James Arthur Edgerton

James Arthur Edgerton, January 30, 1869 (Plantsville, Ohio) - December 3, 1938 (Beverly Hills, Va.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1928)

Running mate with nominee: William F. Varney (1884-1960)
Popular vote: 20,095 (0.05%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

The 1928 Prohibition Party Convention came down to a choice of endorsing the Republican ticket of Hoover/Curtis or to run their own nominees. After hot debate, the Party nominated William F. Varney and James A. Edgerton of Fort Lyon, Va.

Edgerton had actually been a delegate at the neighboring Farmer-Labor Party convention, but apparently in the course of the failed talks of having the two parties combine forces, the Prohibition Party delegates were impressed and nominated the poet as their Vice-Presidential choice. Although Edgerton had actually won a contest for the VP position, he urged the Party to withdraw from the 1928 election and endorse Herbert Hoover. And the California delegation did just that, with Hoover being the Republican/Prohibition Party candidate option on the ballot in that state.

During the campaign Edgerton claimed he was a Democrat running in protest of Al Smith's willingness to repeal Prohibition.

The 1928 platform was brief. It heralded their past successes with promoting Prohibition and being the first party to support women's suffrage but then looked ahead with more or less a single-issue focus. Those who supported endorsing the Republicans made sure there was one very special provision at the very end of the document, and it was nearly put into action:

Seventh: That the Nominees of this Convention shall withdraw on request of the Executive Committee, at any time prior to September first next, and the said Committee is authorized and empowered to substitute other candidates supporting the objective named above.

A news report from Sept. 3, 1928 suggests that the Prohibition Party executives had seriously considered withdrawing the Party from the race and very nearly did so. Some of the pro-Hoover delegates from the earlier Prohibition Party convention were actually undercutting the Varney/Edgerton campaign.

In the end it was much ado about nothing. The Prohibition Party was barely on the radar on Election Day, finishing in 6th place even behind the Socialist Labor Party, and four years later some of the very people who wanted to endorse Hoover were calling him a turncoat.

Election history:
1937 - Governor of Virginia (Prohibition Party) - defeated

Other occupations: poet, author, newspaper and magazine editor, Post Office Department purchasing agent 1913-1920, member of War Industries Board 1917-1919, Federal prohibition director in NJ 1920, President of the National New Thought Alliance 1909-1914, International New Thought Alliance 1915-1923 and in 1934-1937, Presidential Elector for the Prohibition Party in Va. 1932.

Buried: Cedar Hill Cemetery (Suitland, Md.)

Notes:
Was active in the People's Party in the 1890s, Independence Party 1906, Farmer-Labor Party 1920s.
Buried in the same cemetery as Hinton Helper.
Graduated National Normal University (Lebanon, Ohio) 1887
Moved to Michigan in 1887, moved to Nebraska in 1890, was in Denver 1899-1903
Said to be a distant relative of Edwin M. Stanton and inventor Elisha Gray.
Married his second cousin Blanche Edgerton, March 21, 1895.
32nd Degree Mason.

James Hudson Maurer

James Hudson Maurer, April 15, 1864 (Reading, Penn.) - March 16, 1944 (Pottstown, Penn.)

VP candidate for Socialist Party of America (1928, 1932)

Running mate with nominee (1928, 1932): Norman M. Thomas (1884-1968)
Popular vote (1928): 267,478 (0.73%)
Popular vote (1932): 884,885 (2.23%)
Electoral vote (1928): 0/531
Electoral vote (1932): 0/531

The campaign (1928):

Five time SPA Presidential candidate Eugene Debs died in 1926, and this was the first national election for what would be six time nominee Norman Thomas. It was also the SPA's first time back on the Presidential ballot after they took a little detour in 1924 by endorsing La Follete and his Progressive Party bid.

This was a very low period for the SPA, with less than 8000 dues paying members.

The 1928 platform was a long and detailed document including a wordy preamble. It was divided into sections covering: Constructive Program Public Ownership and Conservation -- Unemployment Relief -- Labor Legislation -- Taxation -- Civil Liberties -- Anti-Lynching -- Political Democracy -- Credit and Banking -- Farm Relief -- International Relations.

Although platforms from other third parties in the past both radical Left and populist Right had expressed many of the same ideas, the timing of this one with such specifics on the eve of America's worst economic collapse makes it fascinating reading in hindsight as portions of it seem to accurately anticipate the sort of issues the USA would be facing in the 1930s. 

This election was particularly hard for third parties. The SPA was on the ballot in 40 states, generally placing in a feeble third spot. Their best four states were New York (2.44%), Wisconsin (1.79%), Florida (1.59%), and California (1.46%). They polled less than 1% in the remaining states.   

The campaign (1932):

The number of SPA dues paying members more than doubled since 1928, thanks in part to the hard economic times coupled with the charisma and energy of Norman Thomas, now running again with Maurer. But with growth came problems, and the generational split between the Old Guard and the young militants turned into a power struggle that would only worsen after the election.

Their 2.23% overall national finish would be the last time the SPA would crack over 1% in a national election result. With recorded votes in 45 states their strongest finish was in Wisconsin (4.79%), Oregon (4.19%) New York (3.78%), Montana (3.65%), Connecticut (3.45%), and Pennsylvania (3.19%). Not that Roosevelt needed it anyway in his massive landslide, but the Thomas/Maurer ticket acted as the spoiler in Connecticut, tossing that state to Hoover.

Election history:
1906 - Governor of Pennsylvania (Socialist Party of America) - defeated
1911-1912 - Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Socialist Party of America)
1912 - Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Socialist Party of America) - defeated
1915-1918 - Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Socialist Party of America)
1916 - Socialist Party of America nomination for US President - defeated
1918 - Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Socialist Party of America) - defeated
1927-1930 - City Council (Reading, Penn.) (Socialist Party of America)
1930 - Governor of Pennsylvania (Socialist Party of America) - defeated
1934 - US Senate (Penn.) (Socialist Party of America) - defeated

Other occupations: trade unionist, author, newsboy, machinist, Vaudeville actor, plumber, newspaper editor, Chairman of Pennsylvania Old Age Pension Commission, President of Pennsylvania Federation of Labor 1911-1928, hat sizer

Buried: Pottstown Cemetery (Pottstown, Penn.)

Notes:
Winner of the 1930 race for PA Governor was Gifford Pinchot.
Started his political career with the People's Party in the 1890s, joined the Socialist Labor Party in
 1899, moved to the SPA in 1901.
Met with Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and Joseph Stalin in 1927.
In 1936 Maurer resigned from the SPA but apparently returned to the Pennsylvania chapter. His issue
 was what he viewed as growing unwelcome Communist influence in the SPA.
Knowing that the union workers would cease wartime production if Maurer was arrested the Federal
 authorities decided not to incarcerate him for what they viewed as seditious opinions.

Jeremiah Daniel Crowley

Jeremiah Daniel Crowley, May 2, 1875 (Syracuse, NY) - September 23, 1960 (Onondaga, NY)

VP candidate for Socialist Labor Party (1928)

Running mate with nominee: Verne L. Reynolds (1884-1959)
Popular vote: 21,590 (0.06%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

The SLP renominated their 1924 ticket of Frank T. Johns and Verne Reynolds. Shortly after the nomination process Johns was in Bend, Oregon giving a speech when he heard cries for help from a boy being swept away in the Deschutes River. Without hesitation Johns jumped in to save the lad but both perished. And so the SLP suddenly lost one of their most charismatic young candidates.

The SLP then elevated Reynolds to the presidential nomination and selected long-time stalwart perennial SLP candidate for New York offices Jeremiah D. Crowley as the running mate.

Purists that they were, the SLP platform for 1928 spoke in class war generalities without addressing specifics.

On Election Day the SLP finished in 5th place, following the Socialist Party of America and the Communists. It was an even more miserable finish than their 1924 results. Out of the 19 states where they appeared on the ballot their two best were Washington (0.81%) and Oregon (0.49%).

Election history:
1910 - NY State Engineer and Surveyor (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1912 - Lt. Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1914 - Lt. Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1916 - Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1920 - Lt. Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1922 - Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1926 - Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1930 - Governor of New York (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1932 - US Senate (NY) (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1934 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Socialist Labor) - defeated
1938 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Industrial Government) - defeated

Other occupations: electric utility company employee, stonemason

Buried: Saint Agnes Cemetery (Syracuse, NY)

Notes:
The winner of his 1922 and 1926 runs for NY Governor was Al Smith.
One of his opponents in the 1926 run for NY Governor was 1928 Workers (Communist) Party VP
 nominee Benjamin Gitlow.
The winner of his 1930 run for NY Governor was Franklin D. Roosevelt.
One of his opponents in the 1932 US Senate race was 1920 Prohibition Party VP nominee David
 Leigh Colvin.
Lived in Marcellus, NY in 1928.
Lived in Onondaga, NY in 1940.
All of his grandparents were Irish immigrants.

Lee Roy Tillman

Lee Roy Tillman, July 4, 1889 (Tattnal County, Ga.) - November 30, 1961 (Lyons, Ga.)

VP candidate for Farmer-Labor Party (1928)

Running mate with nominee: Frank Elbridge Webb (1863-1949)
Popular vote: 6390 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

After basically disbanding in 1924, the national version of the Farmer-Labor Party was back, sort of. They got off to a very late start in the campaign season, not placing their final nominations until early September.

The earlier Party national convention in Chicago in July considered merging with the Prohibition Party ticket, but that idea was tossed. Senator George Norris was nominated for President, but the Senator rejected the offer. Senator James A. Reed likewise declined to be on the ticket.

The VP nomination was offered to Will Vereen of Georgia, and Dr. H.Q. Alexander of North Carolina who both withdrew. Vereen, an anti-union card-carrying Democrat and cotton mill owner, said, "The whole matter is absurd as far as I am concerned."

The most interesting part of the chiefly collectivist platform was the idea of submitting the continuance of Prohibition to a direct national vote.

It was a bad year for third parties in general and an especially dismal year for the tattered remains of the national Farmer-Labor Party who made it on the ballot only in Iowa, Oklahoma, Colorado, and South Dakota.

Election history: none.

Other occupations: attorney, representative for the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce (1919), school teacher

Buried: Glennville City Cemetery (Glennville, Ga.)

Notes:
Lived in Brunswick, Glennville and Elijay, Ga.
Also called Leroy R. Tillman.
Headstone reads: Lee Roy Tillman 1889-1961, God has blessed my work, Co-Op Law, Torrens Land Law, Australian Ballot System
Baptist
By coincidence, this brief thumbnail sketch has been compiled on Tillman's 130th birthday.

John Clinton McGee

John Clinton McGee, July, 1863 (Algiers?, La.) - March 31, 1936? (New York, NY?)

VP candidate for National Progressive Party (aka Progressive Party aka Bull Moose Party) (1928)

Running mate with nominee: Henry Hoffman (b. 1851)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

Omaha grocer and naturopathic doctor Henry Hoffman age 77, an old Bull Mooser, made an attempt to revive the party. With a convention consisting of less than a dozen delegates meeting in the back room of Hoffman's store, no one voted to approve the doctor's platform, but Hoffman declared it passed anyway, "It makes no difference."

The tiny party's presidential nomination was filled by Hoffman himself. Jane Addams was nominated as the running mate but she declined the honor, so John "Suspender Jack" McGee was chosen. There is no record I can find so far of McGee, who was a well known character in New York City, accepting or declining the decision.

Among the old time populist planks in the platform was a cap of a million dollars on personal income.

The Hoffman/McGee active campaign appeared to have ceased after the nominations-- either that or they ran a stealth electioneering effort since they did not appear on any ballots. Nor did Hoffman withdraw and endorse another candidate.

Election history:
1915 - Progressive Party nomination for Sheriff of New York County - defeated

Other occupations: entertainer in Wild West Show (until 1890), the "cowboy cop" in New York City (dismissed ca. 1902), sidewalk notary public, Pony Express rider, scout for the 5th US Cavalry, hunter for the Union Pacific Railroad, served in the AEF in Europe as Chief of the Bureau of Effects of Deceased

Buried: ?

Notes:
Known as "Suspender Jack" for using suspenders as reins on horses.
Arrested in 1902 for failure to pay alimony.
Started a stampede for nominating Oscar Straus for Governor via a stirring speech at the 1912 New
 York Progressive Party convention.
Worked on behalf of Harry Thaw in 1914.
Was involved with the Independence Party in 1908.
Arrested during a Hearst-related political disturbance in New York City, Nov. 1905.
In Washington DC in 1880, his father Thomas was a clerk.
After the Civil War his father went to Brazil as a "Confederado" and took the family with him for
 several years.
Performed with King & Franklin Circus and Wild West in 1887
Toured in Europe with "Mexican Joe" in August 1887.

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.

Simon Peter William Drew

Simon Peter William Drew, August 6, 1870 (Margarettsville, NC) - December 12, 1934 (Washington, DC)

VP candidate for Interracial Independent Political Party (aka National Interracial Party) (1928)

Running mate with nominee: Jacob S. Coxey (1854–1951)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/531

The campaign:

It is difficult to say who was behind the June 4, 1928 organization of the Interracial Independent Political Party since there is so little information available about this group. Outside of a national ticket they did not seem to run any other candidates. Indeed, they did not appear to run a campaign at all and were not on any ballots.

At the head of the ticket was Euro-American political gadfly Jacob Coxey, who was also running for Congress in Ohio as an independent that year. The running mate was Washington DC African-American Rev. Simon P.W. Drew, who considered himself a Republican.

1928 was a pivotal year for racial demographics in the American political system. The Ku Klux Klan spent a considerable amount of energy attacking Democratic candidate Al Smith's Catholicism, which in turn had the effect of starting the swing of the Black vote to the Democrats for the first time in presidential voting history if newspaper endorsements are any indicator. That's one theory anyway.

To date I have found no evidence of Coxey or Drew making a public statement regarding their nominations by the IIPP.

Election history:
Said to have ran for Mayor of New York City, but I can find no record.

Other occupations: President of the National Ministers' Alliance, pastor at St. Stephens Baptist Church in Long Island City, NY 1894-1902, pastor of St. Paul's Baptist Church in Boston 1902-1904, pastor of the Cosmopolitan Baptist Institutional Church (Washington, DC) 1904-1934, real estate agent, evangelist, activist, author

Buried: Margarettsville, NC

Notes:
Presided over a convention to aid ex-slaves in Sept. 1916.
Took part in a protest of the showing of D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation.
A Church power struggle spilled into DC court 1904.
Brother of inventor N.B. Drew.
Earned a M.A. from New York Training College 1896
Indicted for fraud in May 1930, charged with soliciting funds for an extinct school in Virginia, he
 said he was raising money to reopen it. He was sentenced to a year in prison.

Benjamin Gitlow

Benjamin Gitlow, December 22, 1891 (Elizabethport, NJ) – July 19, 1965 (Crompond, NY)

VP candidate for Workers Party of America (aka Communist Party) (1924)
VP candidate for Workers (Communist) Party (aka Communist Party) (1928)

Running mate with nominee (1924, 1928): William Z. Foster (1881-1961)
Popular vote (1924): 38,669 (0.13%)
Popular vote (1928): 48,551 (0.13%)
Electoral vote (1924): 0/531
Electoral vote (1928): 0/531

The campaign (1924):

Lenin had died in January 1924 and the American Communists were already starting to divide over the events in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, efforts to form a bloc with the Farmer-Labor Party had failed. And to top things off, Moscow had sent a Hungarian Communist named József Pogány aka John Pepper, to "manage" the Party but in reality all his efforts merely created more division. In this atmosphere the Workers Party of America nominated William Z. Foster and Benjamin Gitlow, representatives of two rival factions.

The campaign took place between Gitlow's two stints in prison 1920-1922 and 1925.

On the ballot in 15 states, their best showing was in Minnesota (0.54%)

The campaign (1928):

The Workers (Communist) Party inner strife continued to reflect the political power struggle taking place in the Soviet Union, including taking sides as either pro-Stalin or pro-Trotsky wings after the latter was expelled and exiled. In addition there was the good old fashioned American pattern of internecine warfare so prevalent in third parties. Once again Foster and Gitlow, by now more mortal enemies than ever, were on the same ticket.

With recorded votes in 35 states they placed fourth. The only state where they finished above 1% was Florida with 1.46% and most of those votes came from Alachua County which is something of a mystery.

Election history:
1917-1918 - New York State Assembly (Socialist Party of America)
1918 - New York State Assembly (Socialist Party of America) - Defeated
1921 - Mayor of New York City (Workers League) - Defeated
1926 - Governor of New York (Workers Party of America) - Defeated

Other occupations: retail clerk, garment cutter, journalist

Buried: ?

Notes:
His opponents for the 1926 Governor of NY election included Al Smith and his 1928 VP competitor
 Jeremiah D. Crowley of the Socialist Labor Party.
His parent were Jewish Russian immigrants in the late 1880s.
Joined the Socialist Party of America 1909, joined the Communists 1919.
Worked closely with John Reed.
Served in prison 1920-1922, 1925 charged with advocating "criminal anarchy."
Was arrested at the 1922 Bridgman Convention along with Caleb Harrison (who had been the
 Socialist Labor Party VP candidate in 1916)
Was expelled from the Communist Party in 1929 during a purge of "Right Oppositions" and then
 joined the misnamed Communist Party (Majority Group) aka Lovestoneites. Formed his owned
 Right-wing Communist party, the Workers Communist League aka Gitlowites in 1933.
Briefly rejoined the Socialists in 1934 and then became a very public outspoken conservative anti-
 Communist in the late 1930s.
Was associated with anti-Communist (and later disgraced over sex scandal charges) Rev. James
 Hargis.
The 1924 and 1928 campaigns showed us that charges of Russian meddling in American elections
 plus questionable votes from Florida have a history.