Third Party Candidates
United States democracy is based on the principle of a multi-party system. Today, citizens can cast votes for representatives of the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Reform Party, or Independent Party, to name a few of the 37 or so active parties that currently list candidates. Americans may also vote for nominees of the dominant Republican and Democratic Parties, which may seem permanently ensconced. However, until 1792, there was only one party, and it was neither Republican nor Democrat. Anti-Federalists formed the first opposition faction against the new nation’s Federalist Party. It evolved into the Democratic-Republican Party and still later, into the modern Democratic Party. The Whig Party, formally organized in 1834, was a key political force until the 1850s, when the slavery question seriously divided party members. The Republican Party formed in its wake, composed largely of Northern opponents of slavery. Indeed, President Lincoln’s election in 1860 was commonly regarded as a third-party victory.
A variety of third parties have challenged the dominant two-party system since the first (the Anti-Masonic Party in 1832), most of them driven by protests on particular issues or focused on discrete political ideologies. The Liberty and Prohibition Parties, for instance, called respectively for the abolition of slavery and prohibition of alcohol. Theodore Roosevelt was perhaps the most successful third-party candidate after Lincoln, when he gained 27.5% of the popular vote as the Progressive Party candidate in 1912. In more recent times, Ross Perot (Reform and Independent Parties) captured an astonishing 19% of the popular vote. Third-party candidates for the Presidency have been far more influential in raising public awareness about particular issues and affecting the tenor of political discourse, than in winning votes. The two dominant parties have often adopted concerns championed by a third party, ironically diminishing the third party’s power.
The Greenback Party
To ease financial burdens during the Civil War, the government issued paper notes ("greenbacks") that were not backed by Federal reserves. Radical thinkers within the Democratic Party hoped that keeping the notes in circulation after the war would lead to inflation. The crushing economic effects of the Civil War, combined with the devastating "Panic of 1873," left many farmers of the West and South to face overwhelming debt. Greenback supporters hoped that an inflated economy would make debts easier to pay. Failing to win control of the Democratic Party, they forged their own party. It existed for a short time during the Reconstruction era, and essentially espoused one issue. The Greenback Party was an important opponent to conservative fiscal policies in the 1870s, but dissolved after poor election results in 1884.
This ballot takes the form of an imitation dollar bill on one side, and on the other, states the Greenback Party's opposition to the issuance of government bonds that support an "aristocracy."
The Prohibition Party
Formed in 1867, the Prohibition Party was a reform-minded party that had a significant impact on local politics. Organizations like the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League forced the temperance issue to the political forefront. With the prohibition of alcohol and drugs as their guiding principle, Prohibitionists also called for a broad range of reforms, including the prohibition of gambling, public education, prison reform, and woman suffrage. The Prohibition Party never won any significant national elections, but it did influence public policy. The Eighteenth Amendment (1919), probably the most significant piece of legislation to grow from Prohibitionist platforms, prohibited the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages. When the Twenty-first Amendment repealed Prohibition in 1933, the party lost its political weight.
A caricature of 1888 Presidential nominees conjoins Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and Clinton Fisk, the Prohibition Party candidate, into a three-headed politician.
A collection of campaign buttons track Prohibition Party candidates from 1888 until 1924.
Left Column, top to bottom: Fisk & Brooks, 1888; Levering & Johnson, 1896; Wooley & Metcalf, 1900; Swallow & Carroll, 1904 Prohibition Party
Right Column, top to bottom: Chafin & Watkins, 1908; Chafin & Watkins, 1912; Hanly & Landrith, 1916; Faris & Mrs. Brehm, 1924
The Socialist Party
The Socialist Party, led by the charismatic Eugene Debs, was one of the most radical and influential parties of the early twentieth century. The Party fought for woman suffrage (alongside the National Woman’s Party), reform of child labor laws, and a 40-hour work week. Their efforts were later successful in bringing about the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Socialist Party Ribbons 1900-1920.
The Progressive Party
The Bull Moose Party
When Theodore Roosevelt bolted the Republican Party in 1912, he and his supporters formed the Progressive Party. Progressives adopted a radical platform that comprised sweeping reforms.
Roosevelt once remarked to the press that he felt as fit as a bull moose, a simile his supporters eagerly embraced in choosing their lively mascot. The bull moose was an apt symbol for the vigorous new party. Roosevelt’s own personality corresponded well with the animal’s; his love of the wilderness and outdoor sports were legendary. The party united behind an anti-trust philosophy: government regulatory control, conservation of natural resources, and an interest in organized labor. After Roosevelt’s defeat in 1912, the Progressive Party lost much of its energy and momentum, but continues today to advocate a number of government reforms.
“Bull Moose” Progressive Party Ribbon and Buttons, 1912.
Henry Wallace
Originally registered as a Republican, Henry Wallace supported Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1932 presidential campaign. After serving in FDR's cabinet, Wallace was nominated as Roosevelt's Vice Presidential running mate in 1940. Roosevelt dropped Wallace as his running mate in 1944 because of Wallace's increasingly liberal views. Later, as the editor of the New Republic, Wallace re-invigorated the Progressive Party, and ran as its candidate in the 1948 Presidential election. Under Wallace’s leadership, the party championed a variety of progressive causes, including civil rights, welfare and education.
Charlotta Bass
Issued by the Progressive Party of New Jersey, this publication supports Charlotta Bass for the party’s Vice Presidential nomination. Bass went on to run with Vincent Hallinan on the national Progressive Party ticket in 1952. Charlotta Bass was an avid supporter of civil rights and the first African-American woman to receive a national party’s nomination.
The States' Rights Democratic Party
In 1948, Strom Thurmond and other southern Democrats broke from the Party over the issue of racial segregation, which they supported, to form the States' Rights, or "Dixiecrat" Party. Thurmond earned 39 votes from the Electoral College, but just 2.4% of the popular vote. Thurmond went on to change parties yet again, and served out the rest of his lengthy Senate career as the Republican senior Senator from South Carolina. Thurmond died in 2003 at the age of 101, just months after he had resigned his office. The Dixiecrat Party lost its momentum and dissolved after the 1948 election, but it was influential in weakening traditional Democratic influence in the South.