Eric Thomas Chester

 Eric Chester in 1989

 

Eric Thomas Chester, August 6, 1943 (New York, NY) -

VP candidate for Socialist Party of the United States of America (aka Socialist Party USA aka Socialist Party aka Liberty Union Party aka Independent) (1996)

Running mate with nominee: Mary Cal Hollis (b. 1952)
Popular vote: 4,767 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Socialist Party USA in 1996 ran Mary Cal Hollis of Colorado for President and Eric Chester of Massachusetts as her VP.

Their platform and priorities were summed up in the voters pamphlet for Oregon:

A Single-Payer National Health Program = We must remove profit from health care. It is the basic right of every person to lead a healthful life. Health care must emphasize preventive medicine, the right to choose alternative types of care, increased publicly-funded  research to combat widespread disease, and the elimination of poverty, a major source of illness.

Corporate Accountability = In corporate America, only profits count! Our government has allowed the ravaging of ancient forests and public lands, and contamination of our soil, air and water. This disregard for the health of families makes a mockery of "family values." We must reign in corporate America and hold them responsible for their actions! 

A Humane Foreign Policy = We must slash our defense budget, stop arming the world and refuse aid to human rights abusers. It  has  been the Democratic and Republican administrations- more concerned with corporate profits than human rights- who have rationalized granting  "most favored nation" status to Communist China, guaranteeing the payment of wheat to Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein, and restoring the solid gold plumbing in the Emir's palace in Kuwait!

An Economy that Benefits All = Only the rich favor "trickle down" economics. We support living wages, worker control of industry  through democratic control of the workplace, a punitive tax on runaway corporations, and the repeal of NAFTA, GATT, so-called "right to work" laws, and the Taft-Hartley Act.

The Party had made an attempt to act as an umbrella for other groups on the Left and were successful in gaining the support of Vermont's Liberty Union Party, but failed to convince the Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party. Hollis herself was actually a member of the Green Party as well.

The advent of Internet became an unexpected recruiting tool as the SPUSA experienced a spike in interest from young voters.

Chester had compared the mainstream choice of Clinton-Dole in the 1996 election to that of Carter-Ford in 1976, suggesting there was not much daylight between the two in terms of economic policy.

During the low-budget campaign Hollis described an all too common scenario for third party candidates of driving her own car around the country, depending on the support of volunteers for lodging and food, and having her campaign schedule be interrupted by a real life job which in her case was serving as a teacher in special education.

At some point in 1996 Chester was apparently involved in a serious automobile accident in New York City which sidetracked him for a bit while he recovered from injuries.

Hollis and Chester had expressed a hope the SPUSA would be on the ballot in 15 to 20 states but they were listed in only five, and recorded write-ins in seven more. Their ballot vote results: Oregon 0.14%, Vermont 0.11%, Arkansas 0.06%, Colorado and Wisconsin 0.04% each.

Election history:
1968 - University of Michigan Board of Regents (New Politics Party) - defeated
1999 - Socialist Party of the United States of America nomination for President - defeated
2002 - US House of Representatives (Mass.) (Socialist Party of the United States of America) - defeated
2003 - Socialist Party of the United States of America nomination for President - defeated
2006 - US House of Representatives (Mass.) (Socialist Party of the United States of America) - defeated
2007 - Socialist Party of the United States of America nomination for President - defeated

Other occupations: author, economics professor, Elector for the New Politics Party 1968, member of Industrial Workers of the World.

Notes:
Was an Elector for the Cleaver/Hochman New Politics Party ticket in Michigan 1968
Now lives in Glasgow, Scotland
Joined the SPUSA around 1980

Lawrence D. Hochman

Lawrence D. Hochman, October 18, 1929 (Detroit, Mich.) - January 25, 2009 (Livonia, Mich.?)

VP candidate for New Politics Party (1968)

Running mate with nominee: Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998)
Popular vote: 4,585 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Driven chiefly by Californians, the Peace and Freedom Party was organized in the mid-1960s and went national in an attempt to link together various contingents of the Left. At their Presidential nominating convention Aug. 17-18, 1968 in Ann Arbor, Mich. where Eldridge Cleaver was selected over Dick Gregory, a schism had already become obvious. Gregory would go on to outpoll Cleaver on Election Day.

Cleaver, the author of Soul on Ice and the Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party, had little patience for the serious bickering that took place at the convention. When it came time to nominate a Vice-Presidential candidate, Cleaver suggested Youth International Party activist Jerry Rubin-- an idea that went nowhere as many considered Rubin to be too erratic, uncontrollable, and part of the Far Right of the Far Left. As the convention wrestled over this and other issues, Cleaver walked out in frustration and the matter was eventually left up to each state to select his running mate.

A member of the Socialist Workers Party took notes at this event and concluded:

Some Generalizations 1) The P&F movement is in a state of serious disarray. 2) The "coalition" with the Panthers had been badly shaken. 3) If Cleaver doesn't extricate himself from this mess soon he will rapidly and thoroughly discredit himself in the eyes of black militants inside and outside the BPP.

In April 1968, prior to being nominated, Cleaver was involved in a police shootout. Shortly after the election he felt obliged to jump bail and flee to Cuba.

In Michigan Cleaver was not nominated by the Peace and Freedom but rather the New Politics Party, a very short-lived Michigan group. It is difficult to ascertain if this organization was more closely affiliated with the Peace and Freedom Party, the New Party, or anyone else. For VP they nominated Larry Hochman, an associate professor of physics at Eastern Michigan University.

There was also a New Politics Party in Indiana that found themselves with a blank slate when their proposed Eugene McCarthy/John Lindsay ticket turned them down, so they replaced them with Dick Gregory/Mark Lane. Whether the Indiana and Michigan New Politics parties were related is unclear, like most everything else about the 1968 election!

On a campaign budget of merely $944.09, the Cleaver/Hochman electioneering activity was severely limited.

The national vote for Cleaver was 36,571 (0.04%). Of those votes 4,585 (0.14%) came from the Cleaver/Hochman choice in Michigan where they placed 4th. Hochman expressed disappointment that they did not reach one percent, meaning that next time they would have to achieve ballot status once again by employing the onerous task of gathering petition signatures. He said he doubted he would run again.

Election history: none

Other occupations: physics instructor, attorney, author

Buried: ?

Notes:
Part of the Burdick-Hochman political family in Michigan.
Hochman stated his nomination and other Leftist activity was the reason why Eastern Michigan
 University denied him a permanent position. He and two other Leftist professors in the same
 situation sued and EMU settled in 1971.
Lived in a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz in 1951.