Francis Benjamin Hemenway

Francis Benjamin Hemenway, June 21, 1885 (Aplington, Iowa) - July 22, 1949 (Tacoma, Wash.)

VP candidate for Liberty Party (1932)

Running mate with nominee: William Hope "Coin" Harvey (1851-1936)
Popular vote: 53,425 (0.13%) 
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

In Aug. 1931 80-year old William Hope "Coin" Harvey held the first convention for the Liberty Party at his Arkansas resort, Monte Ne. It was on this same site he was constructing a pyramid (never completed) as a time capsule and place of refuge when the End of the World arrived. Today most of Monte Ne is under an artificial lake.

The platform reflected Harvey's populist bi-metal philosophy, gained during his years as a silver mine developer and Bryan supporter in Ouray, Colo.

The Party selected Andrea B. Nordskog of Los Angeles as the running mate. Within a few months Harvey wanted Nordskog to step down, charging him with ethical lapses. Nordskog refused. There was discussion in the Party of overthrowing Harvey.

On July 4, a brief fusion movement took place, generated by Liberty Party Chairman and anti-Harveyist Roland Bruner, to create a new third party by combining all the various populist-themed organizations in the 1932 election season. Jacob Coxey had declared interest in being the standard bearer. What resulted was the creation of a rump-Liberty Party that nominated Frank Webb (1928 Farmer-Labor presidential nominee) and Nordskog. Some news reports called this the New Liberty Party or the Liberal Party.

Meanwhile at a second convention of the Harvey Liberty Party in August, where Frank B. Hemenway was nominated as the replacement running mate, there was some talk of merging with the Jobless Party, but big egos combined with an anti-Catholicism streak don't mix well.

In September, Frank Webb threatened Harvey with a lawsuit if he refused to step aside. This was echoed by Chairman Bruner and Liberty Party National Secretary Otis Spurgeon, who claimed Harvey's nomination was illegal. Harvey stayed in the race but on some ballots he was listed as an independent.

Frank B. Hemenway was also on the Washington State ballot running for State Insurance Commissioner as a member of the Liberty Party. In fact, in The Evergreen State the Liberty Party ran a strong campaign for every statewide office, causing some genuine concern among the two major parties.

The Harvey/Hemenway ticket finished with an impressive 4.93% in Washington and 1.16% in South Dakota. In the other states where they were on the ballot they failed to crack the 1% mark: Arkansas, California, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Texas. In Indiana they merged with and endorsed John Zahnd and his National Party.

And then-- they vanished.

Election history:
1932 - Washington State Insurance Commissioner (Liberty Party) - defeated

Other occupations: real estate

Buried: cremated

Notes:
If elected, would have become President upon the death of Harvey on Feb. 11, 1936.
Lived in Manitoba ca. 1911.
Unitarian

Florence Garvin

Florence Garvin, February 27, 1876 (Middletown, Conn.) - July 10, 1968 (Providence, RI)

VP candidate for National Party (aka Independent Party aka Greenback Party) (1932)
VP candidate for National Greenback Party (1936)

Running mate with nominee (1932, 1936): John Zahnd (1877-1961)
Popular vote (1932): 1645 (0.00%)
Popular vote (1936): 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1932): 0/531
Electoral vote (1936): 0/531

The campaign (1932):

Ex-leader of his own religion John Zahnd chose not to run in 1932 as he had in 1924 and 1928, but sometimes our best plans go awry.

Seymour E. Allen of Springfield, Mass. was nominated for President but he withdrew once he learned more about the anti-union record of the National Party.

The National Party then nominated 72-year old George Wilson, a newsstand and drugstore operator in Vineland, NJ as their nominee. Wilson had been connected with the People's Party and was a member of Coxey's Army in 1894. 62-year old J.A. Parker of Blytheville, Penn. was picked as his running mate.

Wilson said he would only accept the nomination on the condition the National Party merged with the Farmer-Labor (which was home to Jacob Coxey in 1932) and Liberty parties. Zahnd, who ran his party with an iron fist, would have none of that, so Wilson was out. As Fate would have it, the National Party and Liberty Party would indeed merge on the Indiana ballot a month or two later.

With time getting short, Zahnd himself stepped up to the nomination at some point in late August or early September. Florence Garvin of Rhode Island was selected as his running mate.

Indiana was the only state where the Zahnd/Garvin could be found on a ballot.

The campaign (1936):

In 1936 the Zahnd/Garvin ticket ran again, this time under the banner of the National Greenback Party. They were not on the ballot in any states.

Election history:
1924 - US House of Representatives (Del.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated

Other occupations: author, suffragette, Vice-President of the Women's National Single Tax League 

Buried: Swan Point Cemetery (Providence, RI)

Notes:
Daughter of Lucius Garvin, Gov. of Rhode Island 1903-1905.
Buried in the same cemetery as Ambrose Burnside, Nelson Aldrich, Thomas Wilson Dorr, H.P. Lovecraft.

Wesley Henry Bennington

Wesley Henry Bennington, May 18, 1861 (Bucyrus, Ohio) - October 30, 1928 (Cleveland Heights, Ohio)

VP candidate for National Party (aka Greenback Party) (1928)

Running mate with nominee: John Zahnd (1877–1961)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Although running for President as a write-in on his personality-driven National Party, John Zahnd was also running for real as candidate for the US Senate in Indiana under the same party label in 1928. Back in 1924 he had also started to a run for the presidency but decided to withdraw and endorsed La Follette's Progressive Party.

Zahnd, a former Socialist, had started a new religion in Sept. 1918 in Kansas City, Mo., the Church of Christ/Order of Zion, an offshoot of an offshoot of the Mormons. He was a proponent of communal living, and, of course, the prophet for the new religion. His church appeared to be disappearing about the time of the 1928 election but Zahnd's political life would live on.

Zahnd's National Party appeared to be the last outdated gasp of the old People's Party and Greenback Party. The platform included planks supporting Prohibition, equal rights for women, the conscription of land as well as people during wartime, and the abolition of the Electoral College.

Running mate and typewriter executive Wesley H. Benningtion was ill during much of the campaign. He died shortly before the election on Oct. 30, 1928 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and apparently was not replaced on the ticket at the last minute. Not that it really mattered in terms of votes since the National Party did not appear on any ballots.

Election history:
1894 - Associate Justice (Kan.) (People's Party) - defeated

Other occupations: attorney, inventor, typewriter executive, notary public

Buried: Knollwood Cemetery (Mayfield Heights, Ohio)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Sam Sheppard.
Member of the People's Party in Topeka, Kansas 1890s
Obituary falsely claims he was a Lt. Gov. of Kansas.
Fined for shooting a cat while a resident of Kansas City, Kan. July 1901.
Took part in the pre- New Age "Mental Science Convention" of Nov. 28, 1901 in Sea Breeze, Fla.
Arrested for fraud in Cleveland 1908 for selling stock by misrepresentation.
Sometimes called William H. Bennington.

James Haywood Southgate

James Haywood Southgate, July 12, 1859 (Norfolk, Va.) – September 29, 1916 (Eno, NC)

VP candidate for National Prohibition Party (aka Liberty Party aka Silver Prohibitionists aka Free Silver Prohibitionists aka National Party) (1896)

Running mate with nominee: Charles Eugene Bentley (1841–1905)
Popular vote: 13,968 (0.10%)             
Electoral vote: 0/447

The campaign:

The Prohibition Party was not immune from the 1896 trend of relaignments and party splits. Their convention was divided by "narrow-gaugers" who wanted to focus primarly on anti-alcohol issues and "broad-gaugers" who felt the Party should also embrace many policies that echoed the Populists. In short, the "narrow-gaugers" won out ticket and the "broad-gaugers" bolted and formed their own splinter party, nominating Bentley and Southgate. They also absorbed the members of the embryonic National Reform Party.

The issues they added to their anti-alcohol platform included abolition of the Electoral College, women's suffrage, English as the only language to be used in schools, immigration laws to exclude paupers and criminals, bi-metalism, government control of railroads and telegraph, an income tax, and implementation of initiative and referendum systems.

They were on the ballot in 16 states, generally placing in at or near the bottom in the results. Their best tally was in New Jersey at 1.51%. The only state where they gained more votes than the regular Prohibition Party where they were both on the ballot was in Arkansas.

Election history: none.

Other occupations: banking, insurance, trustee for Trinity College (Duke University), 

Buried: Maplewood Cemetery (Durham, NC)

Notes:
Family moved to NC in 1861.
Was a Democrat prior to joining the Prohibition Party in 1885.
In the same cemetery as actress Anita Morris (1943-1994) from the movie Ruthless People.
Methodist
Led the successful effort as a Trinity College trustee to protect the academic freedom of faculty John
 Spencer Bassett when the teacher praised Booker T. Washington in 1903.