Howard Leroy Lydick

 Lydick is called "Watson" here. Not a good omen

Howard Leroy Lydick, September 2, 1929 (Anthony, Kan.) - August 5, 2008 (Richardson, Tex.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (2004)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka National Prohibition Party) (2008)

Running mate with nominee (2004, 2008): Earl F. Dodge (1932-2007)
Running mate with nominee (2008): Gene C. Amondson (1943-2009)
Popular vote (2004): 140 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2008): 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (2004, 2008): 0/538

The campaign (2004):

2004 was one of the more interesting election years for the Prohibition Party. It all came down to personality as the Party experienced a serious public schism that was a long time coming. Some of the details and exact sequence of events have differing and conflicting accounts, so I will tread carefully here.

The figure at the center of the controversy was Earl Dodge. He had been the Party's VP nominee in 1976 and 1980, and the Presidential nominee since 1984. Whether Dodge had kept the flame barely alive when it otherwise would have been extinguished, or ran the Party into the ground with the worst showing in their entire history in 2000 through self-serving behavior will forever be a topic of debate. In that year he barely overcame a challenge for the nomination.

In addition to being a lackluster vote-getter, Dodge was accused of running a nontransparent, secret personality-driven operation and, according to one news report of "inadequate accounting and even thievery."

In the summer of 2003, the timing being the traditional quadrennial time the Prohibition Party meets to nominate their national candidates, Dodge held what today's official Party webpage calls "A private, invitational conference of (some) Prohibition National Committeemen" held in Dodge's living room in Denver. Media reports said only 8 or 9 people were present, including Dodge and two of his daughters.

The running-mate selected was Texas attorney Howard Lydick, a 73-year old heart transplant recipient and lifelong Republican until he joined the Prohibition Party in 1995.

The reformers in the Party rejected the Dodge nomination and when they subsequently met in Fairfield Glade, Tenn. they considered themselves the true and official deal and the Dodge faction to be invalid. They nominated Gene C. Amondson for President with Leroy John Pletten of Michigan as the VP. Some accounts say they attempted to pacify Dodge by awarding him with a "chairman emeritus" title and offering to make Lydick the official running-mate. But it didn't take. Lydick proved himself to be solidly in the Loyalist faction when he said he would not run with anyone but Dodge.

Dodge himself dismissed the Reformer faction, "It's not a split from our party. It's just a couple of people. Sort of like a flea on an elephant that's trying to use our name to get some attention." He also said the publicity garnered by the internal conflict generated more attention  than usual for the Party and he deemed that a positive thing.

Of the 16 national tickets that had ballot access in 2004, the Dodge/Lydick duo placed 16th. They also finished last in the only state where they appeared as an option, in Dodge's Colorado with 0.01% of the popular vote. The Amondson/Pletten ticket, under the Concerns of People banner, were also on the Colorado ballot, where they finished with more than twice the popular vote than Dodge/Lydick. From the Reformer faction point of view, the Colorado results vindicated their effort and they felt the issue of who comprised the real Prohibition Party was settled.

If the Dodge/Lydick ticket had emerged victorious in 2004, Lydick would have elevated to the Presidency upon the death of Dodge Nov. 7, 2007. And Lydick himself died Aug. 5, 2008, meaning the USA would have had an unelected President for the remainder of the term, like it did with President Ford 1973-1977.

The campaign (2008):

The Dodge/(and now bearded) Lydick team were gearing up for the 2008 election, having formed their ticket in June, 2007. The Amondson/Pletten campaign solidified shortly after, and the stage was set for another Loyalist faction vs. Reformer faction election battle with the same personalities.

On the morning of Nov. 7, 2007 Dodge suddenly dropped dead at the age of 74 in the airport in Denver while waiting to board a flight to Pennsylvania in order to attend a button show.

Rather than fill the void left by Dodge and assume the Presidential nomination, the 77-year old Lydick made an effort for reconciliation. "We want to heal the division," he said, "Amondson is acceptable to me, and he has a long history in the temperance movement." Even though Pletten had already been tagged as Amondson's 2008 running-mate, Lydick apparently offered to take his place.

Some in the Party were wary. According to a Mar. 2008 news piece by Raphael Ahren:

But the reconciliation may not happen if Lydick insists on running. Before Dodge’s death, Amondson’s 2004 running mate, Leroy Pletten, had been nominated to run with him once more in 2008. And he still intends to do so. Pletten strongly opposes Lydick and the Dodge faction, calling them “crooks and liars” and speaking bluntly about the prospects of reconciliation: “That’s what Hitler always said, that he wants peace.”

According to one secondary source (thegreenpapers.com) Lydick was named as Amondson's running-mate for a ballot access attempt in Nevada. It is possible this effort was spearheaded by what remained of the Dodge faction. An Amondson/Lydick button was even produced.

Mr. Lydick died on Aug. 5, 2008, marking one of the few times in US history where both Presidential and VP nominees of the same ticket did not survive between the nomination and Election Day.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Army (Occupied Germany), insurance adjuster, attorney, President of the National Temperance and Prohibition Council, Chairman of the Independent Committee on Alcohol and Drugs for the United Methodist Church

Buried: Restland Memorial Park (Dallas, Tex.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Tom C. Clark, Patrick Cranshaw, and Ray Price.

Warren Chester Martin

Warren Chester Martin, October 13, 1909 (Ogden, Kan.) - August 5, 1998 (Junction City, Kan.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka National Prohibition Party) (1984)

Running mate with nominee: Earl F. Dodge (1932-2007)
Popular vote: 4,243 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In a June 1983 convention described by one reporter as having a "prayer revival atmosphere," the Prohibition Party nominated Earl Dodge in the first of his many runs for President and Party stalwart 74-year old Warren C. Martin of Junction City, Kan. as the VP. Addressing his age, Martin quipped, "I'm old enough to have some horse sense, which they haven't had in Washington for 50 years."

Mostly operating out of his own pocket, Martin campaigned mainly in his home state which was considered a Prohibition Party stronghold in that era. He went from town to town in a pickup truck festooned with billboards where on the top sign his own name took first billing over that of Presidential candidate Dodge. When the amiable Stetson-wearing VP described the "un-Constitutional two-party monopoly" he said, "When you come down to it, there's only about four cents worth of difference between the two major parties." George Wallace in 1968 used to say there wasn't a "dime's worth of difference," so the gap between the Republicans and Democrats was apparently narrowing, which must have come as something of a shock to Reagan and Mondale volunteers.

Actually, alcohol aside, the 1984 Prohibition Party platform was more conservative and evangelical Christian than ever and not too far ahead of the Republican's ever-quickening stampede to the far Right under Reagan. Anti-abortion was brought up as an issue more than once in the course of the Dodge/Martin electioneering.

Dodge suffered a mild heart attack on Jan. 3, 1984 but apparently recovered enough to continue the campaign. As a probable testimony to Martin's time and energy shaking hands and visiting editorial offices on his home turf, Kansas gave the ticket the highest popular vote percentage of any state.

On the ballot in five states, they finished with a very dismal 0.00% nationally. It was their worst showing in their long history up to that time, but wait, there's more!-- it will sink even lower as the future unfolds. Their popular vote percentages: Kansas 0.21%, Arkansas 0.10%, Colorado and North Dakota 0.07% each, and New Mexico 0.04%.

Election history:
1952 - Geary County? Commission (Kan.) (Prohibition Party?) - defeated
1954 - Kansas State Printer (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1956 - Kansas State Treasurer (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1958 - Governor of Kansas (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1964 - Kansas Attorney General (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1978 - Lt. Governor of Kansas (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1982 - Governor of Kansas (Prohibition Party) - defeated

Other occupations: variety store manager, rancher, Kansas State Parole Board

Buried: Milford Cemetery (Milford, Kan.) 

Notes:
From his obituary: "He and Harry O. Lytle were appointed minority party members of the Kansas
 State Parole Board in 1959 by Democratic governor George Docking, as a deliberate snub to the
 Republicans."
Methodist.
One of his opponents in the 1978 race was Marian Ruck Jackson.
Member of Gideons International and the Wycliffe Bible Translators Association.
Lived in Oklahoma in 1940.
Formerly a Republican.

Earl Farwell Dodge Jr.

Earl Farwell Dodge Jr., December 24, 1932 (Revere, Mass.) - November 7, 2007 (Denver, Colo.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka National Prohibition Party aka Independent) (1976)
VP candidate for National Statesman Party (aka Independent aka Statesman Party) (1980)

Running mate with nominee (1976, 1980): Benjamin Calvin Bubar Jr. (1917–1995)
Popular vote (1976): 15,932 (0.02%)
Popular vote (1980): 7,206  (0.01%)
Electoral vote (1976, 1980): 0/538

The campaign (1976):

The Prohibition Party nominee for President was Benjamin Bubar, a Maine printer and ordained Baptist preacher. He had experience being elected to public office serving in the State Legislature and local offices as a Republican.

Commenting on the Party's conservative non-alcohol platform issues, Bubar said in later years "We're not a one-issue party. We've always had more than one string in our fiddle. We've been around for a long time ... We believe in a representative republic, but what we've got right now is a socialist democracy bordering on anarchy."

The 1976 platform reads like a Christian nationalist document although there are some nods to social welfare. Apparently the convention narrowly voted to oppose capital punishment, but that plank did not make it to print.

The AP described the convention:

The national convention, first ever held west of the Mississippi River, was attended by about 100 delegates from 19 states, but only about 60 were still on hand to sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and wave their signs after the candidates were selected. Most were in their 60's and 70's and had been party members all their lives. There were almost no young people in attendance as the 106-year-old party prepared to shut down its gathering.

The real story behind the 1976 race for the Prohibition Party was the debut national-level appearance of the VP choice, who according to some accounts was an obstructionist in his role as a Party official in implementing some of Bubar's ideas for streamlined management and marketing of the Party.

Earl Dodge had been involved with the Party for over two decades before he stepped into the role of a national candidate. After 1976 he would basically be the face of the Party for a quarter century or so. Like many other third parties where one individual has been in power too long, his tenure as a Party leader was a good news/bad news thing, and according to present day Prohibition Party literature the bad news half got worse with each passing year until he was finally overthrown.

Oddly, the 1976 convention took place in the same area where Dodge's body was laid to rest decades later.

On the good news side Dodge kept the home fires burning during a period of time where the Prohibition Party could have easily died. Granted, those fires were allowed to become feeble embers with each passing election. The controversial side will emerge in the course of my profiles of Prohibition Party VPs and inner conflict within this organization over the subsequent decades.

As the campaign began, Dodge told the press the Party needed to change their image from that of stovepipe hat wearing humorless moralists who look like "they are perpetually sucking on a sour lemon." He added, "I'm sure most people think members of the party have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel."

Also early in the campaign Bubar told a newspaper that he aimed to, in the reporter's words, "Broaden the party's appeal to the same constituency as Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace."

After the initial news coverage of the June 1975 convention the media all but ignored the Bubar/Dodge ticket except for the occasional fluff jokey article.

The Bubar/Dodge ticket had results from a dozen states including some write-ins. As testimony to how well regarded Mr. Bubar was in his home state, they finished with 0.72% of the popular vote in Maine. Next best results were in Alabama 0.56%, Colorado 0.27%, and Kansas 0.15%. This would be the last election to date (Dec. 2019) that the Prohibition Party earned more then 10,000 votes or finished with a percentage as high as 0.02% of the national popular vote.

The campaign (1980):

The same ticket was revived in 1980 but with less success. In an effort to add some pizzazz and get away from the image of being a single-issue party, the name was changed to the National Statesman Party. Although the name had changed, the platform remained in the hard Right.

The ascent of Ronald Reagan had provided Christian conservatives and Protestant evangelicals with a political home and no doubt robbed the Prohibition/National Statesman Party of potential voters. To this day the Prohibition Party platform seems almost parallel and redundant with the Republican Party and other Right-wing groups in many ways-- except for alcohol.

Any centrists or progressives who might agree with the Party about the seriousness to public safety and general well-being posed by alcohol or other substances would find it difficult to support the rest of their platform. Years later Prohibition Party Presidential candidate Gene Amondson lamented to me how it bugged him that it was actually the Democrats who clamped down on public smoking. The Prohibition Party missed a chance to focus on different aspects of public health and form positive alliances across the political spectrum. Earl Dodge bears quite a bit of responsibility for perpetuating this political isolation and having the Party's platform be an extension of his own extremely conservative views. As we have seen in election results and dwindling membership one could propose this has not done them any favors in terms of a broader appeal.

If the media had not covered the Party very well in the 1976 campaign they practically ignored the Bubar/Dodge ticket in 1980. The true descent into near oblivion had begun.

With votes reported in a dozen states including write-ins they finished strongest in New Mexico 0.28%, Arkansas 0.16%, Alabama 0.13%, Colorado 0.10%, and Kansas 0.08%. The 0.01% national vote result was the worst percentage in the long history of the Prohibition Party.

Although the organization had changed their name to the National Statesman Party they were listed as either Statesman Party or Independent on the ballots. The Party returned to their previous name by the next election.

Other occupations: dealer in political memorabilia, Prohibition Party editor, Colorado State Elections Advisory Board 1974, Prohibition Party Presidential Elector 1968 (Mich.)

Election history:
1954 - Massachusetts Governor's Council (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1956 - Massachusetts Secretary of State (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1958 - Kosciusko County Commission (Ind.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1959 - Winona Lake (Ind.) Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1960 - US House of Representatives (Ind.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1966 - US Senate (Kan.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1969 - Kalamazoo (Mich.) City Commission (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1974 - Governor of Colorado (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1978 - Governor of Colorado (National Statesman Party) - defeated
1982 - Governor of Colorado (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1984 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1986 - Governor of Colorado (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1988 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1990 - US Senate (Colo.) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1992 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1994 - Governor of Colorado (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1996 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1998 - Regent At Large, Colorado State University (Prohibition Party) - defeated
2000 - Independent American Party nomination for US President - defeated
2000 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
2004 - Prohibition Party nomination for US President - defeated
2004 - US President (National Prohibition Party) - defeated
2008 - US President (National Prohibition Party) - died before election

Buried: Crown Hill Cemetery (Wheat Ridge, Colo.)

Notes:
Joined the Prohibition Party in 1952. He was formerly a Republican. 
Member of the National Christian Citizens Committee.
Alternate sources give his birthplace as Malden, Mass., which is where he was raised.
Winner of the 1960 election was Charles Halleck.
Winner of the 1974, 1978, 1982 elections was Dick Lamm.
Buried in the same cemetery as Barbara Bates, Richard James Biggs, and ironically, Adolph Coors.
Baptist.
Quite possibly holds the record among third party VPs for running for office the most times without
 ever winning.

Claude Alonzo Watson

Claude Alonzo Watson,  June 26, 1885 (Wexford, Mich.) – January 3, 1978 (Los Angeles, Calif.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (aka National Prohibition Party aka Commonwealth Party) (1936)

Running mate with nominee: David Leigh Colvin (1880-1959)

Popular vote: 37,646 (0.08%)

Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

The 1936 Prohibition Party convention selected WWI hero Alvin York as the running mate for D. Leigh Colvin (who was himself the 1920 VP selection for the Party) but the decorated soldier declined so the delegates turned to Los Angeles attorney Claude A. Watson.

It must have been a very difficult campaign year for the Colvin/Watson ticket. It was the first presidential election since the experiment with Prohibition had ended and for the veteran Party activists it must have felt like starting all over again.

The 1936 Party platform, seething with anger, roasted the two major parties over repeal of Prohibition. It also outlined policy statements on other issues and stated: "We present a sane, liberal and comprehensive program on the great problems of our time." This would probably be the last time the word "liberal" was used in a positive way by this group. 

Other selected passages foreshadowed the future for this party:

"It is plain that the crass materialism of our dominant parties; their abandonment of moral precepts; their flouting of the majesty of the law; their double dealing; their supreme self interest must be replaced by a return to the early American principles of dependence upon Almighty God as the source of all just government and to a following of the principles of the Prince of Peace."

"Movie Censorship

  We stand for federal supervision of the creation of motion picture films at the source of production so that the public effect may be beneficial and uplifting."

"Gambling

  We are opposed to the legalization of lotteries, gambling and all other forms of exploitation of the people."

With recorded votes in 25 states, their strongest finish was in California with 0.49%.

Election history:
1938 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1942 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1944 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1946 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1948 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1950 - Attorney General of California (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1952 - Los Angeles County (Calif.) District Attorney (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1954 - Republican nomination for Attorney General of California - defeated

Other occupations: minor league baseball player, attorney, Methodist minister, author

Buried: Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale, Calif.)

Notes:
Buried in the same cemetery as Forrest Ackerman, James Arness, Theda Bara, Joe Barbera, George Barris, Billy Barty, L. Frank Baum, Warner Baxter, Iceberg Slim, Wallace Beery, Joe Besser, Joan Blondell, Monte Blue, Humphrey Bogart, Gutzon Borglum, Clara Bow, William Boyd, Joe E. Brown, Vincent Bugliosi, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Francis X. Bushman, Jack Carson, William Castle, Lon Chaney, Charlie Chase, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Donald Crisp, George Cukor, Bob Cummings, Michael Curtiz, Dan Dailey, Delmer Daves, Sammy Davis Jr., William Demarest, Noah Dietrich, Walt Disney, Theodore Dreiser, Marie Dressler, Don Drysdale, W.C. Fields, Larry Fine, Errol Flynn, Dwight Frye, Clark Gable, Jerry Giesler, Samuel Goldwyn, Sydney Greenstreet, Jean Harlow, Edith Head, Edward Everett Horton, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Jones, Tom Keene, Ted Knight, Kathryn Kuhlman, Louis L'Amour, Alan Ladd, Carole Landis, Mervyn Leroy, Harold Lloyd, Carole Lombard, Ernst Lubitsch, Jeanette MacDonald, Chico Marx, Gummo Marx, Mike Mazurki, Chuck McCann, Victor McLaglen, Vincente Minnelli, Tom Mix, Clayton Moore, Hugh O'Brian, Merle Oberon, Clifford Odets, Edna May Oliver, R.F. Outcault, Lilli Palmer, Franklin Pangborn, Mary Pickford, Dick Powell, Blossom Rock, S.Z. Sakall, David O. Selznick, Aimee Semple McPherson, Norma Shearer, Red Skelton, William French Smith, Carrie Snodgress, Max Steiner, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Taylor, Irving Thalberg, Spencer Tracy, Ben Turpin, Hal B. Wallis, Mary Wells, James Whale, Bobby Womack, Sam Wood, Robert Woolsey, Hank Worden, William Wyler, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn, and Robert Young
The winner in the 1938 race for Attorney General of California was Earl Warren.
The winner in the 1950 race for Attorney General of California was Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.
Graduate of Alma College (Mich.)
His widow, Maude (1889-1996) lived to be 106.
Licensed pilot.
Sometimes called Dr. Claude Watson although the origin of the prefix is murky.

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.