Florence M. Rice, March 22, 1919 (Buffalo, NY) -
VP candidate for Consumer Party (aka Independent) (1988)
Running mate with nominee: Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005)
Popular vote: 25,091 (0.03%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
The Pennsylvania-based Consumer Party had been around since the late 1960s as a statewide organization. In 1984 they endorsed the Citizens Party but in 1988 they were ready to try a national run with a goal of obtaining ballot status in over half the states. It didn't work out that way.
In 1988 they approached Eugene McCarthy, now 72, and asked him to be their standard bearer. It isn't clear if there was truly an official running-mate (McCarthy always had disdain for the office of Vice-President anyway and felt it should be eliminated), but it would appear Harlem legendary consumer advocate Florence M. Rice was the closest to being the choice of the Consumer Party.
The former liberal icon had changed quite a bit since his independent 1976 run for President. In 1980 he endorsed Ronald Reagan and later had some kind of financial connection with Right-wing cult leader Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church.
It was apparent McCarthy viewed the nomination as an opportunity rather than a cause. He voiced a hope of broadening the campaign and going beyond the Consumer Party in an interview with the Chicago Tribune: "I'd just as soon have a new name. It's like the Know-Nothings and the Barn Burners. I'm hopeful some other groups will come in. We've had some calls from the National Unity people-they're a sort of a (John) Anderson organization. And maybe some independent parties from around the country. I don't know about the Socialists and Vegetarians. The Peace and Freedom people might come in. I don't think they have a candidate. They're a pretty wild bunch."
McCarthy proposed shortening the work week, curtailing or eliminating the FEC, raising tariffs, and creating a national sales tax on "wasteful, socially undesirable consumption, not just of cigarettes and liquor, but also of oversized, overpowered and overfueled automobiles."
McCarthy's quotes from the campaign:
There is no real choice between Democrats and Republicans. If any new direction is to come, it must come through an independent party, the Consumer Party, and I have willingly offered myself to lead it.
I don't expect to lose. Sure I've lost before, but I didn't feel I wasted my time, and I expect to have a significant impact.
There are two kinds of people who don't make good presidents-- vice presidents and governors.
We are being controlled, and conditioned, over-advertised, dominated by corporate power, by the media. You watch the evening news, where you are supposed to be getting your information. They give you 35 seconds of news and then they give you relief for hemmorhoids. We spend more on advertising than we do on education.
Responsible political participants should challenge absolutely the concepts and historical judgments now used to justify militancy and the arms buildup.
The perception that American politics should be conducted within the framework of only two parties is a misconception. It's against what the Founding Fathers intended.
On July 22, 1988 the Detroit Free Press mentioned McCarthy's running-mate in Michigan was Gray Panthers founder Maggie Kuhn (1905-1995). Kuhn had previously turned down an offer to run as VP for the People's Party in 1976 and was one of the co-founders of the Citizens Party in 1979. The backstory is not clear, but McCarthy had to go to court to have Kuhn's name replaced by that of Rice on the Michigan ballot.
Neither McCarthy or Rice seemed to have waged a high profile energetic campaign, with McCarthy seeming more disengaged than ever. I could not find a source to confirm McCarthy and Rice even met during the 1988 election season. When the media did cover McCarthy, which was not often, they spent most of their time treating him as the new Harold Stassen and a relic as they used more ink on his history than on his current platform. Several editorialists were not kind.
McCarthy was on the ballot in four states and a certified write-in for Arizona (apparently no VP with him there) and California. In total he had three running-mates and nationally earned 30,905 votes, placing sixth. The McCarthy/Rice ticket won 25,091 votes in three states: Pennsylvania 0.42% (they finished in third place there), New Jersey 0.11%, and Michigan 0.07%.
Rice's status as a third party VP ranks rather low on her long list of community-based and consumer activist accomplishments. As of this writing she remains a public figure about to turn age 101.
Election history: none
Other occupations: laundry worker, domestic seamstress, furniture store credit clerk, founder of the Harlem Consumer Education Council, pro-choice activist, teacher, elder abuse activist
Notes:
Parents immigrated from the West Indes
First third party VP I am aware of to live to 100.
