Outline of History

For an overview of the social milieu out of which the Prohibition Party evolved, see:

McGerr, Michael () -- A Fierce Discontent:  The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920:  Free Press, 395pp.

Hofstadter, Richard and Robert Weibe (1955) -- The Age of Reform

Hofstadter, Richard and Robert Weibe (1967) -- The Search for Order

For an overview of third parties in The United States, including the Prohibition Party, refer to the publications in the following:

Random Bibliography

Colvin, D.L. (1926) -- Prohibition in The United States:  A History of the Party and of the Prohibition Movement:  NYC, Doran, pp.

Day, Glenn (1988) – Minor Presidential Candidates and Parties of 1988:  Jefferson (NC), McFarland,  pp.

Gammon, C. L. (2007) – America’s Other Party:  A Brief History of the Prohibition Party:  privately printed, 205pp.

Gillespie, J. D. (1993) -- Politics at the Periphery:

Hesseltine, W. B. (1948) – The Rise and Fall of Third Parties:  Princeton, Van Nostrand, pp.

----- (1962) – Third-Party Movements in the United States:  Princeton, Van Nostrand, pp.

Kruschke, E. R, (1991) – Encyclopedia of Third Parties in the United States:  Santa Barbara (CA), ABC-CLIO,    pp.

Mazmanian, D. A. (1974) – Third Parties in Presidential Elections:  Washington, Brookings Institution,    pp.

Murphy, P.I. (Ed.) (1974) – Political Parties in American History:  NYC, Putnam,  4vo.

Nash, Howard, Jr. (1959) – Third Parties in American Politics:  Washington, Public
Affairs,  pp.

Rockwood, D. S., et al. (1985) – American Third Parties Since the Civil War:  NYC, Garland,    pp.

Rosenstone, S. J.; R. L. Behr; and E. H. Lazarus (1984) – Third Parties in America:  Princeton, University Press,    pp.

Schapsmeier, E. L. and F.H. Schapsmeier (1981) – Political Parties and Civic Action  Groups: Westport (CN), Greenwood,   pp.

Schlesinger, A. M., Jr. (Ed.) (1973) – History of U.S. Political Parties:  NYC,
McGraw-Hill,    4vo.

Smallwood, Frank (1983) – The Other Candidates:  Hanover (NH), University Press of New England,    pp.

Storms, R. C. (1972) – Partisan Prophets:  Denver, National Prohibition Foundation, pp.

Thayer, George (1967) – The Farther Shores of Politics:  NYC, Simon & Schuster, pp.

The standard work on the history of the Prohibition Party is Roger Storms' "Partisan Prophets," published in 1972.   Storms died in 1980, of complications from injuries sustained in a traffic accident.  No one has collected Party records since 1972, although much information has been preserved in the monthly issues of the Prohibition Party newsletter, "The National Statesman."  "Partisan Prophets" is currently out of print, but can be found in a few libraries.

Storms' work is not error-free, unfortunately. When Storms and this website contradict each other, this website is more likely to be correct. Please notify the editor of any additional mistakes in Storms.

Prohibition Party presidential candidates polled over 100,000 votes at each election from 1884 to 1920.  The Prohibition Party elected Sidney Catts governor of Florida in 1916. It elected Kittel Halvorson of Minnesota to Congress in 1890, and it elected Charles Randall of California to Congress for three terms (1914 - 1916 - 1918).  In 1904, it elected 204 local officials in just one county, Venango County, in Pennsylvania.

The Prohibition Party candidate who received the highest vote total in a single election was Rev. Robert P. Shuler in a 1932 California race for the US Senate. He garnered 560,088 votes (25.8%) and carried Orange and Riverside counties. He had previously played a key role in exposing corruption in other states. He was one of those involved in the investigation which led to the ouster of Gov. Ferguson in Texas.

The last Prohibition Party members to win election to office in the 20th Century were three local officials in the town of Lee, ME in 1978. Fred Dingley won re-election as town moderator, for a total of 30 years of service in that office. Roger Storms was re-elected to the District 30 School Board, and his wife Margaret was re-elected as town clerk.

These people were elected as non-partisan candidates (no party label on ballot), although they were Prohibition Party members. The last Prohibition Party candidates elected in the 20th Century were two members of the Winona Lake, Indiana town council, in 1959.

The first Prohibition Party candidate to be elected in the 21st Century was James Hedges, township assessor in Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Hedges was elected in 2001, for a 4-year term.  Hedges was re-elected to a second 4-year term in 2005; coincidentally, the Pennsylvania legislature abolished the office of "township assessor" in 2007.

• Click here for a list of president/vice-president candidates.
• Click here for a list of other past candidates.
• Click here for a summary of alternative names used by the Prohibition Party.

Between 1933 and 2003, the chairman of the National Committee served as editor of the National Committee's newsletter, The National Statesman. The Statesman was founded by then national chairman Edward Blake in 1933. It was discontinued in 2003.

A separate office of 'Executive Secretary' was established in 1955, when E. Harold Munn became chairman. Former chairman Virgil C. Finnell was named to the position. Future chairman Earl F. Dodge held the position from 1957 through 1963. Dodge was followed by Delmar D. Gibbons, 1963-1967. Dodge then returned and served from 1968 until 1979, at which time the positions of chairman and executive secretary were merged. The position of Executive Secretary was separated from that of chairman in 2003; James Hedges served in that position from 2003 to 2007, at which time the two offices were again combined.

"photo by Earl Higgerson, 1997"

1933-47 — Edward E. Blake (founder), Chicago, Illinois 1948-51 — Virgil C, Finnell, Winona Lake, Indiana 1951-53 — Gerald Overholt, Winona Lake, Indiana 1953-55 — Lowell H. Coate, Winona Lake, Indiana 1955-58 — Virgil C. Finnell and E.H. Munn, Winona Lake, Indiana 1958-62 — Earl F. Dodge, Winona Lake and Saint Louis 1963-67 — Delmar P. Gibbons, Kalamazoo, Michigan 1967-03 — Earl F. Dodge, Kalamazoo and Denver (discontinued) The National Statesman was a member of the Evangelical Press Association in 1968.

Prohibition Party National Convention Sites

1869—CHICAGO, Illinois (founding) 1872—COLUMBUS, Ohio 1876—CLEVELAND, Ohio 1880—CLEVELAND, Ohio 1884—PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania 1888—INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana 1892—CINCINNATI, Ohio 1986—PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania 1900—CHICAGO, Illinois 1904—INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana 1908—COLUMBUS, Ohio 1912—ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey 1916—SAINT PAUL, Minnesota 1920—LINCOLN, Nebraska 1924—COLUMBUS, Ohio 1928—CHICAGO, Illinois 1932—INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana 1936—NIAGARA FALLS, New York 1940—CHICAGO, Illinois 1943—INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana 1947—WINONA LAKE, Indiana 1951—INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana 1955—MILFORD (Camp Mack), Indiana 1959—WINONA LAKE, Indiana	1963—SAINT LOUIS, Missouri 1967—DETROIT, Michigan 1971—WICHITA, Kansas 1973—JUNCTION CITY, Kansas 1975—DENVER, Colorado 1976—special Bicentennial conference—                 PORTLAND, Maine (announced                 for Boston, then changed) 1977 conference—SANTA ANA, California 1979—BIRMINGHAM, Alabama 1981 conference—COLDWATER, Michigan 1983—MANDAN, North Dakota 1985 conference—SPRINGFIELD, Illinois 1987—SPRINGFIELD, Illinois 1990 conference (rescheduled)—                 READING, Pennsylvania 1991—MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota 1993 conference —FREMONT, Ohio 1995—DENVER, Colorado 1997 —INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana 1999—BIRD-IN-HAND, Pennsylvania 2001—LAKEWOOD, Colorado 2003—FAIRFIELD GLADE, Tennessee 2005—BEDFORD, Pennsylvania 2007— INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana
Earl Dodge's son, Calvin, is said to have a video of the 1987 convention; it is not available for study.

The Storms Collection

      The Storms Collection of Prohibition Party political memorabilia was begun in 1968, on the initiative of Earl Dodge, and was dedicated to Roger Storms in October, 1981, after Storms' untimely death.  The collection was displayed at our headquarters in Denver until the office was lost, at which time Dodge packed up everything and stored it in the basement of his home. 
     After Dodge died, his widow discovered that Dodge had mortgaged and cashed-out the family home, without telling her.  She then put forth a story that she was trying to donate the Storms Collection to the Smithsonian Institution; later, she announced that the Smithsonian had accepted it.
     Having thus bought herself some time, she proceeded to sell the Storms Collection, partly on
e-bay and partly through political items auctioneer Al Anderson, in order to raise the money needed to buy back her own house.  The material is now dispersed into many private collections and is no longer available for exhibit or study.
      The Storms Collection had been substantially paid for by grants from the Prohibition Trust Fund Association to the Partisan Prohibtion Historical Society.  Historical Society officers discussed suing Mrs. Dodge for possession, after Dodge died, but lacked the funds to hire a lawyer. 
      The Trust Fund discussed suing Mrs. Dodge to recover their money, but, realizing that winning a lawsuit would mean taking the family home and forcing Mrs. Dodge to go sleep under a bridge, they decided to write it off as a loss.

     A letter of enquiry to the Smithsonian's "Museum of American History" went unanswered, which would indicate that the Smithsonian knows nothing about the Storms Collection

Bullmoose Chapter of APIC

The Third Party Chapter of the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) specializes in the history of third-party movements in America through the dissemination of knowledge about these parties, their positions on political issues, their history, their leadership, and their political items. The Chapter illuminates the place of third parties on the American political landscape. It publishes a newsletter 4 times each year to keep its members abreast of developments in third parties in America. The newsletter also includes articles on the histories of these parties, many of which are written by college and university faculty members whose areas of specialization are in this part of American History.

Prohibition Party on TV

The first, and to date only, Prohibition Party candidate to use paid television advertising in his campaign was David Livingston. Livingston ran for several Colorado offices in the1980's, ending with a try for Governor in 1990 and a try for Lt. Governor in 1994. He had two 30-second spots taped by his local television station to use during his campaign for Governor. The spots cost $260 to produce and about $800 to broadcast several times during the early morning hours. They ran on four stations.

Below are Links to both of the two 30-second clips, in "real video" format. The audio has been fixed. You need to download the to view the videos.

Video One      Video Two

• Click here for information about the Partisan Prohibition Historical Society
• Click here for the Partisan Prohibition Historical Society awards listing
• Click here for the Prohibition Party presidential/vice-presidential candidates 
      1872 - present
• Click here for other Prohibition Party Election returns
• Click here for the Prohibition Party Archive at Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Click here for the Prohibition Party Archive at Columbus, Ohio

A third major Prohibition Party collection is held by the WCTU Library at Evanston, Illinois. We have invited them to send us a listing, but we have not yet received a response.

The New York (City) Public Library holds about 4000 volumes on temperance subjects. They have a special interest in Prohibition Party materials. About 450 periodical titles are held; 15 are currently received. There is WCTU material, the James Black temperance collection, the Mary Hannah Hunt correspondence, the Gerrit Smith (family) collection, and the Cyrus Williams papers.

      David Fahey notes that some of the items will be difficult for library staff to locate and that much of the ephemera is in poor physical condition.

A collection of temperance material (not necessarily of Prohibition Party material) is included in the Hay Library at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. It is described as "a large and interesting collection of temperance material from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including extensive runs of some temperance newspapers."

Public exhibits of Prohibition party campaign artifacts

The Museum of American Political Life, at The University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut emphasizes presidential elections. A small amount of Prohibition Material is included. The Museum is based on the personal trove of the late J. Doyle DeWitt.

The Museum's brochure states:   “The Museum of American Political Life explores the history of American politics and presidential campaigns. Serving the academic community and a wide public audience with permanent and temporary exhibits, public lectures, outreach programs, and special tours, the Museum is designed to evoke interest and participation in the spirit of our political process. For scholars, it is a resource for primary research materials and provides a focus for the study and teaching of American presidential campaigns. The Museum collects, preserves, and exhibits artifacts and other materials relating to presidential campaigns, presidents and the electoral process.”

       To get there: In Hartford, take I-84 to the Prospect Avenue exit, turn north on Prospect and go to Albany Avenue (Route 44), turn east on Albany, then take a hard left at the light onto Bloomfield Avenue (Route 189). The University of Hartford is half a mile down Bloomfield, on the east side. Museum visitors may park in Lot V or in Lot L.

       Museum hours are 1100-1600 Tuesday through Friday and 1200-1600 weekends (closed Mondays). Admission is free, but donations will be requested. To arrange group tours, call 860-768-4089.