Diane Joyce Drufenbrock, October 7, 1929 (Evansville, Ind.) – November 4, 2013 (Milwaukee, Wis.)
VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Socialist Party aka Independent) (1980)
Running mate with nominee: David McReynolds (1929-2018)
Popular vote: 6,994 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
So far as I know Diane Drufenbrock aka Sister Madeleine Sophie of the School Sisters of St. Francis has the distinction of being the first nun to be part of a Presidential ticket. Working from the premise that the Jesus of the Bible was the ultimate social justice warrior, Drufenbrack embraced the concept of Christian Socialism.
"Politics had crept in on me," she said in 1980, "I think we are naturally political, as people we are political." Living in Milwaukee, quite possibly the most historically accepting of Socialism of all of America's large cities, probably had a major influence on her networking as well.
She was the Vice-Presidential running mate with David McReynolds, an anti-war activist, pacifist, and alleged to be the first openly Gay Presidential candidate. Interestingly he had also been a member of the Prohibition Party in his past.
The SPUSA advocated abandoning nuclear power in favor of developing solar power, public ownership of energy resources, abolition of the CIA and prisons, and a pro-choice stance on abortion. Drufenbrock's brand of Catholicism was hardly traditional in terms of attitudes about feminism: "The Socialist model makes a woman a person along with anyone else. The capitalist model looks on women as useful ... I think the changing roles of women is long overdue. I've spent 32 years in a religious order where we run our lives ourselves ... Where else can a woman be president of a college, get a Ph.D. in any subject or be an administrator of a hospital? All our lives we've had a rather unique view of what a woman is able to do."
In 1980 the Pope ordered that priests not serve in elected office. I recall US Rep. Father Drinan (D-Mass.), an influential voice in Congress, withdrawing from his re-election campaign. At the same time this was going on, Right-wing evangelical Protestants were discovering the power of political office and would have an enormous influence on public policy.
Drufenbrock was able to run for office via an amusingly ironic loophole. Priests are considered members of the clergy, nuns are not. Anticipating a possible follow-up Papal pronouncement, Drufenbrock said, "I have to confess I wait from day to day to see what will happen and if some special order comes, I'll have to deal with it."
The SPUSA ticket did not finish with popular vote results even close to that of other Left-wing parties. On the ballot in nine states and certified write-ins in at least three others, their best percentages were: Alabama and New Jersey 0.07% each, Vermont 0.06%, and Washington 0.05%. The Vermont results were impressive since they were totally write-in.
Election history:
1977-1980 - Social Development Commission (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Other occupations: nun, teacher, Board of Directors of Project Equality in Wisconsin 1974-1979, Milwaukee Tenants' Union, lecturer
Buried: Mount Olivet Cemetery (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Notes:
Ph.D. in Mathematics from University of Illinois at Urbana, 1963
Joined the SPUSA in 1976.
Adopted
McReynolds and Drufenbrock were both born in Oct. 1929.
VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Socialist Party aka Independent) (1980)
Running mate with nominee: David McReynolds (1929-2018)
Popular vote: 6,994 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
So far as I know Diane Drufenbrock aka Sister Madeleine Sophie of the School Sisters of St. Francis has the distinction of being the first nun to be part of a Presidential ticket. Working from the premise that the Jesus of the Bible was the ultimate social justice warrior, Drufenbrack embraced the concept of Christian Socialism.
"Politics had crept in on me," she said in 1980, "I think we are naturally political, as people we are political." Living in Milwaukee, quite possibly the most historically accepting of Socialism of all of America's large cities, probably had a major influence on her networking as well.
She was the Vice-Presidential running mate with David McReynolds, an anti-war activist, pacifist, and alleged to be the first openly Gay Presidential candidate. Interestingly he had also been a member of the Prohibition Party in his past.
The SPUSA advocated abandoning nuclear power in favor of developing solar power, public ownership of energy resources, abolition of the CIA and prisons, and a pro-choice stance on abortion. Drufenbrock's brand of Catholicism was hardly traditional in terms of attitudes about feminism: "The Socialist model makes a woman a person along with anyone else. The capitalist model looks on women as useful ... I think the changing roles of women is long overdue. I've spent 32 years in a religious order where we run our lives ourselves ... Where else can a woman be president of a college, get a Ph.D. in any subject or be an administrator of a hospital? All our lives we've had a rather unique view of what a woman is able to do."
In 1980 the Pope ordered that priests not serve in elected office. I recall US Rep. Father Drinan (D-Mass.), an influential voice in Congress, withdrawing from his re-election campaign. At the same time this was going on, Right-wing evangelical Protestants were discovering the power of political office and would have an enormous influence on public policy.
Drufenbrock was able to run for office via an amusingly ironic loophole. Priests are considered members of the clergy, nuns are not. Anticipating a possible follow-up Papal pronouncement, Drufenbrock said, "I have to confess I wait from day to day to see what will happen and if some special order comes, I'll have to deal with it."
The SPUSA ticket did not finish with popular vote results even close to that of other Left-wing parties. On the ballot in nine states and certified write-ins in at least three others, their best percentages were: Alabama and New Jersey 0.07% each, Vermont 0.06%, and Washington 0.05%. The Vermont results were impressive since they were totally write-in.
Election history:
1977-1980 - Social Development Commission (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Other occupations: nun, teacher, Board of Directors of Project Equality in Wisconsin 1974-1979, Milwaukee Tenants' Union, lecturer
Buried: Mount Olivet Cemetery (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Notes:
Ph.D. in Mathematics from University of Illinois at Urbana, 1963
Joined the SPUSA in 1976.
Adopted
McReynolds and Drufenbrock were both born in Oct. 1929.
