Barbara Garson, July 7, 1941 (New York, NY) -
VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Socialist Party aka Liberty Union Party aka Independent) (1992)
Running mate with nominee: John Quinn Brisben (1934-2012)
Popular vote: 1,689 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In 1992 the Socialist Party nominated J. Quinn Brisben for President. He had previously been the VP nominee for the Party in 1976.
Brisben predicted bad economic times for the years ahead. Reforming the health care system was a topic he highlighted.
Brisben's speeches had some very quotable lines:
The major parties are simply pawns to the military industrial complex. They accept huge campaign donations, figure out who they need to do favors for and come up with the most electable candidate.
This presidential Gong Show does nothing to serve the people's interest.
First we need to start freeing our minds by not watching any commercial TV. I can assure you that you don't need anything they advertise.
More Greens are becoming Reds as they realize they're not going to get much sympathy for the spotted owl if they can't save the job of the lumberman.
Once involved in socialism, people are often surprised at how popular many of our ideas really are. We stand for universal health care, women's rights, national day care and housing and jobs for everyone.
One good thing about running as a socialist, you can prepare your concession speech months in advance.
We would be better off with a parliamentary system as the British have because our electoral system is a disaster waiting to happen.
I'll probably end up losing more elections than Basil Rathbone lost sword fights ... This campaign is an educational effort. That's a left-wingy way to say we're going to lose but it's worth it anyway.
Early in the campaign Brisben was arrested in Orlando, Fla. for raising his cane at a law enforcement officer he felt was mishandling someone in a wheelchair. He was literally raising cane.
Brisben's VP was William D. "Bill" Edwards, the Party's first African American national nominee. The Bay Area-based Edwards was a labor organizer, former longshoreman, and anti-Apartheid activist. Sometimes the media called him "Edward D. Williams."
Unfortunately Edwards, who was 72, died on Aug. 5, 1992. By the end of the month the VP position was filled by Barbara Garson. She was already something of a public figure through her anti-war play MacBird! (which I enjoyed very much at the time it was released).
As Garson explained in a piece written late Oct. 1992:
Late this summer, I found a message on my answering machine saying that the vice presidential candidate of the Socialist Party had died. Could I help get his obituary into the papers? ("And by the way, you wouldn't want to run for vice president, would you?")
I'm a proud, though inactive, member of the Socialist Party and I agree with the platform. Still, I hesitated to become a candidate. Could I withstand the media scrutiny?
When asked by C-SPAN what she would do if elected Vice-President, Garson replied, "I'd demand a recount!"
Although the Liberty Union Party in Vermont endorsed the ticket, they did not achieve ballot status there. They were also endorsed by Dr. Benjamin Spock and singer Pete Seeger.
On Election Day, Edwards was still on the ballot in Tennessee. The Brisben/Garson appeared in the District of Columbia (probably) with 0.08% of the vote, Wisconsin 0.05%, and Utah 0.02% (placing 13 out of 13). Brisben was also write-in candidate in a dozen states.
Election history: none
Other occupations: coffee house worker, playwright, author.
Notes:
Third party figure Austin Burton aka Chief Burning Wood (1976) said Garson's MacBird! inspired
him to invent the name from this line:
"MacBird shall never, never be undone/
Till burning wood doth come to Washington."
Washington State trivia triple alert: First, Garson worked in the Shelter Half in Tacoma, Wash. ca. 1969, an anti-war coffee house where soldiers from nearby Fort Lewis could hang out. Second, the above-mentioned Burton was born in Washington State. Third, when I was college I played the McGovern role in a radio drama broadcast on KAOS-FM. The author, another student had written a play spinning off of MacBird! but instead the topic was Nixon.
