Daniel William Fry

 Fry and Green, 1959

 George Adamski and Fry

Daniel William Fry, July 19, 1908 (Verdon Twp., Minn.) - December 20, 1992 (Alamogordo, NM)

VP candidate for Universal Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Gabriel Green (1924-2001)
Popular vote: 220 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Gabriel Green was back in national politics after a dozen years when he last ran for President from the Outer Space Party in 1960. This time his running mate was another well known fellow UFO contactee named Daniel Fry who was nominated April 9, 1972. Fry easily defeated Arthur Rosenblum, founder of the Aquarian Research Foundation, for the prize.

Fry's life journey had been dramatically altered on July 4, 1949 (sometimes it was given as July 4, 1950) when as an employee of the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico he said he encountered a benevolent alien named Alan who flew him around (to NYC in just minutes!) and started a continuing teaching relationship concerning metaphysics, Atlantis, and other topics outside the realm of normal scientific and historical understanding. By 1972 Fry was a well-known author and speaker in the world of UFOlogy. 

At the time of his nomination Fry was a resident of Merlin, Oregon giving us another connection in Pacific Northwest third party VP candidate trivia!

On the campaign trial Fry was quoted, "People are elected to represent us, not to govern us ... There are several million heads in the U.S., and several million heads are better than one." Also, "Its been said that the silent majority isn't silent, but that the government is deaf."

There is some thought that Fry had indirectly formed the Universal Party when people associated with his organization called "Understanding" were later involved with creating the Party.

The Green/Fry ticket was only on the ballot in Iowa, where they finished with 199 votes (0.02% of the state total). They also had a smattering of write-ins from other states. The Quad-City Times in Davenport described the Universal Party platform as being based on "the spiritual concepts of the Golden Rule and the metaphysical theories of reincarnation and the migration of the soul through many lives seeking redemption."

In a quieter election year the Universal Party might have garnered more attention from the press, but in 1972 they were nearly lost in the shuffle. This would be their final national election.

Election history: none

Other occupations: author, lecturer, founder of the Understanding organization, explosives supervisor, rocket worker, poet

Buried: Monte Vista Cemetery (Alamogordo, NM)

Notes:
Orphaned at age 10
Self-educated at college level through using the Pasadena Public Library
Was a volunteer for Ronald Reagan in the 1968 Republican primaries.
Alan, the alien who Fry had contact with, pronounced his name as "A-Lawn," just like the same way
 US President Chester Alan Arthur pronounced his middle name. Pretty cool, eh?

Irving Homer

 Both of the above images: John Mahalchik. Below: Irv Homer

Irving Homer, May 29, 1924 (Philadelphia, Penn.) - June 24, 2009 (Bryn Mawr, Penn.)

VP candidate for America First Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: John Val Jean Mahalchik (1918-1987)
Popular vote: 1743 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

There was a certain kind of individual we used to see more of before online forums and Facebook eclipsed their method of expression. They generally lived in rural areas and leaned to the political Populist Right-- either Christian or Libertarian-- and declared their disgust and disdain with the political system through the medium of crude hand-painted signs on their property (now they simply post online). Such a person was New Jersey's John Val Jean Mahalchik.

Mahalchik owned 49 acres that used to be an airstrip but by 1972 had become something of a junkyard filled with surplus and salvaged mostly military equipment. He lived in a modified teepee on the property after his home had mysteriously burned.

Mahalchik announced his run for the Presidency under the America First Party early in the campaign season, but Philadephia radio talk-show host Irv Homer's name as the VP choice didn't surface in the press until much later since he wasn't nominated until Sept. 22, 1972. The Mahalchik/Homer ticket's America First Party did not have any connection with previous political parties using the same name. If there was any precedence for this version of the Party it would have to from his fellow Garden State gadfly Henry B. Krajewski (1912–1966) who ran several times for President under the Poor Man's Party banner. Krajewski and Homer had actually both shared the experience of being tavern owners at one time.

Below is a sample of Mahalchik's property signage which gives some clue as to his political platform. Punctuation has been cleaned up a bit so it is readable. Mahalchik didn't really bother about things like the proper use of upper and lower case letters:

I am the dissenter. I am the gypsy. I am the patriot. I am all races. I am all religions. I am this land. I am this land’s future... Join me, be a freedom fighter. Help me fight in any way you can. Add honor to your name.

[1972 was the Year of the Rat, and Nixon and Kissinger's heads are pictured on rat bodies] : 1972 China glorifies rats. Chickens coming home to roost. Nixon, Tricky Dick a tricky Red. Who is the #2 rat. Kissinger, Rasputin & pimp. Has Fate or Divine Power set the stage or arranged to show us our 2 biggest red rats. Kissinger went to Red China as a pimp to make a deal & set a price so Nixon like a 2 bit whore can hop in bed with the Reds and make us "The Bastard Children of Nixinger" red sell out to make American fathers & mothers of sons, killed or crippled fighting Reds now lay & reward the Red Communist killers of their sons. Nixon & Kissinger are defectors and now want all Americans to be prostitutes to Red compromise thru "Nixingerization" Pray to God that the Chinese do the defectors in

Why? Why? The Dollar Sign. Fathers & mothers, sweet hearts and wives, your loved ones are fighting in Vietnam. Why? Just read all of my signs here you'll soon find out why. It's to make rich men richer and to keep poor men poor. This war is not for freedom for you or those that fight, its the rich maniacs game of power to use guns to keep control. Yes the rich make all the money while the poor get all the grief. Yes its for someone else's dollar young boys must die like freaks. Establishment ([unintelligible] thought) hypocrisy if you kill someone for your profit you are called "a murderer," if you kill for Rockefeller of DuPont's profit you are called "a hero." Defense plants have become aggression plants. The Army, Navy & Air Force have become the private army-- killers for the Rockefeller DuPont G.M. I.T.T. etc. corp. known as the Military Industrial Complex.

Politicians invented the slogan Love It Or Leave It. Parasites and other kinds of rats who want to keep their own dirty little things going they want things to stay as they are so their selfish corruption and rot power remains but Mahalchik says if you love it you'll change it. You'll give gov't back to the people. If you don't do your share then you are one of the rats and parasites and someday those who love it will make you leave it.

In cadence count 1,2 kill kill hup, hop, kill, kill. Fathers mothers of soldiers in Vietnam while your sons are dying & fighting Communists and Socialists over there it's your duty to fight them here. Kill Kill Kill any Commie or Socialist you know. Drag them from their rat holes, hang em, stab em, burn em, bomb em, gas, choke, strangle drown, shoot, but kill em all. A rat in the alley is still a rat in your [parlor?]. A Communist over there or a Communist here, is still a Communist
Exactly how Irv Homer came to be the running mate is probably a great story but I have yet to find it. Homer was also a well known regional character, an outspoken pioneer of the radio talk-show format in the Philadelphia market who was known as "The Evil One" or "Evil Irv." Homer's curmudgeonly radio persona was part of the draw, making him one of the most popular local broadcasters in his genre. Like Mahalchik, he was a WWII veteran and a pilot.

Somehow several sources have erroneously listed Homer as being the VP on the Libertarian Party ticket, perhaps that is due to his political leanings? He later became a noted tax protester.

Homer reflected on the race in a 1980 news article: "We were on the ballot in the State of New Jersey and we actually got votes. We campaigned but we didn't spend one dime. We were out to show that to run for political office you have to have money and you have to lie like Hell."

Only on the ballot in New Jersey, the America First Party ticket placed 7th out of 8 (beating the Communist Party USA) with 1743 votes, or 0.06% of the state result. Although Mahalchik was something of a perennial candidate, this would apparently be Homer's only run for public office.

In 1981 Mahalchik was on the verge of losing his property for failure to pay back taxes and Homer helped out by spreading the word on his radio program. As a result of Homer's publicity, an anonymous gentleman personally paid the over $1000 required which reinforced Mahalchik's nickname, "Lucky."

Election history: none

Other occupations: soldier/pilot (WWII), lens grinder, hairdresser, paperhanger, insurance salesman, bartender/tavern owner, pizza company equipment sales, radio talk show personality, author

Buried: ?

Notes:
Moved from radio to Internet podcasts in his later years.

Clifton DeBerry

 DeBerry in upper left, NYC Mayor candidate debate 1965

Clifton DeBerry, September 18, 1923 (Holly Springs, Miss.) - March 24, 2006 (Union City, Calif.)

VP candidate for Socialist Workers Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Evelyn Reed (1905–1979)
Popular vote: 13,878 (0.02%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Clifton DeBerry's Vice-Presidential run in 1972 is hardly ever included in his resume of campaigns, but the Socialist Workers Party veteran did indeed serve as a running mate in that year. Notice I said "a" running mate rather than "the" running mate. The official SWP VP nominee was Cleve Andrew Pulley, who along with the official SWP Presidential nominee Linda Jenness, was too young to meet the Constitutionally mandated age of 35 to be sworn into office.

In most states this age problem was regarded as academic, but in Indiana, New York, and Wisconsin the Jenness/Pulley ticket was not allowed on the ballot. So in those states the Party substituted Evelyn Reed for President (she had actually met Trotsky in 1940) and Clifton DeBerry.

DeBerry had been the Party's Presidential nominee in 1964. Although there were other African-American nominees for President in the past, DeBerry was the first where his name appeared on a ballot. His role in the 1972 campaign as a substitute VP did not seem to loom large in his roster of accomplishments.

Their showings: Indiana 0.26%, New York 0.11%, Wisconsin 0.03%.

Election history:
1963 - New York City Council (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1964 - US President (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1965 - New York City Mayor (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1970 - Governor of New York (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1975 - Berkeley, Calif. City Council (Nonpartisan) - defeated
1980 - US President (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated

Other occupations: house painter, farm equipment factory worker, author

Buried: ?

Notes:
Born in the same town where Absolom Madden West, 1884 VP nominee of the Greenback Party, died
 in 1894.
Opponents in 1965 race included John Lindsay (winner), Abraham Beame, William F. Buckley, and
 Eric Hass
Opponents in 1970 race included Nelson Rockefeller (winner), Arthur Goldberg, and Stephen Emery
Left the Communist Party USA and joined the SWP in 1953
Moved to New York from Chicago in 1960
Ceased being politically active in the 1990s but remained loyal to SWP.

Cleve Andrew Pulley

Cleve Andrew Pulley, May 5, 1951 (Greenwood, Miss.) -

VP candidate for Socialist Workers Party (aka Independent) (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Linda Jenness (b. 1941)
Popular vote: 69,502 (0.09%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Socialist Workers Party 1972 ticket featured two people, Linda Jenness and Andrew Pulley, who were below the minimum age mandated by the Constitution.

Their issues included: Out of Vietnam, 30-hour work week, abolition of taxes on incomes under $10,000 and 100% taxation of incomes above $25,000, free health care, free mass transportation, prison reform, community control for African-American and Latino populations, women's rights, and gay rights.

This election and perhaps the next in 1976 could be considered the era when the SWP enjoyed the peak of it's growth and influence. The years ahead would be filled with serious infighting, splinters, and decline as the Left redefined itself after the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon were no longer around to be concentrated on as focal points that had formerly acted as something of a unifier for the Progressive side. The youth wave crested in politics. Rock surrendered to Disco.

The ages of the candidates proved to be a problem in terms of ballot access for Indiana, New York, and Wisconsin. In those three states the SWP ticket consisted of the older Evelyn Reed and Clifton DeBerry.

Jenness/Pulley were on the ballot in 18 states and the District of Columbia. In two additional states, Arizona and Louisiana they were included by default since only the Electors were listed. They finished with an astounding 69,502 votes, and with the Reed/DeBerry results added the SWP polled a total of 83,380 popular votes. Their strongest states were Arizona 4.74% and Louisiana 1.37%-- the only two states where their names were not actually listed! In Arizona they earned an amazing 30,945 votes.

Or did they?

Turns out Arizona had experienced some ballot irregularities. A huge malfunction in mostly Pima County but also in Yavapai County apparently awarded SWP with over 30,000 votes they most certainly did not receive in real life. So their national total was probably more in the neighborhood of 52,000 votes, which is still a relatively strong showing in the history of this party.

Election history:
1970 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1976 - US House of Representatives (Ill.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1979 - Mayor of Chicago, Ill. (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1980 - US President (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1984 - US House of Representatives (Mich.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1986 - US House of Representatives (Mich.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1990 - US House of Representatives (Mich.) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated
1992 - US Senate (Iowa) (Socialist Workers Party) - defeated

Other occupations: soldier (Vietnam War), steel mill worker, railroad switchman, taxicab driver, SWP Presidential Elector (Iowa) 2012,

Notes:
Moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1963.
Winner of the 1970 race was Ron Dellums. Pulley was a write-in and under the age of 21, which at
 the time was the minimum voting age.
Winner of the 1979 race was Jane Byrne
Winner of the 1984 and 1986 races was John Conyers
Winner of the 1992 race was Chuck Grassley
Still involved with SWP into Century 21.

Jesus (Spirit)

Jesus (Spirit), physical body: ca. 4 BC (Judea, Roman Empire) – ca AD 30/33 (Judea, Roman Empire) / spirit form: ca AD 30/33 - present

VP candidate for Loyal USA Party (1972)
VP candidate for Independent (1988)
VP candidate for Independent (2008)

Running mate with nominee (1972): Billy Joe Clegg (1928-1997)
Running mate with nominee (1988): Basil Tellou (1922-2009)
Running mate with nominee (2008): Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian (b. 1975)
Popular vote (1972, 1988, 2008): 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1972, 1988, 2008): 0/538

The campaign (1972)

Billy Joe Clegg, a registered Democrat in Oklahoma, announced he was running for President on Nov. 12, 1970. Recently retired from the Air Force he had found religion and declared that his oath of office on Inauguration Day would consist only of the Lord's Prayer. He told the press that his anger over removing prayer from public schools was the spark that ignited his run for office. Other times he said God directed him to campaign for President.

Although he immediately formed his own political organization, the Loyal USA Party, Clegg initially ran in the Democratic primaries to the point of visiting New Hampshire. In the fall of 1971 he said US Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson (D-Wash.) would be a fine running mate. Later it was announced Clegg had drafted Rev. Billy Graham to be the VP on the Loyal USA Party ticket. But Jackson and Graham apparently had other plans.

Clegg called Jesus his campaign manager, but the Savior was elevated to the official running mate position at the start of Sept. 1972 when Clegg announced "The Spirit of Jesus Christ" was going to be his VP. It wasn't clear if he meant this literally or metaphorically. Around the same time Clegg also said, "I'm a five-star general in God's Army-- self-appointed."

Frequently strapped for cash, the candidate toured the country by bus or hitchhiking. Clegg's request to have Secret Service protection during the course of the campaign somehow fell on deaf ears if you can imagine that.

Many politicians and political movements both Left and Right have declared God to be on their side, but Clegg actually said God was on his campaign staff as well and, hey, what other candidate but Clegg had the Spirit of Jesus was his running mate in 1972?

Running a strictly write-in campaign, Clegg's popular vote total on Election Day is unknown. He later ran for President in 1976, 1988, 1992, 1996 and had announced he was running in 2000 just a few months before his death in 1997. Some sources claim he also ran for President in 1980 and 1984 but if that is so they must have been stealth campaigns. His pattern was the same each time. He would first attempt to win the Democratic or Republican primaries and then failing that would move on to a third party bid. 1972 was the only election where he declared the Spirit of Jesus to be his VP.

The campaign (1988):

Basil Tellou was retired, but during his career he was a character actor in Hollywood films, and simply just a character as a non-actor in general. In 1988 he was living in a Pasadena house trailer and listed his occupation as poet and mystic. "Purity and immortality are the themes of my campaign-- clean air, no drugs, no gangs, no rock 'n' roll."

Tellou had created his own religion called Tellosophy and assigned himself the title of "Bishop." Since he possessed "the knowledge of ultimate reality" of course this qualified him to be President.

But becoming President was only the beginning. He was hoping to be proclaimed America's philosopher-king. "Democracy and communism are both enemies of the individual," he said. "The only political safeguard for an individual is an aristocracy, an aristocracy not necessarily composed of persons of title or pedigree but rather of persons who are exceptionally gifted-- the intelligentsia, mystics, artists, poets, writers."

As President-King, Tellou would provide unlimited to scientific research as long as animals were not harmed. Cryogenics and cities in space were two projects he wanted to explore.

Some Tellou quotes from the campaign:

My system is to bring food, shelter and medical care to everybody to get them out from under the yoke of having to work. You've got to give them a chance to develop. You've got to give them time to read, instead of going to work, watching television and going to bed. That's a robotized life.

I want to awaken them to the fury of truth. I want to be an alarm clock-- Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Time to wake up, man, and see what's happening to the country! ... I don't bring the false peace that keeps you asleep. I bring you the fury that awakens your soul.

I will eliminate crime by not allowing anyone on a sub-human level to have children ... If sub-human people can't have children, no crime. That's where you get your crime, from the sub-human kids of the sub-human parents. [When asked to define the sub-human people] That will be determined by spiritual men with special powers to know. It's beyond average intellectuality, you wouldn't understand it.

We were never meant to die.

Get the preservatives out of bread!

Once I pass by, I never return.

I never explain what I mean. Let the people wonder, "What does he mean? What does he mean?" A good ending, right?

To a reporter: Be sure to mention that I've been celibate for 25 years.

He also wanted Raymond Burr to be his campaign manager. In a 1953 television production entitled The Triumphant Hour, Burr played St. Peter and Tellou had the role of Jesus. Take note of that as the story continues.

Tellou had asked Rose Bird to be his running-mate, "I wrote her a letter and she sent me a nice picture." In 1988 she was still pretty well known, especially to those of us on the West Coast. Bird had been removed as the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court by the voters in a Nov. 1986 election due to her liberal interpretations of the law and alleged administrative mismanagement.

When Bird failed to provide a definite answer, Tellou wrote to Jackie Onassis but, incredibly, he did not receive a reply. "For awhile I considered asking Jessica Hahn," he said late in the campaign. Hahn was a celebrity in 1988 and known for blowing the whistle on the sexual escapades of televangelist Jim Bakker.

"Then it came to me one night," Tellou told a reporter. "I jumped out of bed. Why not Jesus?" In clarifying his VP choice to the journalist he added, "That's Jesus in spirit. Be sure you add that or people will think I'm batty because Jesus ain't here, you understand?"

Running as a write-in candidate, the Tellou/Jesus ticket's popular votes have not been reported.

The campaign (2008):

Canadian-American comedian and satirist Deven Green, in her persona as Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian, released a video for the 2008 campaign declaring her run for President with Jesus as her running mate. Her take on the matter was a bit different than Mr. Clegg's.

In explaining why she assumed the role of Presidential candidate while Jesus was "the invisible running mate," Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian said, "As I explained, with laborious patience, I don't play second banana to anyone, especially a Jew with a criminal record."

Election history (physical body): none

Election history (spirit form):
2008 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2012 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2016 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2020 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2024 - US President (Independent) - pending

Other occupations (physical body): carpenter, activist

Buried (physical body): burial place a matter of conjecture

Notes:
In 2008 a book entitled Jesus for President was a best seller and the authors' tour resembled a
 political campaign. The authors renewed the idea in 2012 as well.

Robert B. Mess

Robert B. Mess

VP candidate for Ohio American Independent Party (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Edward A. Wallace (b. ca1928)
Popular vote: 460 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Any hope of nominating George C. Wallace for President in the second election in a row were dashed when he was seriously wounded during an assassination attempt on May 15, 1972 while running in the Democratic Party primaries and subsequently asked the AIP not to consider him as their candidate.

The dogfight to replace Wallace was apparently vicious enough that one of the contenders who failed to win the nomination, Ohio State AIP Chair Richard B. Kay (1918-2011), went back home and started a splinter protest AIP effort. The national AIP  nominee, John Schmitz, was considered far too extreme Right-wing for Kay and his circle, who felt the Party had been taken over by the John Birch Society.

Since Kay was running for Congress as an AIP candidate that year, the Ohio branch of the Party chose Miamisburg resident Edward A. Wallace, a computer worker for the railroad, as the Presidential nominee. Hey, the name was almost the same as George and I suppose the idea was that it would help sell the write-in concept where you still get to vote for a Wallace. In fact, Edward considered himself a "stand-in" for George. Ohio would not count write-ins unless the candidate agreed so this was a way to make an end-run around the system. Robert B. Mess of Caryville, Tenn. was selected for VP. Mess was reported to have previously served George Wallace as part of his staff on a campaign or otherwise, although when and where was not specified.

The Ohio AIP electioneering, such as it was, turned out to be quite brief since the announcement of the Wallace/Mess ticket was only made on Oct. 17, 1972. Even so they garnered 460 write-in votes in Ohio, which was 0.01% of the state total. Schmitz, who was on the ballot, took 80,067 votes (1.96%) in the Buckeye State.   

Election history: none

Other occupations: George Wallace campaign staff

Buried: ?

Notes:
Mr. Mess came out of nowhere and vanished into nowhere after 1972. Can any readers out there help
 out with filling in the blanks?

James Joseph Brown

James Joseph Brown, May 3, 1933 (Barnwell, SC) – December 25, 2006 (Atlanta, Ga.)

VP candidate for Independent (1972)

Running mate with nominee: Mary Levinson (1914-1995)
Popular vote: "30-odd votes" (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In late October, 1972 Mary Levinson of Buffalo, NY announced she was running for President as an independent write-in. Actually she was serving as a stand-in for her son, Michael, who at age 30 was too young to be elected President. Michael had, according to the press, "definite views on ending the Vietnam war and cutting rents everywhere." The campaign's motto was "You stand on your own two feet."

Levinson told reporters she was planning to ask James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, to be her running mate. If this indeed happened, Brown's response was not reported. Brown had endorsed Humphrey in 1968 but by 1972 he was solidly in Nixon's camp. He later supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and George W. Bush in the 2000s. Strangely, Brown was also an admirer of segregationist Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. Many fans were disappointed with Brown's conversion to the Republican Party in the late 1960s and staged protests or boycotted his concerts in that era.

Levinson later recalled in 1992 that she received "30-odd votes."

Election history: none

Other occupations: musical artist

Buried: Thomas Family Home Crypt (Beech Island, SC)

Notes:
Michael Levinson has run for several offices since 1972, including multiple attempts for President in the primaries of both major parties. In 1988, when he ran in the Republican primaries, he produced a poster declaring Muhammad Ali as his VP.