Wrapping Up The Also-Rans
As always seems to happen with these month-long themes, some important subjects always seem to get left out, and so it is with the Also-Rans. In order to avoid accusations of partisanship or bias (which always seems to happen any way), I used a pattern of: one Democrat, one Republican and one "Other", departing from the pattern if it happened to be the anniversary of an also-ran's birth or death. Still some prominent candidates were missed. Many of these were Democrats, not because of any bias, but because the Democratic party has a longer history. The first Republican candidate ran for President in 1856, so the Democrats had a head start when it came to losing presidential elections.
Following are 10 more also-rans that I wish had been included in this series:
1. John C. Frémont: He was the first candidate to run for the Republican Party, running in 1856 and losing to James Buchanan. He was also an explorer, a general, an anti-slavery advocate and the son-in-law of Democratic Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. He is called The Great Pathfinder, having led four expeditions to the west. He proved to be a thorn in the side (or perhaps the pain was lower down) to President James K. Polk during the Mexican War. After he lost the 1856 presidential election he served as a general in the Civil War and was given command of the armies in the west but made hasty decisions (such as trying to emancipate slaves without consulting the federal government), and was consequently relieved of his command. An earlier post written in this community about Frémont can be found here.
2. George McGovern: this peace advocate Senator from South Dakota was the Democratic candidate for President in 1972. The burglary of his campaign offices resulted in a little thing called Watergate. I left him off the list because I had already written a tribute to him (which can be found here) the day after he died (on October 21, 2012).
3. George McClellan: another Democratic George Mc, this Civil War general ran for President in 1864, losing to Abraham Lincoln. He had a strained relationship with Lincoln, because of his perception by Lincoln as being too slow and deliberate and afraid to fight, and in turn because of McLellan's blatant disrespect for Lincoln. I've written about the relationship between the two men in the community at least three times. Those entries can be found here, here, and here.
4. George Wallace: this former Governor of Alabama ran as an independent candidate in the elections of 1968 and 1972. A staunch segregationist, on June 11, 1963 Wallace stood at the front door to Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to try to block the entry of two African-American students, Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood (written about in this community here. On May 15, 1972 while campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, Wallace was shot five times by Arthur Bremer. He survived the shooting, but was left paralyzed and wheelchair bound. A more detailed entry about Wallace can be found here. Later in the 1970s, Wallace announced that he was a born-again Christian and apologized to black civil rights leaders for his past actions as a segregationist. Wallace died on September 13, 1998.
5. John Davis: John Davis was a politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served as a United States Representative from West Virginia from 1911 to 1913, then as Solicitor General of the United States and US Ambassador to the UK under President Woodrow Wilson. Over a 60-year legal career, he argued 140 cases before the US Supreme Court, the most famous perhaps being Brown v. Board of Education. (He represented the southern segregationists). Davis was the Democratic Party nominee for President in the 1924 presidential election, losing to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge.
6. James Cox: James Middleton Cox was Governor of Ohio, U.S. Representative from Ohio and Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920 (when both candidates from the two major parties came from the same state.) Cox selected as his running mate assistant secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They lost to the team of Harding and Coolidge. Of the four men on the two tickets, all but Cox would become president.
7. Ralph Nader: This famous consumer rights advocate ran for President on behalf of the Green Party in 2000 and many blame him for stealing votes from Al Gore, leading to the election of George W. Bush. Nader came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of his book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers in general, and specifically the Chevrolet Corvair. Nader ran for President as a write-in candidate in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary, as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.
8. Henry Wallace: The flaky former Vice-President and Secretary of Agriculture ran for President in 1948 as the candidate for the left-leaning Progressive Party in 1948. He boldly campaigned in the south for equal rights despite being threatened and pelted with eggs. His candidacy was originally expected to steal votes from incumbent Harry Truman, but was later believed to be a blessing in disguise for the President, as Wallace's frequent criticisms of Truman's foreign policy, combined with his avowed acceptance of Communist support, served to deflect Republicans' claims that Truman was "soft on communism".
9. Walter Mondale: Vice President under President Jimmy Carter, and Senator from Minnesota (1964–1976), Mondale was the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the United States presidential election of 1984, losing to Ronald Reagan by a very large majority. In the Senate, Mondale supported fair housing, tax reform, and the desegregation of schools but opposed United States involvement in the Vietnam War. In the election, Mondale was defeated in one of the biggest landslides in US history by President Reagan, gaining electoral votes from only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
10. Horace Greeley: Greeley was a newspaper editor, a reformer and an outspoken opponent of slavery. He founded and edited the New York Tribune, America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s. Greeley used the paper to promote the Whig and Republican parties, as well as opposition to slavery and a host of reforms ranging from vegetarianism to socialism. Crusading against the corruption of Ulysses S. Grant's administration, he was the new Liberal Republican Party's candidate in the 1872 U.S. presidential election. Despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party, he lost in a landslide. He is the only presidential candidate to have died prior to the counting of electoral votes.
There are many others that would also make for interesting reads, names like Rufus King, John Bell, Harry Byrd, John Anderson or James Weaver. But let me end this theme with another used book store find, a fictional anthology called Alternate Presidents. In the book, alternative history writer Mike Resnick presents a collection of "what if" stories about what life might have been like if Thomas Dewey, Michael Dukakis or Barry Goldwater had been elected President. This one is going to make for some fun summer reading!
Following are 10 more also-rans that I wish had been included in this series:
1. John C. Frémont: He was the first candidate to run for the Republican Party, running in 1856 and losing to James Buchanan. He was also an explorer, a general, an anti-slavery advocate and the son-in-law of Democratic Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. He is called The Great Pathfinder, having led four expeditions to the west. He proved to be a thorn in the side (or perhaps the pain was lower down) to President James K. Polk during the Mexican War. After he lost the 1856 presidential election he served as a general in the Civil War and was given command of the armies in the west but made hasty decisions (such as trying to emancipate slaves without consulting the federal government), and was consequently relieved of his command. An earlier post written in this community about Frémont can be found here.
2. George McGovern: this peace advocate Senator from South Dakota was the Democratic candidate for President in 1972. The burglary of his campaign offices resulted in a little thing called Watergate. I left him off the list because I had already written a tribute to him (which can be found here) the day after he died (on October 21, 2012).
3. George McClellan: another Democratic George Mc, this Civil War general ran for President in 1864, losing to Abraham Lincoln. He had a strained relationship with Lincoln, because of his perception by Lincoln as being too slow and deliberate and afraid to fight, and in turn because of McLellan's blatant disrespect for Lincoln. I've written about the relationship between the two men in the community at least three times. Those entries can be found here, here, and here.
4. George Wallace: this former Governor of Alabama ran as an independent candidate in the elections of 1968 and 1972. A staunch segregationist, on June 11, 1963 Wallace stood at the front door to Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to try to block the entry of two African-American students, Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood (written about in this community here. On May 15, 1972 while campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, Wallace was shot five times by Arthur Bremer. He survived the shooting, but was left paralyzed and wheelchair bound. A more detailed entry about Wallace can be found here. Later in the 1970s, Wallace announced that he was a born-again Christian and apologized to black civil rights leaders for his past actions as a segregationist. Wallace died on September 13, 1998.
5. John Davis: John Davis was a politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served as a United States Representative from West Virginia from 1911 to 1913, then as Solicitor General of the United States and US Ambassador to the UK under President Woodrow Wilson. Over a 60-year legal career, he argued 140 cases before the US Supreme Court, the most famous perhaps being Brown v. Board of Education. (He represented the southern segregationists). Davis was the Democratic Party nominee for President in the 1924 presidential election, losing to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge.
6. James Cox: James Middleton Cox was Governor of Ohio, U.S. Representative from Ohio and Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920 (when both candidates from the two major parties came from the same state.) Cox selected as his running mate assistant secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They lost to the team of Harding and Coolidge. Of the four men on the two tickets, all but Cox would become president.
7. Ralph Nader: This famous consumer rights advocate ran for President on behalf of the Green Party in 2000 and many blame him for stealing votes from Al Gore, leading to the election of George W. Bush. Nader came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of his book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers in general, and specifically the Chevrolet Corvair. Nader ran for President as a write-in candidate in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary, as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.
8. Henry Wallace: The flaky former Vice-President and Secretary of Agriculture ran for President in 1948 as the candidate for the left-leaning Progressive Party in 1948. He boldly campaigned in the south for equal rights despite being threatened and pelted with eggs. His candidacy was originally expected to steal votes from incumbent Harry Truman, but was later believed to be a blessing in disguise for the President, as Wallace's frequent criticisms of Truman's foreign policy, combined with his avowed acceptance of Communist support, served to deflect Republicans' claims that Truman was "soft on communism".
9. Walter Mondale: Vice President under President Jimmy Carter, and Senator from Minnesota (1964–1976), Mondale was the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the United States presidential election of 1984, losing to Ronald Reagan by a very large majority. In the Senate, Mondale supported fair housing, tax reform, and the desegregation of schools but opposed United States involvement in the Vietnam War. In the election, Mondale was defeated in one of the biggest landslides in US history by President Reagan, gaining electoral votes from only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
10. Horace Greeley: Greeley was a newspaper editor, a reformer and an outspoken opponent of slavery. He founded and edited the New York Tribune, America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s. Greeley used the paper to promote the Whig and Republican parties, as well as opposition to slavery and a host of reforms ranging from vegetarianism to socialism. Crusading against the corruption of Ulysses S. Grant's administration, he was the new Liberal Republican Party's candidate in the 1872 U.S. presidential election. Despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party, he lost in a landslide. He is the only presidential candidate to have died prior to the counting of electoral votes.
There are many others that would also make for interesting reads, names like Rufus King, John Bell, Harry Byrd, John Anderson or James Weaver. But let me end this theme with another used book store find, a fictional anthology called Alternate Presidents. In the book, alternative history writer Mike Resnick presents a collection of "what if" stories about what life might have been like if Thomas Dewey, Michael Dukakis or Barry Goldwater had been elected President. This one is going to make for some fun summer reading!