis, born in Kansas, was a member of the Kaw Nation.
In an interview with Down Beat late in the campaign Dizzy apparently said he had approached comedian Phyllis Diller with the idea of being the running mate, although her response was never made public. Also on Sept. 9, 1964 he said Diller was his VP during a hectic news conference.
The Gillespie/Crowell-Diller ticket no doubt garnered a number of write-in votes in different combinations, but they have not been recorded.
In 1972 Dizzy began another campaign for President but immediately withdrew when he realized that running for public office and participating in politics was not encouraged in the Bahá'í faith to which he had converted since 1968.
Election history: Crowell and Diller- none
Other occupations: Crowell- housewife; Diller- comedian, author
Buried: Diller- ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Notes:
Because of the nebulous nature of who the actual running mate was, I have taken the unusual step of merging the thumbnail sketches for these two candidates Crowell and Diller.
