Maureen Kennedy Salaman

Maureen Kennedy Salaman, April 4, 1936 (Glendale, Calif.) – August 17, 2006 (Atherton, Calif.)

VP candidate for Populist Party (aka Independent aka American Independent Party aka Conservative Party aka American Populist Party aka Constitution Party) (1984)

Running mate with nominee: Robert E. Richards (b. 1926)
Popular vote: 65,328 (0.07%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The far-Right anti-Establishment group Liberty Lobby had served as a haven for opponents of Communism and big government since the 1950s. It was also a safe place for anti-Semites, tax protesters, white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, Posse Comitatus, John Birch Society members, Christian nationalists, and alternative medicine advocates who opposed "Big Pharma." In an attempt to soften the image and broaden their appeal they took a distinct small-l libertarian populist stance in the 1980s and formed the Populist Party.

This Populist Party had no relation to the party of the same name that existed nearly a century earlier, but their platforms did share a nationalist / anti-immigrant / pro-tariff policy with racist undertones. The newer version of the Populist Party also opposed the personal income tax and advocated the elimination of the Federal Reserve. The original Populist Party was aiming for the agricultural labor force where the modern Populist Party was trying to connect with an angry white lower middle class that felt abandoned by the major parties. And they denied they were racist or anti-Semitic in spite of the track record of many leading Party activists.

Their 1984 Presidential nominee was Bob Richards, a noted pole vaulter and decathlete in the Olympic Games 1948-1956 (and first athlete to appear on the front of a box of Wheaties), and VP nominee was Freedom of Health Choice activist Maureen Kennedy Salaman. Both were celebrities in their own professional territories but neither had run for political office before-- but they were photogenic like right out of a 1950s toothpaste ad, and knew how to work with the press.

Acting as an umbrella party for the extreme Right in many respects, the new Populist Party absorbed what was left of the American Independent Party and ran under that label in California and Rhode Island. In Kansas it was with the Conservative Party, in Wisconsin the Constitution Party.

It could be argued that by 1984 the Republican Party itself had co-opted a lot of the issues previously advocated by Christian nationalist political parties of the past, except in more subtle ways. One major difference from the Reagan administration and the Populist Party was the latter's antipathy toward large corporations and desire for the U.S. to stay out of foreign military conflicts.

Salaman's place on the ticket is interesting and challenges the notion that New Age-type beliefs are strictly in the realm of the Left (although in her case the same sort of modern metaphysical notions and disdain for professional expertise were adapted to fit into a Christian model). She was continuing to promote distrustful views against the medical establishment that were expressed earlier in the 1950s and early 1960s by the American Vegetarian Party, particularly with 1960 AVP running mate Christopher Gian-Cursio. Today we see this same subculture expression in the anti-vaccination movement.

Salaman actually lacked any accredited education in the field of nutrition but she was a master in promotion and activism. The Internet-based Quackwatch.org ("Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions") has included her in their profiles of subjects.

The Party did not give itself a lot of time to campaign as third parties go having named their ticket in August. But it was enough of a spell for Richards to start distancing himself from the Liberty Lobby and claim they had little influence, a move that did not sit well with a segment of the Party base.

The Populist Party was on the ballot in 14 states, with Salaman as the running-mate in all but West Virginia where Charles Perry was the VP. They placed 6th nationally, which was fairly amazing considering how far they came in such a short time. In two states where they ran under the names of "host" parties they placed 3rd: Kansas (Conservative) and Rhode Island (American Independent). Strongest popular vote percentages (and the party they were listed under on the ballot) were in Idaho 0.56% (Populist), California 0.41% (American Independent), Kansas (Conservative) and North Dakota (Populist) 0.35% each, and Washington (Populist) 0.30%. All of them states west of the Mississippi River.

Election history: none

Other occupations: nutritionist, alternative medicine lobbyist, author, lecturer, publisher, television and radio host, President of the National Health Federation

Buried: Oak Hill Memorial Park (San Jose, Calif.)

Notes:
Findagrave lists her burial place in two different cemeteries in California both called "Oak Hill
 Memorial Park."
Buried in the same cemetery as Sylvia Browne, William Henry Eddy, and Paul Masson.
Her son Sean David Morton, an alleged psychic and "America's Prophet" is currently serving time in
 federal prison for various financial crimes including tax fraud.
Member of the Knights of St. John.
According to her daughter, Salaman was a member of the John Birch Society.

Eileen Mary Shearer

Below: The Utah ballot line where the AIP was known as the Independent American Party

Eileen Mary Shearer, December 24, 1920 (Detroit, Mich.) - December 20, 2003 (Lemon Grove, Calif.)

VP candidate for American Independent Party (aka Conservative Party aka American Party aka Independent aka Independent American Party aka Constitution Party) (1980)

Running mate with nominee: John Richard Rarick (1924-2009)
Popular vote: 40,906 (0.05%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In keeping their tradition of nominating Southern politicians with a segregationist history for President the American Independent Party selected former Rep. John Rarick (D-La.) in 1980. Listed as a the second most conservative Democratic member of the House between 1937-2002, the transplanted Hoosier now in Louisiana had connections with the White Citizens' Council, John Birch Society, and Liberty Lobby.

Rarick had been an open supporter of the AIP since George Wallace's run in 1968 and easily won the 1980 nomination over Percy Greaves, who was already the Presidential candidate of the American Party. Eileen Shearer, wife of AIP founder William Kennedy Shearer, was chosen as the VP.

According to Shearer the AIP elders were gathered in the wee hours in a Sacramento hotel room trying to select a running-mate when Rarick turned to her and said, "Eileen, I want you. Let's show 'em we really believe in equal rights for women."

"I thought he was kidding," Shearer related, "I hadn't even considered running. And if he wasn't kidding, I didn't see how I could accept. Why, I hadn't in fact taken a dress to the convention. I didn't think I'd need one."

She said, "My gosh, John. I don't even have a dress for the main event." He said, "Aw, that's all right. I never saw a vice-president in a dress anyway."

Shearer recalled, "How could I refuse a vote of confidence like that?"

The AIP 1980 platform included favoring a balanced budget and high tariffs, limited federal regulations, cuts in public welfare, opposition to busing, opposition to abortion, eliminate the draft, end personal income tax, no Equal Rights Amendment, protecting unions, encouraging domestic oil production while developing alternative energy resources, supported restricting immigration, opposed the UN and SALT II and giving away the Panama Canal. Although Reagan was in line with many of their policies, they did not trust him to follow through. The AIP in 1980 went to great pains to claim their racist days were over and now they were a populist party "taking the yoke off middle-class Americans" according to Shearer.

In addressing the two-party system Shearer told the press, "No matter what the administration is, policy doesn't change. We keep floundering in the same old waters. And that's why the two-party system as we know it is going to shatter. Nothing handed down by God says we have to have two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. I'd like to see some distinct parties where you've really got a choice. It's coming. You'll see ... John Anderson's meteoric rise shows how people are searching for a vehicle to express themselves. There's going to be a realignment in this country, and we are going to be in a strong position after that."

On the ballot in eight states they had their strongest popular vote results in Alabama 1.12%, Rarick's home state of Louisiana 0.67%, Idaho 0.24%, and South Carolina 0.20%. After this election the AIP faded away as a national party (although remained intact in California, sort of) and became absorbed into other political movements.

Election history:
1976 - American Independent Party nomination for Vice-President - defeated

Other occupations: real estate

Buried: Glen Abbey Memorial Park (Bonita, Calif.)

Notes:
Cousin to Sen. William F. Knowland.
Previously a Republican.
Came to California in 1939 to become a singer.

William Daniel Dyke

William Daniel Dyke, April 25, 1930 (Princeton, Ill.) – March 10, 2016 (Dodgeville, Wis.)

VP candidate for American Independent Party (aka Conservative Party aka George Wallace Party aka American Party aka Independent aka Constitutional Party aka Concerned Citizens Party) (1976)

Running mate with nominee: Lester Maddox (1915-2003)
Popular vote: 162,657 (0.19%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

By the 1976 election the American Party and the American Independent Party were two separate political entities, both claiming to be the rightful philosophical heir to George Wallace's 1968 significant third party effort.

While the American Party was more influenced by the John Birch Society, the American Independent Party had taken a couple steps into the past and in a contentious and bitter convention battle nominated the publicity-grabbing arch-bigot and pickaxe handle wielding ex-Governor of Georgia, Lester Maddox. Many delegates who considered themselves to be serious conservatives walked out of the convention upon his nomination as they regarded Maddox to be a populist buffoon and throwback to an era while inflaming an issue that most of America, including many in this Right-wing party, wanted to put behind them and move on.

To balance the ticket the VP position was given to former Madison, Wis. Mayor Bill Dyke, who made his mark as a controversial conservative law and order Republican during the anti-war demonstrations in his city. He had been a member of the American Independent Party for only a few hours before he won the nomination.

Upon being selected as the Veep, Dyke said, "We're going to effect the outcome, sure we are. I have no illusions about this. This is not a major party and I'm aware of that." When asked if he shared Maddox's views on race, Dyke replied, "Certainly not. I am not a segregationist." Since the words "Lester Maddox" and "segregation" were solidly welded together by 1976 one is left wondering why Dyke agreed to be the running mate or associated with Maddox in any way. Needless to say, many of Dyke's past Republican supporters were shocked and dismayed. And many of Dyke's former progressive opponents pointed to this action as proof Dyke had always been the extremist they said he was.

The AIP platform opposed abortion, the ERA, pornography, homosexuality, gun control, legal marijuana, and busing for school segregation, U.S. involvement with the United Nations, amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders, and releasing the Panama Canal. It supported the governments of Taiwan, South Africa, and Rhodesia.

George Wallace, the Godfather of the AIP, endorsed Jimmy Carter in the course of the campaign. Maddox was livid. He said southern Democrats who endorse Carter were "southern pseudo-conservatives" who "have betrayed the people and betrayed the South." Of Wallace in particular Maddox declared the Carter endorsement was "The greatest blow to the conservative cause in this nation's experience." Maddox predicted a Ford victory.

The Maddox/Dyke ticket was on the ballot or had recorded write-ins in 23 states and placed 5th nationally, closely tucked after the Libertarian Party and in front of the American Party. Maddox had a different running mate in the state of New Jersey, Edmund O. Matzal.

Maddox/Dyke polled 1.74% in Idaho. The runner up states were Louisiana 0.79%, Alabama 0.78%, California 0.65%, Mississippi 0.63%, Nebraska 0.56%, Pennsylvania and Washington 0.55% each, and Connecticut 0.51%. An argument could be made that the AIP cost President Ford the State of Ohio but that would not have changed the final outcome of the national contest.

Other occupations: children's TV host, TV news panel show moderator, general contractor, horse breeder, attorney, judge, children's book illustrator, movie producer

Election history:
1967 - Mayor of Madison, Wis. (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1969-1973 - Mayor of Madison, Wis. (Nonpartisan)
1973 - Mayor of Madison, Wis. (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1974 - Governor of Wisconsin (Republican) - defeated

Buried: ?

Notes:
He had a past and future third party VPs as opponents in the 1974 race: Patrick Lucey (winner) and
 Georgia Cozzini.
An uncredited executive producer of the 1975 film The Giant Spider Invasion.
Illustrator of the children's book The General's hat, or why the bell tower stopped working / by Kay
 Price (Sauk City, WI : Geranium Press, 1990)

Thomas Jefferson Anderson

Thomas Jefferson Anderson, November 10, 1910 (Nashville, Tenn.) – August 30, 2002 (Raleigh, NC)

VP candidate for American Independent Party (aka American Party aka Constitutional Party aka Independent aka Independent Party aka Conservative aka George Wallace Party) (1972)

Running mate with nominee: John G. Schmitz (1930-2001)
Popular vote: 1,100,896 (1.42%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

As it happens so often with radical political movements that are personality-driven, when that personality is no longer around a vicious battle for supremacy takes place to fill the power vacuum. So it was with the American Independent Party when George Wallace returned to the Democratic Party after his unsuccessful third party bid in 1968.

Wallace was rather cagey about whether he would return to the AIP or not in the event he failed to win the Democratic nomination, but an assassination attempt gravely crippling the candidate on May 15, 1972 derailed all of his electioneering plans for that year. Several Wallace loyalists felt the AIP was really a one-man party, while others were ready to forge ahead on a policy-driven agenda.

Where the 1968 version of AIP had a populist and segregationist regional appeal in the South, the 1972 version reflected the fact that the ticket was occupied by John Birchers and their message played well in the Far West. But not all was rosey in the Party. Some of the disgruntled Ohio AIP delegates went home and formed their own ticket of Edward Wallace and Robert B. Mess.

John G. Schmitz outpolled segregationist Lester Maddox and fellow John Birch Society member and author Tom Anderson for the AIP Presidential nomination. Anderson became the running mate. Schmitz and Anderson were both well known in the art of sharp-tongued wisecracks.

Their campaign slogan: "When you're out of Schmitz, you're out of gear" was a takeoff on the well-known ad jingle at the time, "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer."

To describe Schmitz as an ultra-conservative would be putting it mildly. In 2004 Schmitz was selected as the third most conservative member of the House and Senate between 1937-2002, behind only Ron Paul and Larry McDonald. Eventually he grew too extreme for even the John Birch Society and was expelled from the organization. A decade later the scandals of his personal life caught up to him, ending his political career. Tom Anderson would run for President in 1976 from the splinter American Party.

The Schmitz/Anderson ticket placed third nationally. Although not nearly as successful as George Wallace was in 1968, they did have some impressive results, actually placing second in a few counties. They were on the ballot in over 30 states. Strongest vote percentages: Idaho 9.3%, Alaska 7.25%, Utah 5.97%, Oregon 4.98%, Louisiana 4.95%, Montana 4.23%, Washington 4.00%, Arizona 3.25%, California 2.78%.

Election history:
1972 - American Independent Party nomination for US President - defeated
1976 - US President (American Party) - defeated
1978 - US Senate (Tenn.) (Independent) - defeated

Other occupations: sailor (US Navy WWII), securities salesman, journalist, author, radio commentator, John Birch Society activist

Buried: Mt. Hope Cemetery (Franklin, Tenn.)

Notes:
Winner of the 1978 race was Howard Baker.
Buried in the same cemetery as Minnie Pearl (Sara Ophelia Colley Cannon)
Methodist.
"America has a great mission to perform: to save the world from slavery and to save the world for Christianity."--Tom Anderson ca1962

Kent Harbinson Courtney

Kent Harbinson Courtney, October 23, 1918 (St. Paul., Minn.) – August 12, 1997 (Alexandria, La.)

VP candidate for Conservative Party of New Jersey (aka Conservative Party) (1960)

Running mate with nominee: Joseph Bracken Lee (1899-1996)

Popular vote: 8,708 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/537

The campaign:

Like some other third party figures (e.g. Symon Gould of the American Vegetarian Party) this is a case where the VP nominee was actually the true power behind the scenes.

Kent Courtney was a Louisiana-based extreme Right-wing segregationist, anti-communist and member of John Birch Society. Through the use of radio programs, pamphlets, letters to the editor, and his own newspapers he had been agitating for the creation of a new conservative third party.

Early in 1960 Courtney ran for Governor of Louisiana as a member of the States' Rights Party. After that failed he worked to have US Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) become the Republican Party nominee. When Goldwater was defeated by Richard Nixon, Courtney returned to the notion of starting a new far-Right party. In 1960 there was a plethora of conservative political parties already in existence and it isn't clear by his actions if Courtney wanted to unite them under his leadership or simply do his own thing.

Also in 1960 Courtney was a States' Rights Party Presidential "Unpledged" Elector for Louisiana. This ballot choice finished with 20.99% of the vote in that state, winning in 17 parishes.

Courtney's efforts to create a strong conservative third party ticket ran into some problems. His idea of the ideal candidate was the populist segregationist Democratic Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus. The Governor claimed he had to concentrate on being re-elected to the office he already held so he was dropped from consideration, but as it turned out the National States' Rights Party nabbed Faubus' name for their Presidential nominee. Next was US Sen. Strom Thurmond (D-SC), but at the end of August 1960 Thurmond refused to run: "I have declined previously to be a candidate of a third party for the presidency this year, and I again decline to be an independent candidate, or to permit my name to be used on such a ticket."

When the newly formed Conservative Party managed to file for the only state where they qualified for the ballot-- New Jersey-- they got around the Strom-for-President problem by making the Senator the VP nominee instead! Sen. Goldwater was listed as the nominee for President. But both senators wanted nothing to do with the Conservative Party of New Jersey, so at the last minute the embryonic political group put Joseph Bracken Lee in the Presidential slot and Kent Courtney as his running mate.

Lee, the former Republican Governor of Utah and 1956 VP nominee for the Texas Constitution Party, was now the newly elected Mayor of Salt Lake City. I could not locate any comment by Lee regarding his 1960 Presidential nomination.

On the ballot in New Jersey only, their 8708 poll amounted to 0.31% of the popular vote in the Garden State, where they placed 4th behind the Socialist Workers Party.

Election history:
1954 - City Council, New Orleans, La. (Democratic) - defeated
1960 - Governor of Louisiana (States's Rights Party) - defeated
1976 - US House of Representatives (Independent) - defeated

Other occupations: sailor (US Navy WWII), airline pilot, commercial officer with the British consulate in New Orleans, public relations, teacher, newspaper publisher, author, radio personality

Buried: Bayou Ridge Baptist Cemetery (Evergreen, La.)

Notes:
Also called Kent Harbenson Courtney
Reluctantly supported Goldwater in 1964 even though he felt the Senator was too liberal.
Worked in the American Independent Party for Wallace in 1968
Saw a UFO while piloting a plane from Brazil to Africa in 1944 and became a lifelong UFOlogist.
Was a close associate of JFK assassination conspiracy figure Guy Banister.

Edward Joseph Silverman

Edward Joseph Silverman, August 2, 1913 (Davidson County, Tenn.) - August 12, 1980 (Kenbridge, Va.)

VP candidate for Conservative Party of Virginia (aka Conservative Party aka Virginia Conservative Party) (1960)

Running mate with nominee: Claiborne Benton Coiner (1912-1963)

Popular vote: 4204 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/537

The campaign:

In sort of a spin on the unpledged electors wave of the 1950s-1960s, the newly formed Conservative Party of Virginia ran a ticket that were pledged electors for other people. Originally the Party nominated Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. (D-VA) for President with Sen. Barry M. Goldwater (R-AZ) as his running mate. Both senators asked to be removed from consideration.

So the Party nominated segregation activists C. Benton Coiner for President with Edward J. Silverman as his running mate, making it the literary sounding Coiner/Silverman ticket. The fact that both were residents of Virginia and as such would pose a Constitutional problem if elected didn't seem to bother anyone. Remember, Harry Krajewski and Anna Marie Yezo of the Poor Man's Party had been kept off the ballot in New Jersey in 1960 for that very reason.

Coiner and Silverman pledged that if they won they would instruct their Electors to cast their votes for Byrd and Goldwater in a bid to throw the election into the US House. Goldwater's objection was strong enough that they substituted the pledged VP votes to arch-conservative journalist Thomas Jefferson Anderson (who would become a future third party VP and Presidential nominee himself).

Many conservatives in Virginia, although sympathetic to the new third party's platform, felt the election in Virginia was going to be too close and that Coiner/Silverman might hand the state to JFK, so they expressed their support but their votes still went to Nixon.

Silverman, who was connected with a small weekly newspaper in Blackstone, Va., was the segregationist du jour by virtue of his leading a rousing rally called the Bill of Rights Crusade while exhibiting his gift for oratory in Mar. 1959. Newspapers at the time identified him as a charismatic spokesperson for The Defenders of State Sovereignty. The demonstration, described with terms like "a last ditch effort" and "highly dramatic yet minimally effective" by reporters and historians, brought 5000 angry Virginians to the capitol steps at Richmond and launched Silverman's short 1960-1966 foray into elective politics.

On Election Day their 4204 votes amounted to 0.54% of the Virginia results. Their strongest showing was in Silverman's own Lunenburg County with 3.78%, followed by Orange County 3.00%, Surry County 2.77%, Nottoway County 2.56%. Nixon took the state by a comfortable margin.

C. Benton Coiner committed suicide by hanging, Oct. 3, 1963.

Election history:
1966 - US House of Representatives (Va.) (Conservative Party of Virginia) - defeated

Other occupations: newspaper advertising salesman, worker at Railway Handle Corp., newspaper editor

Buried: Kenbridge Heights Cemetery (Kenbridge, Va.)

Notes:
Sometimes listed as Edward M. Silverman

Thomas Harold Werdel

Thomas Harold Werdel, September 13, 1905 (Emery, S.D.) – September 30, 1966 (Bakersfield, Calif.)

VP candidate for Independent States' Rights Party (aka States' Rights Party aka For America Party aka National Andrews-Werdel Party aka Andrew-Werdel Party aka Dixiecrats aka Independent aka Conservative Party) (1956)

Running mate with nominee: T. Coleman Andrews (1899-1983)

Popular vote: 108,956 (0.18%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Of all the Right-wing third party presidential campaigns of 1956 this one was the most well-financed and successful in terms of bridging a lasting coalition of Southern Democratic segregationists with  anti-Establishment/anti-Eisenhower Republicans and setting the stage for future victories. There had already been a large movement of unpledged electors, and the Andrews-Werdel ticket worked to gain their support. As the campaign gained steam they collected followers from various conservative factions, including the official endorsement of the Constitution Party. The new party, which seems to have had a few name changes along the way depending on the state, was chiefly boosted by disciples of the recently deceased pro-Taft "Colonel" McCormick of the Chicago Tribune.

T. Coleman Andrews, a Virginian who had never run for office, was a darling of the conservatives for being an outspoken critic of the income tax system while he was Commissioner of Internal Revenue in the Eisenhower administration 1953-1955. His running mate, ex-Congressman Thomas H. Werdel of California, was a Taft Republican and sworn enemy of Earl Warren.

Rather than being a grassroots endeavor, this party appears to have been the product of an embryonic conservative media through print and radio acting as a rallying point for vested interests. Among the supporters were 1952 Constitution Party VP and anti-income tax activist Vivien Kellems as well as Joseph Milteer, who would be implicated in future JFK assassination theories.

The platform called for a strong military, pro-state's rights (code for pro-segregation), anti-income tax, anti "dangerous trend toward socialism," anti-communism, anti-foreign aid, anti-"world government."

It is difficult to ascertain just how many votes the ticket gained on Election Day due to the presence of unpledged electors also on the ballot who may or may not have supported Andrews/Werdel. The unpledged elector result was 196,318 (0.32%), finishing third ahead of all the minor parties. Andrews/Werdel placed fourth with 108,956 (0.18%).

They were on the ballot in 12 states and finished with 6.16% in Virginia and 2.11% in Tennessee, actually winning one county in each state. In their only role as a spoiler, they probably tipped the scales in Tennessee in favor of Eisenhower. After Arkansas (1.72%) they finished with less than 1% in the remainder of the states.

The 1956 results had no impact in the short run but would be significant in the long run.

Election history:
1943-1947 - California State Assembly (Republican)
1949-1953 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Republican)
1952 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
1952 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Republican) - defeated

Other occupations: attorney

Buried: Greenlawn Cemetery and Mortuary (Bakersfield, Calif.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Adrian Adonis.
Died as a result of complications from diabetes.
Originally from the Taft-wing of the Republican Party and an adversary of Earl Warren.
Joseph Milteer, who would be implicated in future JFK assassination theories, was active in the 1956
 campaign. And to make this trivia totally nerdy, Milteer is buried in a cemetery in Quitman, Ga., a
 town named after third party VP John Anthony Quitman who ran in the Southern Rights Party 1852!