Raymond Leland Teague

Raymond Leland Teague, June 23, 1903 (Mortons Gap, Ky.) - December 27, 1978 (Klamath Falls, Ore.)

VP candidate for Theocratic Party (aka Church of God Party) (1960)

Running mate with nominee: Homer A. Tomlinson (1892-1968)

Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/537

The campaign:

After his splashy defeat in 1952 as the Presidential candidate for the Church of God Party, Homer Tomlinson ran a very passive, underground campaign in 1956 without a running mate. But 1960 was going to be different.

At their May 1960 convention in Fulton, Mo., the group changed their name from the Church of God Party to the more academic sounding Theocratic Party. Raymond L. Teague, who was serving as a missionary in Anchorage, Alaska at the time in the Eastchester Church of God, was selected as the running mate. For some unspecified reason, one information source has called Teague an "eccentric."

Teague has the distinction of being the first Alaska resident on a national ticket. The Last Frontier had just become the 49th state in 1959.

Here is the Theocratic Party platform for 1960:

1. For Union of Church and State In Jesus, Prince of Peace.

2. To Keep U.S. Constitution, Freedom of Worship, Liberty.

3. For 10% Tithes - for Church and Nation. Instead of Taxes.

4. To Maintain 1960 Scale of Wages, Profit, Progress.

6. For Unlimited Production, lO% Profits for Farmers.

6. To End Wars, Crime, Delinquency.

7. To Unite Families, End Divorces.

8. To End Use of Tobacco, Itoxicants. Narcotics, Gambling.

9. To Assure Equality for all Races, Nations.

10. To Abandon Roman Law, English Common Law, Establish New Codes, Civil and Criminal.

11. Establish King James Bible as Foundation of Righteousness.

12. Follow New Revelations In Government and Peace.

On their leaflet promoting write-in votes, the header proclaimed: "The handwriting on the ballot for Brother Homer will be the handwriting on the wall for Communism."

Tomlinson traveled with a crown, robe, special flag, inflatable globe of the world, and portable throne (which appeared to be a folding lawn chair) used as props in a special coronation ceremony of his own invention as he proclaimed himself King of whatever jurisdiction he visited, in the name of Jesus of course.

Teague's campaigning was pretty much limited to the new state of Alaska. He told the Anchorage media, "We're in it to win. I believe this is God's appointed time for this to take place. With faith, hope, and charity, we'll win."

As usual, the Party failed to obtain ballot or even certified write-in status in any of the now 50 states.

Election history: none

Other occupations: soldier, sailor, minister

Buried: Eagle Point National Cemetery (Eagle Point, Ore.)

Notes:
Also called Raymond Lee Teague, Raymond Leeland Teague.
Teague appears to have joined the military at a young age and was stationed in Fort Randolph,
 Panama in 1930. By the late 1930s he was a Church of God minister in Portland, Ore. From
 Portland, he joined the Navy at nearly 40 years of age in 1942.  His first marriage ended in divorce
 and he remarried in [Washington State trivia alert!!!] Vancouver, Wash. Nov. 30, 1944 in a
 Pentecostal ceremony. Later in life Teague lived in Chiloquin, Ore.

Enoch Arden Holtwick

Enoch Arden Holtwick, January 3, 1881 (Rhineland, Mo.) – March 28, 1972 (Greenville, Ill.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1952)

Running mate with nominee: Stuart Hamblen (1908–1989)

Popular vote: 73,412 (0.12%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Overtures were apparently made to Gen. Douglas MacArthur offering the Presidential nomination for the Prohibition Party in Nov. 1951. Mac did something he didn't do with the America First, Christian Nationalist, and Constitution parties (all of whom went ahead and nominated him whether he liked it or not)-- he actually released an official statement declining the honor: "I am not a candidate for the office of president and have no political ambitions of any sort ... While I do not associate myself with some of the principles enunciated by your party, I have always understood and respected the high moral and spiritual tone of its activities."

While the General rejected the offer, another well known character was actively lobbying for the nomination, the Rev. Homer Aubrey Tomlinson. The Party rejected his advances and Tomlinson went on the create the Church of God Party for the 1952 Presidential election.

Meanwhile longtime Prohibition Party office-seeker Enoch Arden Holtwick, a 70-year old educator was the odds-on favorite to win the nomination, having coming close to winning the position in 1947. But singing cowboy star and recording artist Stuart Hamblen, a recovering alcoholic-- who was converted in 1949 at a Billy Graham tent revival-- took the convention by storm when his song It Is No Secret What God Can Do was played. The final delegate tally was close but Holtwick once again missed the nod. This time he was awarded with the nomination as running mate.

The 1952 platform was a bit more centrist than the previous few election cycles. In the age where segregation was still the law in the South, the Prohibition Party did make a stand against racial discrimination. The most glaring thing about this particular platform was the frequent use of the word "deplore," which was associated with the more Right-leaning planks:

Constitutional Government

      We are strongly opposed to atheistic communism and every other form of totalitarianism. We deplore their infiltration throughout the nation. We challenge all loyal citizens to work against this menace to civilization. We are convinced that the best safeguard against these dangerous doctrines is to protect the rights of our citizens by enforcing the provisions of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Free Enterprise

      We deplore the current trend toward a socialistic state, with its increasing emphasis upon governmental restraint of free enterprise, regulation of our economic life, and federal interference with individual freedom. We declare ourselves in favor of freedom of opportunity, private industry financed within the structure of the present anti-trust laws, and an economic program based upon sound business practice.

Social Security and Old Age Pensions

      We endorse the general principle of social security, including all employed groups. We deplore, however, the widespread current abuses of its privileges and the maladministration of its provisions for political ends, and pledge ourselves to correct these evils.

Their national 0.12% share of the popular vote would be the last time the Party would finish with more than 1/10th of one percent. To their credit they finished 4th in a crowded field, with only the Progressive Party beating them in the third party category.

Out of 20 states where their votes were recorded their strongest finishes were in Indiana (0.78%), Kansas (0.67%), and Alabama (0.43%).

Holtwick would be the Presidential nominee in the next round, 1956.

Election history:
1912 - California State Assembly (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1914 - California State Assembly (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1916 - California State Assembly (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1936 - Treasurer of Illinois (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1938 - US Senate (Ill.) - defeated
1940 - US Senate (Ill.) - defeated
1942 - US Senate (Ill.) - defeated
1944 - US Senate (Ill.) - defeated
1947 - Prohibition Party Presidential nomination - defeated
1948 - US Senate (Ill.) - defeated
1950 - US Senate (Ill.) - defeated
1951 - Prohibition Party Presidential nomination - defeated
1956 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1960 - Governor of Illinois (Prohibition Party) - defeated

Other occupations: bookkeeper, real estate salesman, educator, President of Wessington Springs Seminary (South Dakota), President of Pacific Junior College (Los Angeles, Calif.), history and political science teacher at Greenville College (Greenville, Ill.)

Buried: Mount Auburn Cemetery (Greenville, Ill.)

Notes:
Winner of the 1948 Senate race was Paul Douglas, of the 1950 Senate race, Everett Dirksen.
Methodist.
Ranks #9 playback.fm's "Most Famous Person Named Enoch"
USC MA 1914, dissertation was entitled The Role of the Third Party in American Politics.
Filed for Gov. of Illinois in 1960 according the newspapers but apparently was not on the ballot?

Willie Isaac Bass

Willie Isaac Bass, September 5, 1896 (Hornet, Sampson County, NC) - November 23, 1966 (Fayetteville, NC)

VP candidate for Church of God Party (aka Church of God Bible Party) (1952)

Running mate with nominee: Homer A. Tomlinson (1892-1968)

Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

The Church of God Party was the brainchild of Homer Aubrey Tomlinson, who was the son of Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson who founded his own independent Church of God in 1922. When the father died in 1943 his sons Homer and Milton engaged in a power struggle to take over the family business and Milton emerged victorious. So Homer went out and started his own splinter of a splinter church. He also had gathered some experience in the advertising business and developed a natural flair for publicity.

Tomlinson claimed he started the campaign with a fast and said Gen. Eisenhower was his first choice for his running mate. He initially made overtures to the Prohibition Party to run as their Presidential nominee but was rebuffed. His true running mate was found in a member of his Church flock with mechanic, WWI veteran and some time minister Willie Isaac Bass of North Carolina.

Bass was frequently alongside Tomlinson during some of the publicity stunts, such as actually turning swords into plowshares using a forge or picketing a major party convention. 

The Church of God Party believed in abolishing the line between church and state, instead of paying taxes citizens should tithe, and two new Cabinet positions needed to be created-- Sec. of Righteousness and Sec. of The Holy Bible.

As a sign of more outlandish things to come in his subsequent runs for President, in Richmond, Va. the media reported that Tomlinson, "will proclaim a kingdom of West Africa and anoint a Richmond barber as its king in a ceremony at Nathalie, Va. ..." In future hindsight, 1952 would be Homer Tomlinson's most subdued campaign for President compared to the others awaiting the nation.

On Oct. 17, 1952 Tomlinson told the press, "I am depending on miracles to bring me to the White House." Since he was not on a single ballot he was asking for a lot even if he did garner more publicity than some other third parties that were officially listed. Undoubtedly the Church of God Party received some write-in votes, but they have been unrecorded.

A month after the election Tomlinson went to Korea and offered his services to the US government, or that of Willie I. Bass if they preferred, in negotiating a peace treaty to end the war.

Election history: none

Other occupations: mechanic, inventor, sailor in US Navy WWI, Church of God minister

Buried: Lafayette Memorial Park (Fayetteville, NC)

Notes:
Applied for a patent concerning an amphibious vehicle, 1948
Birthdate sometimes given as Nov. 3, 1895 or 1896.
Minister in Oakwood, Va. 1942.