Seymour Frieman
VP candidate for National Civil Rights Party (aka Civil Rights Party) (1964)
Running mate with nominee: Grady O'Cummings III (1932-1996)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Here is how some media outlets announced the ticket of the National Civil Rights Party in Oct. 1963, with a focus on ethnic origin rather than policy:
A 33-year-old Negro Roman Catholic with an Irish name has been selected at New York as the presidential candidate of the new national Civil Rights party. Grady O'Cummings III, national chairman of the party, was nominated in New York. An active Democrat, he helped organize the JFK Democratic club in East Harlem and a Democratic club in Brooklyn, his home. Chosen to run as vice president was Seymour Frieman, a Jew, also of Brooklyn.
O'Cummings initially ran in the Democratic Party primaries but essentially left the Democrats in order to form the National Civil Rights Party. His intention was to create a multiracial party that would appeal to "liberal whites" as well as disenfranchised populations. His other platform issues included a military invasion of Cuba and North Vietnam, turn Ellis and Alcatraz islands into Federal hospitals for drug addicts, and stop all foreign aid for any "Red" country.
He told reporters he was ending active campaigning for the Presidency in March, 1964 in order to pursue a seat in the US House. However, more than a month later he was still electioneering for the White House as a write-in for the Democratic primary in New Jersey. If the O'Cummings/Frieman ticket had won in 1964, there would have been two major Constitutional problems: O'Cummings was under the age of 35, and both candidates were residents of the same state.
O'Cummings was reported to have been the victim of a heart attack, dying at a premature age in Nov. 1969. His obituary even appeared in the New York Times. But four months later it all was revealed to be hoax. When he re-emerged O'Cummings said he was hiding out in Buffalo, NY, "I had to get out because I was trying to protect my family. My wife, Winnie, was assaulted by four Black Panthers, and it made me very angry. I didn’t go to the police because I am not an informer and didn’t want to get involved."
He seems to have been a sporadic Presidential contender. He sought the Democratic nomination in 1968, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988. Shortly before his real death on June 2, 1996, he had filed with the FEC for President. He also ran for other offices and in fact had been hospitalized while running the primary for Salisbury, Md. City Council less than two months before his death.
Meanwhile, there is no other information regarding Mr. Frieman.
Election history: ?
Other occupations: ?
Buried: ?
Notes:
Another variant of his name could be Seymour Friedman.
