Wesley Kanne Clark Sr.

 

 

Wesley Kanne Clark Sr., December 23, 1944 (Chicago, Ill.) -

VP candidate for Proletarian Jeffersonian Party (2008)

Running mate with nominee: Mark Shane Robinson

Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Mark Shane Robinson, who apparently lived in the American Inn of Hemet, Calif., filed for President with the FEC on Oct. 20, 2007 with the Committee to Elect Mark Shane Robinson and General Clark. The address was given as "General Delivery, Hemet, CA" and the Committee's email address was that of the American Coaster Enthusiasts, a webpage for roller coaster fans.

Also on the form the campaign treasurer and keeper of records was given as the ACLU. Robinson's Proletarian Jeffersonian Party seemed to be described as "Bull Moose Party, Theodore Roosevelt," and the other candidate on the ticket is named as "General Westley Clark."

General Wesley Clark had made a run for President in the Democratic primaries in 2004 and had actually won the Oklahoma contest. He was considered a potential contender for the 2008 nomination but on Sept. 15, 2007 he endorsed Hillary Clinton. After Sen. Clinton dropped out he endorsed Barack Obama. Some felt he was angling for a VP spot in the event Clinton had won the nomination, but instead he landed as the running-mate for Mark Shane Robinson. One wonders if General Clark even knew about it.

Around this same time Clark's memoir, A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country, was published and made headlines due to some narratives involving the US military involvement in the Mideast and critical contentions regarding the policies of the George W. Bush administration.

The Robinson/Clark ticket failed to materialize on any state ballots or as registered write-ins.

Election history:
2004 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated

Other occupations: US Army general, lecturer, author, investment firm, board of directors Atlantic Council, reality television host

Notes:
West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar, wounded in Vietnam.

John Clinton McGee

John Clinton McGee, July, 1863 (Algiers?, La.) - March 31, 1936? (New York, NY?)

VP candidate for National Progressive Party (aka Progressive Party aka Bull Moose Party) (1928)

Running mate with nominee: Henry Hoffman (b. 1851)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Omaha grocer and naturopathic doctor Henry Hoffman age 77, an old Bull Mooser, made an attempt to revive the party. With a convention consisting of less than a dozen delegates meeting in the back room of Hoffman's store, no one voted to approve the doctor's platform, but Hoffman declared it passed anyway, "It makes no difference."

The tiny party's presidential nomination was filled by Hoffman himself. Jane Addams was nominated as the running mate but she declined the honor, so John "Suspender Jack" McGee was chosen. There is no record I can find so far of McGee, who was a well known character in New York City, accepting or declining the decision.

Among the old time populist planks in the platform was a cap of a million dollars on personal income.

The Hoffman/McGee active campaign appeared to have ceased after the nominations-- either that or they ran a stealth electioneering effort since they did not appear on any ballots. Nor did Hoffman withdraw and endorse another candidate.

Election history:
1915 - Progressive Party nomination for Sheriff of New York County - defeated

Other occupations: entertainer in Wild West Show (until 1890), the "cowboy cop" in New York City (dismissed ca. 1902), sidewalk notary public, Pony Express rider, scout for the 5th US Cavalry, hunter for the Union Pacific Railroad, served in the AEF in Europe as Chief of the Bureau of Effects of Deceased

Buried: ?

Notes:
Known as "Suspender Jack" for using suspenders as reins on horses.
Arrested in 1902 for failure to pay alimony.
Started a stampede for nominating Oscar Straus for Governor via a stirring speech at the 1912 New
 York Progressive Party convention.
Worked on behalf of Harry Thaw in 1914.
Was involved with the Independence Party in 1908.
Arrested during a Hearst-related political disturbance in New York City, Nov. 1905.
In Washington DC in 1880, his father Thomas was a clerk.
After the Civil War his father went to Brazil as a "Confederado" and took the family with him for
 several years.
Performed with King & Franklin Circus and Wild West in 1887
Toured in Europe with "Mexican Joe" in August 1887.

John Milliken Parker, Sr.

 Parker with Theodore Roosevelt, 1915

John Milliken Parker, Sr., March 16, 1863 (Bethel Church, Miss.) – May 20, 1939 (Pass Christian, Miss.)

VP candidate for Progressive Party (aka Bull Moose Party aka Middle-Road Progressive Party) (1916)

Running mate with nominee: Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) - Roosevelt withdrew upon nomination
Popular vote: 33,406 (0.18%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for a second time, with wealthy Louisiana businessman John M. Parker as his running mate. But Roosevelt's dislike of Woodrow Wilson was so strong he did not want to be held responsible for the incumbent Democrat's re-election so he rejoined the Republican Party and endorsed Charles Evans Hughes. With that the Progressive Party essentially came to an end as many members followed Roosevelt's lead. Almost.

Some remaining delegates, called "Middle-Road" Progressives could not abide Hughes and even though they had a vice-presidential candidate only in Parker since Roosevelt's presidential nomination vacancy was never refilled, decided to remain in the game if for no other reason than to possibly be Electoral College spoilers. The nobody/Parker ticket was a very unusual arrangement.

During the campaign Parker himself endorsed Wilson.

Nobody/Parker was on the ballot in 12 states. In Georgia they placed second with 12.88% and in Louisiana they finished a very close third with 6.83%. In all other results they were under 1%.

Election history:
1916 - Governor of Louisiana (Progressive Party) - defeated
1920-1924 - Governor of Louisiana (Democratic)

Other occupations: President of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange (1897-1898), commission merchant, cotton broker, wholesale grocer

Buried: Metairie Cemetery (New Orleans, La.)

Notes:
Unapologetic participant in the 1891 lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans.
Was a vocal political enemy of Huey Long after 1920.
Presbyterian.
First cousin, once removed, to Mary Ann Todd Lincoln
Buried in the same cemetery as P.G.T. Beauregard, Jefferson Davis, Pete Fountain, Jim Garrison, Al
 Hirt, John Bell Hood, Louis Prima, and Cora Witherspoon.
Family moved to New Orleans ca. 1871.
Campaigned for Al Smith in 1928.
Mason.
Some sources give his birthplace as Washington, La.
Was with Theodore Roosevelt on the 1902 hunting trip that led to the origin of the "Teddy Bear"
In spite of the "Progressive" label, was a segregationist who worked to keep African-American
 participation in the Progressive Party at a minimum.
As Governor, asked the FBI for help in fighting the KKK.
Mourner at the funeral of Huey Long's assassin, Dr. Carl Austin Weiss.

Hiram Warren Johnson

Hiram Warren Johnson, September 2, 1866 (Sacramento, Calif.) – August 6, 1945 (Bethesda, Md.)

VP candidate for Progressive Party (aka Bull Moose Party) (1912)

Running mate with nominee: Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Popular vote: 4,122,721 (27.40%) 
Electoral vote: 88/531

The campaign:

This is The Big One in the history of third parties in America.

Theodore Roosevelt failed in his bid to reclaim the presidency as a Republican at their convention. The conservative Taft forces outmaneuvered the liberal wing of the party. So Theodore Roosevelt being Theodore Roosevelt decided to perform an end run and make a bid as a third party candidate in the newly formed Progressive Party. His running mate was the reformist Governor of California Hiram Johnson.

It was a remarkable election, with three presidents-- past (Roosevelt), present (Taft), and future (Wilson)-- plus the Socialists at the height of their national electability. The nastiness of the name-calling and and personal nature of the insults between the Republicans and the Progressives seemed beyond the usual campaign mud-slinging.

The Progressive platform was filled with planks that had been well worn by the Populists and Socialists in the 1890s, but by 1912 many of those ideas were now socially acceptable.

Roosevelt was shot on Oct. 14, 1912 in Milwaukee, wounded in the chest but the bullet was slowed by TR's thick folded typewritten speech and his spectacles case. Not one to let good theater slip away, he gave his speech anyway. John Schrank, the would-be assassin, was found legally insane. All three of the major parties took a brief break from electioneering until Roosevelt recovered.

The Roosevelt/Johnson ticket placed second with 27.40% of the popular vote and 88 electoral votes. The Republican incumbent landed in third place.

On the ballot in 47 states the Progressives won the electoral votes of South Dakota, California, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington. In California Roosevelt defeated Wilson by just under 200 votes, demonstrating the wisdom of placing Johnson on the ticket.

Impressive as this third party showing was, it could be argued that the Progressive Party was personality-driven and not policy-driven. Case in point-- as soon as Roosevelt rejoined the Republican fold the Progressive Party evaporated. Johnson went on to become a gadfly Republican in the US Senate, holding the record for longevity in that office from California.

Election history:
1911-1917 - Governor of California (Republican/Progressive)
1917-1945 - US Senate (Calif.) (Republican)
1920 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
1924 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated

Other occupations: stenographer, attorney, assistant district attorney of San Francisco

Buried: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park (Colma, Calif.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Joseph Alioto, Hubert Howe Bancroft, Eddie Fisher, William
 Randolph Hearst Jr. and Sr., Tom Mooney, and Lincoln Steffens.
Declined to be Warren Harding's running mate in 1920.
One of his opponents in the 1916 Senate race was George S. Patton Sr., father of the later general.
One of his opponents in the 1922 Senate race was Socialist Upton Sinclair.
One of his opponents in the 1928 Senate race Charles Hiram Randall, the only member of the
 Prohibition Party ever elected to the US House.
One of his opponents in the 1934 Senate race was George Ross Kirkpatrick, Socialist Party of
 America VP nominee 1916.
Son of Grove L. Johnson (1841-1926) a Republican Congressman from California (1895-1897)
Although he voted to declare war with Germany he opposed America's entry into WWI, supported
 the prohibition of Japanese immigrants, opposed the League of Nations and the United Nations. He supported FDR in the 1932 and 1936 elections. He was instrumental in the creation of the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII.
The old isolationist died the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.