Marshall E. Uncapher

Marshall E. Uncapher, July 23, 1928 (Madison, Kan.) - June 10, 1994 (Cobb County, Ga.)

VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: E. Harold Munn (1903-1992)
Popular vote: 13,497 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

It was E. Harold Munn's third consecutive shot as the Presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party, a feat that had been unprecedented for the Party up to that time. It took the Party three ballots to agree on a candidate in 1972, and among the defeated was Marshall Uncapher, who went on to be selected as the VP over Roger I. Williams of Massachusetts. Uncapher (pronounced Unca-fur) was on his home turf. Not only was the convention held in Kansas where Uncapher was State Chairman of the Party, but it was in a Nazarene Church, a religious faith to which the running-mate subscribed.

1972 also marked an entire century of the Prohibition Party consistently running candidates for President and Vice-President and it remains America's third oldest political party to this day.

The 1972 Prohibition Party platform was pretty much a replay of the 1968 version. But among the new additions for this election cycle of were these two items:

Environmental Awareness

An awareness of the various problems related to the area of ecology is essential. We believe that all men have a right to a wholesome environment. Accordingly, government must establish standards and enforce a program which will insure a satisfactory stewardship of land, water and air throughout the nation. In particular, we insist on the right of everyone to a pure water supply and to an unpolluted atmosphere. We urge increased emphasis on tertiary treatment of sewage, on the development of fission-type reactors and, as soon as technologically feasible, atomic fusion as a substitute for fossil fuels in electric power generation, and on the substitution of relatively non-polluting sources of power in motor vehicles.

The News Media

We believe in the importance of freedom of the press and of other news media. There must be no suppression of this freedom when properly exercised. On the other hand, we deplore the role of the media in sensationalizing a growing moral permissiveness. We believe that this creates the impression that the media are acting as approving and applauding onlookers. We deplore the decline of investigative reporting, and demand that the media once again become responsible informants of the public.

They were on the ballot in only four states with the ever-faithful Alabama and Kansas being their strongest showings: Alabama 0.85%, Kansas 0.46%, Delaware 0.10%, Colorado 0.05%. 1972 would be Munn's final campaign for any office.

Election history:
1964 - Kansas Insurance Commissioner (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1966 - Kansas Insurance Commissioner (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1968 - Governor of Kansas (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1970 - Governor of Kansas (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1972 - Prohibition Party nomination for US President - defeated
1974 - Governor of Kansas (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1983 - US House of Representatives (Ga.) (Prohibition Party) - special primary - defeated

Other occupations: teacher, principal, salesman, poet, author, Indiana National Guard.

Buried: Georgia Memorial Park (Marietta, Ga.)

Notes:
1983 race did not actually list party affiliation on the ballot.
Moved to Georgia in 1975.
Was a possible spoiler in the 1974 race.

Thomas Jefferson Anderson

Thomas Jefferson Anderson, November 10, 1910 (Nashville, Tenn.) – August 30, 2002 (Raleigh, NC)

VP candidate for American Independent Party (aka American Party aka Constitutional Party aka Independent aka Independent Party aka Conservative aka George Wallace Party) (1972)

Running mate with nominee: John G. Schmitz (1930-2001)
Popular vote: 1,100,896 (1.42%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

As it happens so often with radical political movements that are personality-driven, when that personality is no longer around a vicious battle for supremacy takes place to fill the power vacuum. So it was with the American Independent Party when George Wallace returned to the Democratic Party after his unsuccessful third party bid in 1968.

Wallace was rather cagey about whether he would return to the AIP or not in the event he failed to win the Democratic nomination, but an assassination attempt gravely crippling the candidate on May 15, 1972 derailed all of his electioneering plans for that year. Several Wallace loyalists felt the AIP was really a one-man party, while others were ready to forge ahead on a policy-driven agenda.

Where the 1968 version of AIP had a populist and segregationist regional appeal in the South, the 1972 version reflected the fact that the ticket was occupied by John Birchers and their message played well in the Far West. But not all was rosey in the Party. Some of the disgruntled Ohio AIP delegates went home and formed their own ticket of Edward Wallace and Robert B. Mess.

John G. Schmitz outpolled segregationist Lester Maddox and fellow John Birch Society member and author Tom Anderson for the AIP Presidential nomination. Anderson became the running mate. Schmitz and Anderson were both well known in the art of sharp-tongued wisecracks.

Their campaign slogan: "When you're out of Schmitz, you're out of gear" was a takeoff on the well-known ad jingle at the time, "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer."

To describe Schmitz as an ultra-conservative would be putting it mildly. In 2004 Schmitz was selected as the third most conservative member of the House and Senate between 1937-2002, behind only Ron Paul and Larry McDonald. Eventually he grew too extreme for even the John Birch Society and was expelled from the organization. A decade later the scandals of his personal life caught up to him, ending his political career. Tom Anderson would run for President in 1976 from the splinter American Party.

The Schmitz/Anderson ticket placed third nationally. Although not nearly as successful as George Wallace was in 1968, they did have some impressive results, actually placing second in a few counties. They were on the ballot in over 30 states. Strongest vote percentages: Idaho 9.3%, Alaska 7.25%, Utah 5.97%, Oregon 4.98%, Louisiana 4.95%, Montana 4.23%, Washington 4.00%, Arizona 3.25%, California 2.78%.

Election history:
1972 - American Independent Party nomination for US President - defeated
1976 - US President (American Party) - defeated
1978 - US Senate (Tenn.) (Independent) - defeated

Other occupations: sailor (US Navy WWII), securities salesman, journalist, author, radio commentator, John Birch Society activist

Buried: Mt. Hope Cemetery (Franklin, Tenn.)

Notes:
Winner of the 1978 race was Howard Baker.
Buried in the same cemetery as Minnie Pearl (Sara Ophelia Colley Cannon)
Methodist.
"America has a great mission to perform: to save the world from slavery and to save the world for Christianity."--Tom Anderson ca1962

Julius Wilson Hobson

Julius Wilson Hobson, May 29, 1919 (Birmingham, Ala.) – March 23, 1977 (Washington, D.C.)

VP candidate for People's Party (aka Liberty Union Party aka Peace and Freedom Party aka Independent aka New Party aka Common Good Party aka Human Rights Party) (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Benjamin McLane Spock (1903–1998)
Popular vote: 78,759 (0.10%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The People's Party was an attempt to form an umbrella political party for the far Left. It was comprised of elements from the Peace and Freedom Party (Calif, Idaho, Ind.), Liberty Union Party (Vt.), Common Good Party (NY), Human Rights Party (Mich., Utah), and the New Party.

The New Party attempted to draft consumer advocate Ralph Nader for President, but he refused to run that year. The Peace and Freedom Party, now mostly centered in California, joined the coalition to form the People's Party. Michigan's Human Rights Party declined to place Dr. Spock's name on the ballot in deference to Sen. McGovern. Efforts to place Spock on the ballot in New York and Utah came to nothing.

After seriously considering backing the nomination of US Sen. George McGovern (D-SD), the Party chose to nominate Dr. Benjamin Spock, with Julius W. Hobson as his running mate. Dr. Spock stated he was merely a stand-in candidate and would gladly step down if someone else with more stature such as Rep. Shirley Chisholm agreed to run in his place.

Hobson, who by 1972 was something of a political gadfly, had evolved into an increasingly militant activist to battle various manifestations of segregation in Washington, DC using original and effective tactics on the streets, in court, and serving in public office. The man had a unique blend of being part political theater showman and part researcher. In 1971 he was given just six months to live as a result of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the spine, but fooled everyone by surviving until 1977 although he eventually was restricted to a wheelchair. In at least one photo from the 1972 campaign Hobson can be seen using crutches.

The platform, according to the New York Times, included "immediate withdrawal of all American troops abroad; free medical care as a right; an end to tax preference; an allowance of $6,500 for a family of four; the legalization of abortion on demand and marijuana, and an end to discrimination against women and homosexuals." Unfortunately for the People's Party the Democratic Party nomination of McGovern, easily the most Leftist candidate that party has offered since FDR, absorbed a group of voters who otherwise would have supported Spock if someone like Hubert Humphrey or Henry "Scoop" Jackson had been chosen instead.

On the ballot in ten states the Spock/Hobson ticket finished strongest in California 0.66%, Vermont 0.54%, Idaho 0.29%, and Colorado 0.25%.

Election history:
1968-1969 - District of Columbia Board of Education
1969 - District of Columbia Board of Education - defeated
1971 - US House of Representatives Delegate (DC Statehood Party) - defeated
1975-1977 - Council of the District of Columbia (DC Statehood Party)

Other occupations: custodian, paper company worker, soldier (WWII), Library of Congress researcher, Social Security Administration economist and statistician, teacher, Chair of the District of Columbia’s chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), founder of Association Community Teams (ACT), author

Buried: ?

Notes:
Some sources give his year of birth as 1922
"For 25 hell-raising years, Mr. Hobson shook Washington in unorthodox, unpredictable ways. As
  often as not, he was the lone front-line fighter against some aspect of racial discrimination, the
 gruff-and-ready tickler for equal education. He was always fast with an irreverent quip, and he never
 let up on his lawsuits, his books, his thorough research, his provocative political activities and his
 extraordinary ability to intimidate, embarrass or fool officialdom into doing something about civil
 rights."--Washington Post obituary.
In 1981 the Washington Post revealed that Hobson had been a paid informer for the FBI in the 1960s.
 Many of his supporters suspect he was playing a game of supplying misinformation or using the
 Bureau to thwart his enemies.
In Vermont in 1972 Bernie Sanders was downticket running for Governor also as part of the Liberty Union slate.

Theodora Nathalia Nathan

Theodora Nathalia Nathan, February 9, 1923 (New York, NY) – March 20, 2014 (Eugene, Or.)

VP candidate for Libertarian Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: John Hospers (1918-2011)
Popular vote: 3,674 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 1/538

The campaign:

A new national political party emerged in the 1972 Presidential election. Even though they were only on the ballot in two states, Colorado where the Party had been created and Washington (and official write-ins in four others), they would go on to become America's largest third party. I recall reading the 1972 Washington State Voters Pamphlet trying to figure out this unusual group that had a civil liberties policy to the Left of the Democratic Party and an economic policy to the Right of the Republican Party but all on a foundation of what seemed to me a Darwinian belief in survival of the fittest in both wings with as little government involvement as possible. The closest Presidential election precedent I could come up with at the time was Barry Goldwater's version of the Republican Party in 1964.

John Hospers and Toni Nathan had both been influenced by the writings of Ayn Rand and were considered among the founders of the Party. Nathan had originally been a Democrat, which I imagine was an unusual political background for the Libertarians of that era. Nathan did not attend the Party's convention expecting to be selected as the running-mate, but the nomination seemed to fit and launched her interest in running for public office for over the next quarter century.

The 1972 platform included:

Crime. "We hold that no action which does not infringe the rights of others can properly be termed a crime."

Freedom of Speech and The Press. "We pledge to oppose all forms of censorship, whatever the medium involved."

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms. "In recognition of the fact that the individual is his own last source of self-defense, the authors of the Constitution guaranteed, in the Second Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. This reasoning remains valid today. We pledge to uphold that guarantee. We oppose compulsory arms registration."

Volunteer Army. "We oppose the draft (Selective Service), believing that the use of force to require individuals to serve in the armed forces or anywhere else is a violation of their rights, and that a well-paid volunteer army is a more effective means of national defense than the involuntary servitude exemplified by the draft."

Subsidies. "In order to achieve a free economy in which government victimizes no one for the benefit of anyone else, we oppose all government subsidies to business, labor, education, agriculture, science, the arts, or any other special interests."

Tariffs and Quotas. "Like subsidies, tariffs and quotas serve only to give special treatment to favored interests and to diminish the welfare of other citizens. We therefore support abolition of all tariffs and quotas as well as the Tariff Commission and the Customs Court."

Consumer Protection. "We shall support strong and effective laws against fraud and misrepresentation. We shall oppose, however, that present and prospective so-called "consumer protection" legislation which infringes upon voluntary trade."

Overpopulation. "We support an end to all subsidies for childbearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children. We further support the repeal of all laws restricting voluntary birth control or voluntary termination of pregnancies during their first hundred days. We shall oppose all coercive measures to control population growth."

Education. "We support the repeal of all compulsory education laws, and an end to government operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools. We call for an immediate end of compulsory busing."

Poverty and Unemployment. "We support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find employment—including, but not limited to, minimum wage laws, so-called "protective" labor legislation for women and children, governmental restrictions on the establishment of private day-care centers, the National Labor Relations Act, and licensing requirements. We oppose all government welfare and relief projects and "aid to the poor" programs, inasmuch as they are not within the proper role of government, and do contribute to unemployment. All aid to the poor should come from private sources."

Foreign Aid. "We support an end to the Federal foreign aid program."

Military Alliances. "The United States should abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world, and should enter into alliances only with countries whose continued free existence is vital to the protection of the freedom of all American citizens."

Secession. "We shall support recognition of the right to secede. Political units or areas which do secede should be recognized by the United States as independent political entities where: (1) secession is supported by a majority within the political unit, (2) the majority does not attempt suppression of the dissenting minority, and (3) the government of the new entity is at least as compatible with human freedom as that from which it seceded."

The United Nations. "We support withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations. We further support a Constitutional Amendment designed to prohibit the United States from entering into any treaty under which it relinquishes any portion of its sovereignty."

I was politically active here in Washington State in 1972, and I have to say that if not for the Voters Pamphlet I would not have been aware of the Libertarian Party. The media up here pretty much ignored them and the embryonic party really didn't have a strong enough organization yet to wage an effective statewide campaign.

The Hospers/Nathan ticket received 0.12% of the Colorado vote and 0.10% in Washington. A faithless Nixon Elector in Virginia named Roger MacBride (1929-1995) cast his vote for the Libertarian ticket. There had been other women in the VP role in the past, as well as running-mates of the Jewish faith, but Toni Nathan was the first in either category to have ever been granted an Electoral vote-- before Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, before Joe Lieberman in 2000. MacBride had been a former Goldwater Republican and had served in the Vermont State Legislature a decade earlier. In 1976 he was the Libertarian Party nominee for President.

Election history:
1976 - US House of Representatives (Or.) (Independent) - defeated
1980 - US Senate (Or.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1983 - Libertarian Party nomination for US President - defeated
1984 - Lane County (Or.) County Commission (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1990 - US House of Representatives (Or.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1992 - Oregon State Senate (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1996 - US House of Representatives (Or.) (Libertarian Party) - defeated
1998 - Oregon State Senate (Libertarian Party) - defeated

Other occupations: insurance agent, music publisher, decorating service owner, radio and television producer, television talk show host

Buried: Sunset Hills Cemetery (Eugene, Or.)

Notes:
1980 opponents were Bob Packwood (winner) and Ted Kulongoski.
She lived in a county in Oregon named after another third party vice-presidential candidate who also
 received votes from the Electoral College, Joseph Lane (1801-1881) who in 1860 ran as VP in the 
 Constitutional Democratic Party.
Married a composer, Charles Nathan, who had the same surname.
She was a lifelong naturopath.
"The American public has a right to hear discussions on ALL issues that affect them. If all views were represented in the dialogues preceding the national election, there would be more voters participating and a better indication of what voters really wanted. If the winning candidate could know the major concerns of the public, he/she could act upon them. After all, the election is the most revealing and authentic poll of all, providing voters are aware of all viewpoints and vote for the ones they support. The election isn't a horse race and voters don't have to pick a winner. They should vote their consciences and pick the candidate who best represents their values. This way is really the only way of getting their concerns before those who will ultimately determine the direction of this country on matters of supreme importance."--Toni Nathan 2004.

Genevieve A. Gunderson

Genevieve A. Gunderson, May 31, 1921 (Kimball, Minn.) - September 25, 2001 (Mountain View?, Calif.)

VP candidate for Socialist Labor Party (aka Industrial Government Party aka Independent) (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Louis Fisher (1913-2001)
Popular vote: 53,814 (0.07%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The 1972 Socialist Labor Party ticket consisted of Midwesterners Louis Fisher from Illinois and Genevieve Gunderson from Minnesota. They ran a serious and energetic campaign. 

The SLP platform for this election cycle was basically a historical essay on the birth and (as the SLP saw it) soon-to-arrive death of capitalism. The Party regarded their electioneering efforts more as a form of public education rather than an attempt to win office. Long isolated from other parties on the Left, the SLP had the luxury of appearing ideologically pure compared to their progressive competitors but on the other hand the SLP was also regarded as having an inflexible internal structure that members of the New Left found offputting.

Gunderson had been a long-time Party activist and eventually was employed by the Party itself in California. SLP National Secretary Robert Bills delivered her eulogy on Nov. 10, 2001 in Alameda, Calif. The following selection is of interest because I believe Bills is eloquently describing an experience shared by many third party Vice-Presidential candidates of all stripes:

It was there, at Detroit, that she accepted the party's nomination for vice president of the United States. I don't know if you can imagine what a grueling ordeal that can be. It means weeks of constant travel, of living out of suitcases, of  being shuttled to places and engagements about which you have no warning to do things for which you often have no time to prepare. It means being prepared to speak in public at a moment's notice, to have microphones thrust into your face and to be sat down in front of television cameras. It means being challenged and sometimes verbally abused by hostile  and cynical reporters and radio and television personalities. It means having to think on your feet, not only to contend with attacks designed to catch you off your guard, to embarrass you and to cause you to think simply of defending yourself, but to keep your composure, to deflect and counteract antagonism, arrogance and ignorance that distorts your  message before you have a chance to deliver it yourself. Genevieve met and overcame those challenges in ways that made  every SLP man and woman proud that she had been chosen to represent them in that campaign. And she did it repeatedly from the day after Labor Day, when the campaign began, until it ended on Nov. 5. Her success as the party's vice  presidential candidate is a testament to that inner strength that was so much a part of her makeup. Genevieve Gunderson  was a woman of substance.

On the ballot in a dozen states with significant write-ins from several others, the SLP ticket finished strongest in Virginia 0.68%, Colorado 0.46%, Illinois 0.26%, Minnesota 0.24%, Ohio 0.17%, and New Jersey 0.15%.

Although the Fisher/Gunderson 0.07% Election Day result was not even close to being the highest percentage of the popular vote ever received for the SLP, their 53,814 national poll was indeed the highest number of votes the Party would ever earn in a Presidential election. The highest actual percentage for the SLP was in 1900 when the Malloney/Remmel ticket gained 0.29%. 

Election history:
1969 - Mayor of Minneapolis, Minn. (Socialist Labor Party) - defeated
1974 - Governor of Minnesota (Industrial Government Party) - defeated

Other occupations: cereal packer, union organizer, fire department dispatcher, bookkeeper

Buried: ?

Notes:
Fisher died only two months after Gunderson in 2001.
Joined the SLP in 1945.
Moved from Minneapolis to California in 1975
Ran as a write-in in her 1969 mayoral race.
Although the press called her "Miss Gunderson" she was born Genevieve Peterson.
Father and maternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants.
Living with her sister's family in Minneapolis by 1940.

Jarvis Tyner

 1972

 1976

Jarvis Tyner, July 11, 1941 (Philadephia, Penn.) -

VP candidate for Communist Party USA (aka Independent) (1972, 1976)

Running mate with nominee (1972, 1976): Gus Hall (1910-2000)
Popular vote (1972): 25,598 (0.03%)
Popular vote (1976): 58,709 (0.07%)
Electoral vote (1972, 1976): 0/538

The campaign (1972):

After years of numerous splits and intra-Party wars, the Communist Party USA was greatly diminished but enjoying something of a revival in the early 1970s. Even though the Democratic Party had nominated ultra-liberal US Sen. George McGovern (D-SD) who had been a member of Henry Wallace's Progressive Party earlier in his career, the CPUSA felt he would only "nibble" away at the capitalistic system and probably shift to the Right once he was elected.

The CPUSA selected Party veteran Gus Hall in what would be the first of his four runs for President. Jarvis Tyner, who at age 31 by Election Day was under the Constitutionally mandated age (35) to serve, was selected as VP. The ticket represented the pre- and post-WWII generations of the Party, but their orthodox views of Leninism, past enthusiastic support of Stalin, and general ties with the Soviet Union alienated a large swath of those on the American Left.

One area where the CPUSA was far ahead of most 20th century US political parties was in their activism for linking the social and civil rights of African Americans to what the Party viewed as part of their model of inevitable economic evolution. This was symbolized in the composition of their Presidential tickets with Charlene Mitchell as the nominee in 1968, and VPs James W. Ford 1936-1940-1944, Jarvis Tyner 1972-1976, and Angela Davis 1980-1984.

Now to digress a bit with a personal story. In 1972 Gus Hall came to give a campaign speech at a college near me, so being the politically curious young person I was, I went to hear what he had to say. The room was not packed, but I would guess there were about 50 of us at most in attendance. The front row was comprised of maybe a half dozen senior citizens who apparently were local Communists and perhaps active in the 1930s. They were quite vocal in cheering for Mr. Hall. The back rows were filled with Right-wing hecklers. At least a couple Secret Service agents were on either side of the room.

Mr. Hall declared at the outset he would not answer any "rhetorical questions," a rule that came in quite handy when attendees from the back row would ask him a question he didn't like, or at least that was my impression. He apologized for the presence of the Secret Service agents, who he said were there against his wishes.

His demeanor was cheerful and one could see the heckling directed at him was just part of the game and he was clearly not bothered by it. I don't recall him ever using the word "Communist," instead he employed the substitute term of "Scientific Socialism."

One of the bits of trivia he happily shared was that in the 1950s when he was imprisoned he got to know and like the infamous Machine-Gun Kelly (better remembered in 1972 than now).

I asked Mr. Hall how as President he would tolerate those who still advocated for the capitalist system. Rather than brush me aside as a rhetorical questioner he claimed he would pay capitalist apologists to speak in public in order to remind people how bad things used to be.

After the presentation was over I hung about a bit and noticed Mr. Hall was taken away in huge luxury car like a Lincoln or Cadillac.

The 1972 Hall/Tyner campaign was active and had the appearance of being better funded than most of the political parties running from the Left that year but they still trailed behind the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Labor Party, and the People's Party. On the ballot in at least 15 states, their popular vote strongholds were Ohio 0.16%, District of Columbia 0.15%, Illinois 0.11%, and New York 0.08%.

The campaign (1976):

Same ticket as in 1972 but the political landscape was much different. The Vietnam War was over, Nixon was gone, and America had grown weary of keeping up with the social unrest of the 1960s and early 1970s and wanted a break (hence, Disco music and pet rocks). Since the major candidates President Gerald Ford and Gov. Jimmy Carter were both moderate centrists within their parties the CPUSA was able to claim with some justification that there was not a lot of ideological daylight between the two.

1976 was the best year in the CPUSA 1968-1984 range in terms of votes, but still below any of their showings percentage-wise between 1924-1940. On the ballot in almost half the states, they finished best in Louisiana 0.58%, Illinois 0.20%, Ohio 0.19%, Alabama 0.17%, California and New York 0.16% each.

Election history:
1978 - Governor of New York (Communist Party USA) - defeated
1985 - Mayor of New York City (People Before Profits) - defeated

Other occupations: industrial worker, lecturer, author

Notes:
Winner of the 1978 race was Hugh Carey.
Opponents in 1985 included Ed Koch (winner) and Lenora Fulani.
Moved to New York in 1967.
Jazz pianist McCoy Tyner is his older brother.
Joined the CPUSA in 1961 and remains allied to this day.