Frank W. Gaydosh, March 21, 1909 (Berwick, Penn.) - December 24, 1991 (Carbondale, Penn.)
VP candidate for Restoration Party (aka Independent) (1976)
Running mate with nominee: Ernest L. Miller (1898-1984)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Ernest L. Miller of Harrisonburg, Va. was a mix of anti-Communist fundamentalist Protestant Christian nationalist, organic food promoter, Biblical prophesizer, anti-vaxxer, libertarian, conspiracy theorist with a dash of proto-New Age pseudoscience thrown in. He published a periodical called The Truth Crusader with a claimed circulation of 8700 at the time he ran for President. In 1976 he used the publication to encourage "all dedicated, informed, Christian patriots to immediately withdraw from the two communist controlled major political parties."
In 1974 Miller said he was visited by a vision of Jesus who told him to run for President not because he would win but rather as someone to spread The Word. He would run as "God's Independent, Nondenominational, Nonparty Candidate for President of the United States."
Miller, who would have been 78 on Inauguration Day had he been elected, created the Restoration Party and began campaigning long before many of the other candidates. It seems he had two running mates covering different states-- Frank W. Gaydosh and Col. Roy N. Eddy.
Frank W. Gaydosh of Union Dale, Penn. was "a noted Christian businessman" who had been active as a George Wallace supporter in 1968 and 1972 as a member of the Constitutional Party in Pennsylvania. He campaigned mainly by speaking at churches and employing his skills as a seasoned and prolific letter to editor writer. Some samples from the 1976 campaign season:
"America today refuses to be governed by God and His Laws. By our refusal, we are saying, 'Crucify Him! Crucify Him!' We will not be ruled or governed by Him (The Lord Jesus Christ) of His Laws. The result is that the barbarians that are destroying us are our own children. Unless we repent and turn from our wicked ways, only disaster lies ahead!" July 1976
"Hypocrisy feeds on hypocrisy. Hypocrites get into the pulpit easily, when there are many hypocrites in the pew, and hypocrites gain votes readily for public office when they have millions of hypocrites to vote for them." August 1976
"A nation that coddles its criminals and penalizes its godly citizens must either change or perish." Sept. 1976
The Miller/Gaydosh ticket was presented as a write-in option at least in Colorado, Illinois, and Pennsylvania and perhaps elsewhere, but no votes for them were sorted out when reporting-- the write-ins were all lumped together.
Oddly, Gaydosh was an official independent write-in candidate for US President in California, finding himself running against, among many others, the Restoration Party write-in ticket of Ernest L. Miller and Roy N. Eddy. One source has Gaydosh running as a write-in for Vice-President in California but not attached to any ticket. In either case, it seems he garnered zero votes in that state.
Election history:
1968 - US Senate (Penn.) (Constitutional Party) - defeated
1970 - US Senate (Penn.) (Constitutional Party) - defeated
1972 - US President (Constitutional Party) - withdrew
1976 - US President (Independent) - defeated
Other occupations: owner of the Big Chief supermarket chain, anti-Communist activist, district chair of the National Alliance to Keep and Bear Arms, elder in Covenant Reformed Church, President of Forest City Industries
Buried: Uniondale Cemetery (Union Dale, Penn.)
Notes:
Gaydosh was nominated for President in the 1972 Constitutional Party Pennsyvania primary (he was
the only candidate) and was prepared to be listed on the ballot, but later withdrew in favor of
national candidate John Schmitz.
Winner of the 1970 race was Hugh Scott.
Winner of the 1968 race was Richard Schweiker.
Member of the John Birch Society and of the Patrick Henry League.
Parents were Czechoslovakian immigrants.
His political activity was not mentioned in his obituaries.
