Below: Ralph Forbes, 1964
Pro-Life Andy Charles Frederick Anderson, June 10, 1927 (Jacksonville, Fla.) - October 19, 2011 (Savannah, Ga.)
VP candidate for America First Party (aka New America First Party) (1996)
Running mate with nominee: Ralph Perry Forbes (1940-2018)
Popular vote: 932 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
The America First Party was reanimated in a last gasp after decades of not having a national ticket. Right wing figures A.J. Barker and Ed Fields, who had ties to the Klu Klux Klan, Liberty Lobby, David Duke's version of the Populist Party, Holocaust deniers, etc., cobbled together a Presidential campaign venue for Ralph Forbes. Forbes, of London, Ark., had at one time been an officer in the American Nazi Party and had served as one of David Duke's campaign managers. He was also part of the Christian Identity Movement.
Forbes, who called himself "Justice" Forbes, although the origin of that title is unclear, was a white supremacist who believed all African Americans should be deported to Africa. He once attempted to sue the Arkansas Dept. of Education, the National Education Association, the Russellville School District, the Church of Satan and Satan on behalf of himself and Jesus on the grounds they allowed school children to celebrate Halloween.
Forbes' running-mate was a retired US Air Force gentleman living in Reno, Nev. who was born under the name Charles F. Anderson but shortly after his wife died he legally changed it in 1987 to Pro-Life Andy Charles Frederick Anderson, but he became known to the press as Pro-Life Anderson. His friends called him Andy. He had been active in opposing the ERA and then abortion since at least the late 1970s.
Self-described as a "publicity agent for the good Lord," while wearing a large white cowboy hat with a black suit and red vest, Anderson's car and person were generally festooned with prominent signage declaring his energetic opposition to abortion. Instead of writing letters to the editor as a usual method of voicing his opinion in those pre-Internet days, he took out long-winded classified and even occasional densely worded display ads as his political columns.
Anderson's cars were rolling billboards frequently with gory tableaux on display on the roof and/or hood-- twice his cars were the victims of arson in Reno and in Savannah, Ga. where he later moved his car was stolen. His basement was firebombed. In 1990, while running for Lt. Governor, Anderson burst into a Reno radio station sound booth and punched a broadcaster who was making humanist remarks. The backs of his hands had tattoos declaring "God is Pro Life" and Anderson claimed to attend church four times a day. He was arrested numerous times in acts of political protest.
A reporter noted that Anderson was the sort of zealot who when greeted with, "Nice day, isn't it?" would reply, "There are no nice days for the butchered unborn." One article about Anderson in the Reno Gazette-Journal had a subtitle: "Some would call him committed. Others think he should be."
Anderson would frequently use the perception that he was crazy as a springboard:
I'm an individual that some of the pro-life people kind of hesitate to associate with because they don't want to be associated with that fanatic. And I don't really mean to be a fanatic in the bad sense of the word. But if something means something to you ... Life is worth living if you have a cause worth fighting and dying for. If life isn't worth defending with your own life, then nothing else is.
The Forbes/Anderson ticket actually made it to the ballot in Arkansas. They placed 7th out of 13 in that state with 0.11% of the vote. Shortly after the election Anderson moved to Savannah, Ga.
Election history:
1987 - Mayor of Reno, Nev. - defeated
1988 - Nevada State Assembly (Republican) - primary - defeated
1989 - City Council, Reno, Nev. - defeated
1990 - Lt. Governor of Nevada (Republican) - primary - defeated
1991 - Mayor of Reno, Nev. - defeated
1992 - US Senate (Nev.) - (Republican) - primary - defeated
1994 - US Senate (Nev.) - (Republican) - primary - defeated
1999 - Georgia State Senate (Independent) - primary - defeated
Other occupations: US Air Force
Buried: Bonaventure Cemetery (Savannah, Ga.)
Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Charles Coburn and Johnny Mercer.
Protestant converted to Catholicism.
Spent part of his childhood in an orphanage.
Some of his messages were in poem-rap form.
