Third Party Candidates: William Lemke and the Union Party
In 1936 as the Great Depression raged on, populism was on the rise. It was the time of Father Coughlin, a time that followed the assassination of Huey Long, and the time of the Union Party. The Union Party was a short-lived political party formed in 1936 by a coalition made up of radio priest Father Charles Coughlin, old-age pension advocate Francis Townsend, and Gerald L. K. Smith, who had taken control of Huey Long's Share Our Wealth (SOW) movement after Long's assassination in 1935. Each of those people hoped to unite their followings into support for the Union Party, a group that proposed a populist alternative to the New Deal reforms of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. (Left to right in the photo below are Towsend, Smith and Coughlin).
After Herbert Hoover's defeat in 1932, many people were encouraged by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal as a ladder out of the hole caused by the depression. But for many, Roosevelt's policies weren't radical enough and the Democrats but still non-Marxist in the political spectrum of the time. In 1935, a former Republican named Newton Jenkins ran as an independent in the election for Mayor of Chicago. Jenkins tried to draw support for those who recalled the old Progressive party. Jenkins had made an unsuccessful run for the 1930 Illinois U.S. Senate race but had lost the Republican nomination to Ruth Hanna McCormick. In the 1935 mayoral race in Chicago, the party used "U.S., Unite" as its slogan and the buffalo as its mascot. It used Jenkins' campaign as the launching pad for a new political party that ultimately evolved into the short-lived Union Party.
Many people expected that Louisiana populist Huey Long, a colorful Democratic senator would run for President in 1936 as the Union Party candidate and that he would use his "Share Our Wealth" program as his platform to run on. But his presidential aspirations ended in September 1935 with his assassination.
After Long's death, the leading contenders for the party's 1936 presidential candidate included Senators Burton K. Wheeler, a Democrat from Montana, William E. Borah, a Republican from Idaho, and Governor Floyd B. Olson of Minnesota, a member of the Farm-Labor Party. The two senators lost interest when Long's supporters drifted away. Borah ran for the Republican nomination for President, but lost the nomination to Kansas governor Alf Landon. Olson withdrew from the race for health reasons, after he was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer.
The party ultimately chose North Dakota Congressman William Lemke as their candidate. Lemke was born in Albany, Minnesota in 1879 and was raised in Towner County, North Dakota. His parents were pioneer farmers who had ran a farm on 2,700 acres of land. Lemke graduated from the University of North Dakota, graduating in 1902. He took his first year of law school at the state university before moving to Georgetown University, and then to Yale Law School, where he completed his law degree. He returned to his home state in 1905 to set up a law practice at Fargo. Lemke was the attorney general of North Dakota from 1921 to 1922. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1932, a member of the Non-Partisan League. He served four two-year terms in Congress. where he earned a reputation as a progressive populist and a supporter of the New Deal.
Lemke co-sponsored legislation to protect farmers against foreclosures during the Great Depression in 1934, legislation known as the Frazier–Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act. The bill restricted the ability of banks to repossess farms. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act into law on June 28, 1934, but the Act was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford. Lemke tried to get the Act re-passed by Congress, but was unsuccessful at first. The Act was eventually passed and later held constitutional by the Supreme Court. While in Congress, Lemke became a political friend and ally of Louisiana populist Huey Long.
The Union Party had problems in holding its coalition together almost from the moment of its inception. Each of the party's three principal leaders (Coughlin, Townsend and Smith) considered himself as the real power and de facto leader of the party. Each man's movement was held together more by the personality of its leader than by its ideology. Smith was far less charismatic. Critics accused the party of being Father Coughlin, a former Roosevelt supporter who had broken with Roosevelt. The party was rife with antisemitism, something that alienated many former progressives.
The Union Party attracted some support from populists on both sides of the political spectrum who were unhappy with Roosevelt. It also attracted membership from the remnants of earlier third parties such as the Farmer-Labor Party. The party was also accused of being a left-wing spoiler party.
In the 1936 election Lemke was chosen as the party's nominee for the president and his running ,mate was Thomas C. O'Brien, a labor lawyer from Boston. The election was a cake-walk for Roosevelt who received 27,752,648 votes (60.80% of the popular vote) and 532 electoral votes. Republican Alf Landon only received 8 electoral votes and 16,681,862 votes (36.54%). Lemke finished third but did not win a single electoral vote. He received 892,378 votes (1.95%).
The Union Party was disbanded shortly after the 1936 election. Lemke continued to serve in Congress as a Republican, and died in office in 1950 while serving his eighth term. Father Coughlin announced his retirement from the airwaves immediately after the 1936 election. But he returned to the air within a couple of months. When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, the Roman Catholic Church ordered Father Coughlin to retire from the airwaves and return to his duties as a parish priest. He died in 1979. Townsend saw his movement fade following the enactment of Social Security in 1937 and was also relegated to obscurity. He died im 1960. Smith became infamous as a radical fringe figure and a Holocaust denier. He died in 1976.
After Herbert Hoover's defeat in 1932, many people were encouraged by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal as a ladder out of the hole caused by the depression. But for many, Roosevelt's policies weren't radical enough and the Democrats but still non-Marxist in the political spectrum of the time. In 1935, a former Republican named Newton Jenkins ran as an independent in the election for Mayor of Chicago. Jenkins tried to draw support for those who recalled the old Progressive party. Jenkins had made an unsuccessful run for the 1930 Illinois U.S. Senate race but had lost the Republican nomination to Ruth Hanna McCormick. In the 1935 mayoral race in Chicago, the party used "U.S., Unite" as its slogan and the buffalo as its mascot. It used Jenkins' campaign as the launching pad for a new political party that ultimately evolved into the short-lived Union Party.
Many people expected that Louisiana populist Huey Long, a colorful Democratic senator would run for President in 1936 as the Union Party candidate and that he would use his "Share Our Wealth" program as his platform to run on. But his presidential aspirations ended in September 1935 with his assassination.
After Long's death, the leading contenders for the party's 1936 presidential candidate included Senators Burton K. Wheeler, a Democrat from Montana, William E. Borah, a Republican from Idaho, and Governor Floyd B. Olson of Minnesota, a member of the Farm-Labor Party. The two senators lost interest when Long's supporters drifted away. Borah ran for the Republican nomination for President, but lost the nomination to Kansas governor Alf Landon. Olson withdrew from the race for health reasons, after he was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer.
The party ultimately chose North Dakota Congressman William Lemke as their candidate. Lemke was born in Albany, Minnesota in 1879 and was raised in Towner County, North Dakota. His parents were pioneer farmers who had ran a farm on 2,700 acres of land. Lemke graduated from the University of North Dakota, graduating in 1902. He took his first year of law school at the state university before moving to Georgetown University, and then to Yale Law School, where he completed his law degree. He returned to his home state in 1905 to set up a law practice at Fargo. Lemke was the attorney general of North Dakota from 1921 to 1922. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1932, a member of the Non-Partisan League. He served four two-year terms in Congress. where he earned a reputation as a progressive populist and a supporter of the New Deal.
Lemke co-sponsored legislation to protect farmers against foreclosures during the Great Depression in 1934, legislation known as the Frazier–Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act. The bill restricted the ability of banks to repossess farms. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act into law on June 28, 1934, but the Act was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford. Lemke tried to get the Act re-passed by Congress, but was unsuccessful at first. The Act was eventually passed and later held constitutional by the Supreme Court. While in Congress, Lemke became a political friend and ally of Louisiana populist Huey Long.
The Union Party had problems in holding its coalition together almost from the moment of its inception. Each of the party's three principal leaders (Coughlin, Townsend and Smith) considered himself as the real power and de facto leader of the party. Each man's movement was held together more by the personality of its leader than by its ideology. Smith was far less charismatic. Critics accused the party of being Father Coughlin, a former Roosevelt supporter who had broken with Roosevelt. The party was rife with antisemitism, something that alienated many former progressives.
The Union Party attracted some support from populists on both sides of the political spectrum who were unhappy with Roosevelt. It also attracted membership from the remnants of earlier third parties such as the Farmer-Labor Party. The party was also accused of being a left-wing spoiler party.
In the 1936 election Lemke was chosen as the party's nominee for the president and his running ,mate was Thomas C. O'Brien, a labor lawyer from Boston. The election was a cake-walk for Roosevelt who received 27,752,648 votes (60.80% of the popular vote) and 532 electoral votes. Republican Alf Landon only received 8 electoral votes and 16,681,862 votes (36.54%). Lemke finished third but did not win a single electoral vote. He received 892,378 votes (1.95%).
The Union Party was disbanded shortly after the 1936 election. Lemke continued to serve in Congress as a Republican, and died in office in 1950 while serving his eighth term. Father Coughlin announced his retirement from the airwaves immediately after the 1936 election. But he returned to the air within a couple of months. When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, the Roman Catholic Church ordered Father Coughlin to retire from the airwaves and return to his duties as a parish priest. He died in 1979. Townsend saw his movement fade following the enactment of Social Security in 1937 and was also relegated to obscurity. He died im 1960. Smith became infamous as a radical fringe figure and a Holocaust denier. He died in 1976.