John Anderson Brooks

John Anderson Brooks, June 3, 1836 (Mason County, Ky.) – February 3, 1897 (Memphis, Tenn.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1888)

Running mate with nominee: Clinton B. Fisk (1828-1890)
Popular vote: 249,819 (2.20%)   
Electoral vote: 0/401

The campaign:

The 1888 Prohibition Party platform extended beyond the alcohol issue. They included statements supporting anti-polygamy, pro-civil service, recognizing the Sabbath as a civil institution, and preventing those who are convicts, inmates or physically dependent to immigrate into the country. They also endorsed suffrage for all races but did not mention gender. Unlike other third parties, the Prohibitionists did not use their platform document to condemn Chinese Americans.

With a campaign slogan of "Dare to do Right," the Fisk/Brooks ticket on the Party's 5th run for the presidency scored the second highest national popular vote in their long history. In a field where seven parties were in competition the Prohibition Party placed third.

They were on the ballot in all the states except for one. Their best showing was in Minnesota (5.82%). This was an election where the popular vote winner Cleveland lost to the electoral vote winner Harrison, and in some states it could be argued the Prohibition Party were the spoilers.

Election history:
1884 - Governor of Missouri (Populist Party/Peoples Party/Prohibition Party) - defeated

Other occupations: Minister in the Disciples Church and then (1895) the Christian Church, President of Prohibition Alliance of Missouri 1880-1884, lecturer, President of Flemingsburg College (Ky.).

Buried: Elmwood Cemetery (Kansas City, Mo.)

Notes:
If elected, would have become President after the death of Fisk July 9, 1890. If elected for another term in 1892, he would have died during his last month in office.
Graduate of Bethany College, Va. (now West Va.) 1856
Was a Whig until the Civil War, then a Democrat prior to 1884.
Grew up on a farm with some slaves and had strong anti-abolitionist views in the late 1850s which he later apologized for and sought redemption in his 1888 acceptance speech for the Prohibition Party VP nomination.
At one point in the Civil War, slipped out of town while a minister in Eminence, Ky. to avoid arrest from the Union Army due to his sympathies to the South. He returned once the excitement had died down.

Charles E. Cunningham

Charles E. Cunningham, July 1, 1823 (Frederick County, Md.) – April 21, 1895 (Little Rock, Ark.)

VP candidate for Union Labor Party (1888)

Running mate with nominee: Alson J. Streeter (1823-1901)
Popular vote: 146,602 (1.31%)   
Electoral vote: 0/401

The campaign:

The Union Labor Party was sort of a bridge in time between the Greenback Party of the past and the Populist Party of the future.

Their platform included: anti-monopoly policies, equal pay for equal work for men and women, anti-child labor, graduated income tax, direct vote for US senators, and exclusion of Chinese immigrants.

Election history:
1873-1877 - Little Rock School Board (Ark.)
1882 - US House of Representatives (Ark.) (Greenback Party) - defeated
1886 - Governor of Arkansas (Agricultural Wheel Party) - defeated

Other occupations: freighting and mining businessman, sawmill operator

Buried: Oakland and Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park (Little Rock, Ark.)

Notes:
Moved to California 1849 then to Johnson County, Mo. 1854, St. Louis, Mo. 1862, Little Rock, Ark. ca. 1865.
Formerly a Whig until moving to Little Rock, then a Democrat, joined the Greenback Party in 1876.
Became the Union Labor running mate after Samuel Evans of Texas declined the nomination.
Later became active with the Populist Party.
Father was an immigrant from Scotland.

William Harrison Thompson Wakefield

William Harrison Thompson Wakefield, December 13, 1834 (Vandalia, Ill.) - July 26, 1913 (Denver, Colo.)

VP candidate for United Labor Party (1888)

Running mate with nominee: Robert H. Cowdrey (1852-1924)
Popular vote: 1020 (0.01%)   
Electoral vote: 0/401

The campaign:
Inspired by Henry George, this Georgist group advocated the single-tax policy along with being anti-monopoly, promoting shorter working hours, stopping child labor, and encouraging more public ownership of land. Mr. George himself had been excommunicated from the Party for having expressed a willingness to work within the Democratic Party.

An attempt to align with the Union Labor Party fell through as both of the "Labor" parties debated the acceptance of Socialists in their ranks. Friedrich Engels had criticized the United Labor Party as a feeble attempt to address the problems of wage-slavery.

There is a possibility Wakefield withdrew from the ticket, feeling it was a blind set up by the Republicans. His name apparently remained on the ballots if that is so.

On Election Day over half the United Labor Party's 1020 votes came from New York. This was their only appearance in a national election.

Election history:
1884 - Kansas State Auditor (Greenback Labor Party) - defeated

Other occupations: printer, Union soldier (US Civil War), newspaper editor

Buried: Oak Hill Cemetery (Lawrence, Kan.)

Notes:
Attended school in Plattville, Wis.
Republican 1860-1868, Liberal Republican 1872, Greenback 1876-1884, Democrat 1889
Wounded three times in the Civil War, and held prisoner for 8 months. Attained rank of Lt. Col.
Agnostic
Later joined the Populist Party.
Was known as "Thompson"
Some sources give 1886 as the year of his race for Kansas State Auditor.

Peter Dinwiddie Wigginton

Peter Dinwiddie Wigginton, September 6, 1839 (Springfield, Ill.) – July 7, 1890 (Oakland, Calif.)

VP candidate for American Party (1888)

Running mate with nominee: James Langdon Curtis (1808-1903)
Popular vote: 1615 (0.01%)   
Electoral vote: 0/401

The campaign:

This was the last campaign for the group that could trace their history to the old Anti-Masonic Party. When it became apparent at their convention that delegates from California and New York had formed an alliance to control the proceedings, half of the members walked out. Not an encouraging start for the 1888 election season.

Included in their platform was a fourteen year residence requirement for naturalization and a policy of excluding socialists and anarchists from citizenship.

Wigginton became the running mate after James Geer (or Greer) declined the nomination.

Their popular vote (mostly from California) was almost invisible and with that the American Party left the political theater.

Election history:
1864-1868 - District Attorney of Merced County (Calif.)
1875-1879 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Democratic)
1879-1882 - District Attorney of Merced County (Calif.)
1886 - Governor of California (American Party) - defeated

Other occupations: attorney, newspaper publisher, businessman

Buried: Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, Calif.)

Notes:
Family moved to Wisconsin in 1843
Attended University of Wisconsin-Madison
Moved to Idaho, then Snelling, Calif. 1862.
Moved to San Francisco in 1880.
Earned a placed in the Hall of Fame for the website The Strangest Names In American Political History.
Successfully contested his defeat for re-election to US Congress.
Supported Stephen Douglas in 1860.
Campaigned for secessionists candidates in California during the Civil War.
Buried in the same cemetery as Victor Jules “Trader Vic” Bergeron, Jr., Henry Kaiser, and Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short.
If elected VP would have died in office.

Charles Stuart Welles

Painting by Welles entitled Lady from the late 1800s

Charles Stuart Welles, February 22, 1848 (London, Ont.) - February 5, 1927 (Little Brickhill, England)

VP candidate for Equal Rights Party (1888)

Running mate with nominee: Belva Lockwood (1830-1917)
Popular vote: 0 (0%)    
Electoral vote: 0/401

The campaign:

Welles was a last-minute replacement for running mate after the original choice and appropriately named peace activist Alfred H. Love declined the position.

None of the votes for the Equal Rights Party appear to be recorded.

Election history: none.

Other occupations: Physician, author, novelist, first Secretary of the American Embassy in London

Buried: Mursley, Buckinghamshire, England

Notes:
Also known as Charles Stewart Welles, or Charles S. Wells.
Frequently confused with Charles Stuart Faucheraud Weld.
Married to Ella Miles, the niece of Victoria Woodhull.
Worked at New York PolyClinic.
Educated at Dartmouth.
Born to American parents in Canada while his father was in railroad construction.
Moved to England in 1898 to be the physician for the American Embassy.
Descendant of Connecticut Colony Gov. Thomas Welles, distant cousin to Sec. of Navy Gideon
 Welles.
"Dabbled in poetry, painting, and hypnotism."
Worked in the American Embassy in London under Edwards Pierrepont, 1876, returned to America
   to be part of the Hayes campaign.

John A. Colvin

John A. Colvin, January 8, 1841 (Montgomery County, Ohio) - February 15, 1900 (Elk County, Kan.)

VP candidate for Industrial Reform Party (1888)

Running mate with nominee: Albert Redstone (1832-1914)
Popular vote: 0 (0%)    
Electoral vote: 0/401

The campaign:

The very brief platform document of the Industrial Reform Party was an echo of the old Greenback Party (a party which basically went extinct later in the 1888 campaign season). The Redstone/Colvin ticket did not seem to register on the radar of the voting public and may not have appeared on any ballots.

Election history: none

Other occupations: farmer

Buried: Moline Cemetery (Moline, Kan.)

Notes:
Also called John Calvin, John Covin.
Lived in Illinois 1859-1870 prior to moving to Moline, Kan.
Grange member
Democrat until 1880, then briefly a Republican, then became a Greenback.
Presbyterian.
Was confined to an asylum 1899-1900 at Ossawatomie, Kan.
Father was an Irish immigrant.