Merle Melvin Thayer, March 31, 1922 (Belmond, Iowa) - June 21, 1991 (Davenport, Iowa)
VP candidate for Constitution Party (aka Christian Constitution Party) (1968)
Running mate with nominee: Richard K. Troxell (1928-2019)
Popular vote: 34 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
After offering their Presidential nomination to George Wallace only to be rejected, the Constitution Party mounted a pretty feeble campaign in 1968 as many of the members of this far-Right group deserted to back the Alabama segregationist under the American Independent Party banner. One such example was Merle M. Thayer, a Constitution Party member who was involved in Wallace's election effort in Davenport, Iowa. In fact, Thayer was selected to be a Wallace Elector but he declined.
Oh, and Thayer was also the VP nominee for the Constitution Party, with Richard K. Troxell of Houston, Texas as the Presidential choice. It isn't clear why Thayer would work for Wallace in Iowa but run against him in another state. Both Troxell and Thayer had made a run for the US House in their home states in 1966 as members of the Constitution Party.
They were on the ballot only in the State of North Dakota where they garnered a whopping 34 votes. George Wallace had managed to successfully co-opt the voters from the most of the extreme Right-wing, apparently including one of his Electoral opponents!
Election history:
1966 - US House of Representatives (Iowa) (American Constitution Party/Conservative Party) - defeated
Other occupations: soldier (WWII), manufacturers agent, founded Merle Thayer and Associates, Executive Director of Congress of Freedom Inc., chapter leader of the John Birch Society
Buried: Rock Island National Cemetery (Rock Island, Ill.)
Notes:
Lutheran
Pearl Harbor veteran
Placed in an orphanage with his many siblings in the 1930s when their parents split up and led an
effort to reunite the scattered brothers and sisters after many years.
Sometimes listed as Merl Thayer
