Prohibition presidential/vice-presidential candidates
1872 - present 

There are minor discrepancies between these vote totals and those given in other sources. Neither Storms nor Dodge's The National Statesman reference their figures. Some sources for minor party vote totals include write-in votes from states where the party was not on the ballot, and some sources do not. Some sources use official, certified vote toals, whereas other sources use preliminary reports. Differences in reported votes of one hundred or less probably result from these differences in counting and should be disregarded. Differences of more than one hundred may indicate typographical errors or mistakes in transcribing data and should be investigated; please point them out to the editor. Data 1872 - 1972 from Roger Storms (1972) "Partisan Prophets;" data 1972 - present from reports in "The National Statesman" It is important to keep in mind that vote totals are reported vote totals; many third-party votes, especially write-in votes, are disregarded by election officials. Buttons shown which are not dated and which illustrate candidates which ran in more than one election may not be shown in the correct year.        Storms does not give the number of ballot-qualified states for some years.        Church affiliation is given when known.

1872	President:   James Black (PA), lawyer, civic activist
	Vice-President:   John Russell (MI) minister, newspaperman (Methodist)
	5607 reported votes, 6 states
1876	President:   Green Clay Smith (KY) lawyer, military officer, Democratic congressman (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   Gideon T. Stewart (OH) newspaperman, civic activist
	9737 reported votes, 10 states
1880	President:   Neal Dow (ME) businessman, military officer, civic activist (Quaker)
	Vice-President:   Henry A. Thompson (OH) mathematician, pres. Otterbein Univ. (United Brethren)
	10,304 reported votes
	Rare China Dinner Plate Picturing 1880 Prohibition Party Candidate Neal Dow. From a huge service custom made for presentation to Dow in the 1880's. Most pieces remain in his Maine Mansion, now a historical site,  but a few have been "liberated" over the years and are now owned by collectors.
1884	President:   John P. St. John (KS) adventurer, lawyer, military officer, Republican governor
	Vice-President:   William Daniel (MD) legislator, civic activist
	153,128 reported votes
	D.I. Herdon, in his "Centennial History of Arkansas" (1922, p.331) says that there was an "American Prohibition Party" faction at the 1884 convention which nominated Samuel C. Pomeroy of Kansas and John A. Conant of Connecticutt.  Storms does not mention this, and the Pomery/Conant vote total is not known.
1888	President:   Clinton B. Fisk (NJ) banker, military officer, founder of Fisk University
	Vice-President:   John A. Brooks (MO) college president
	249,945 reported votes
1892	President:   John Bidwell (CA) rancher, military officer
	Vice-President:   James B. Cranfill (TX) minister, newspaperman (Baptist)
	271,058 reported votes ** the record vote and percentage for the Prohibition Party (2.3%)
1896	President:   Joshua Levering (MD) businessman, WMCA official, trustees president Southern Baptist  Theological Seminary (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   Hale Johnson (IL) lawyer
	130,617 reported votes (plus 13,969 for an alternative slate in some states)
	Printed, celluloid-covered, "cello," lapel pins such as these became popular in the campaign of 1896.  Most earlier campaign portrait buttons were made by fastening actual photographs on metal or cardboard onto a pin or stud.  The stamped metal images, "medals,"  commonly used in pre-1896 campaigns were largely discontinued after the 1890s.       Halftone printing, developed around 1890, quickly replaced photographs on campaign items.
1900	President:   John G. Wooley (IL) lawyer, orator
	Vice-President:   Henry B. Metcalf (RI) banker, manufacturer, trustees pres. Tufts College (Universalist)
	209,469 reported votes The jugate Wooley & Metcalfe pin at upper left was issued by three other political parties in 1900, substituting only the photographs of their own candidates: (Republicans) McKinley and Roosevelt, (Democrats) Bryan and Stevenson, and (Socialists) Debs and Harriman.      The only other election in which at least four parties used an identical design was that of 1912, when the Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, and Bull Moose all issued buttons of the same design. Thanks to Robert Fratkin and The Keynoter for this factoid!
1904	President:   Silas C. Swallow (PA) minister (Methodist)
	Vice-President:   George W. Carroll (TX) businessman, philanthropist
	258,205 reported votes
1908	President:   Eugene W. Chafin (WI) writer, local official, lawyer
	Vice-President:   Aaron S. Watkins (OH) lawyer, president Asbury College (Methodist)
	253,231 reported votes, 28 states
1912	President:   Eugene W. Chafin (WI) writer, local official, lawyer
	Vice-President:  Aaron S. Watkins (OH) lawyer, president Asbury College (Methodist)
	207,828 reported votes
1916	President:   J. Frank Hanly (IN) newspaperman, teacher, lawyer, Republican governor
	Vice-President:   Ira Landrith (TN) YMCA official, president Bellmont College (Presbyterian)
	221,329 reported votes
1920	President:   Aaron W. Watkins (OH) lawyer, president Asbury College (Methodist)
	Vice-President:   D. Leigh Colvin (NY) historian, temperance society executive
	195, 923 reported votes
Increasingly repressive ballot access laws after 1920 made it difficult for third parties to campaign effectively. Storms says (p.39): "The two [dominant] parties wanted to make sure that there would never again be an outpouring of humanitarian reform comparable to that of the Progressive Era. From then on, they could be in the comfortable position of joining hands in a conspiracy of silence on the issues that really mattered. The technique was to create ballot laws which were so stringent that a dissenting group would have to expend all of its resources obtaining a place on the ballot and [would] have nothing left with which to campaign."
1924	President:   Herman P. Faris (MO) banker, businessman
	Vice-President: Marie C. Brehm (CA) suffragette, first legally qualified female vice-presidential candidate
	56,289 reported votes, 16 states
1928	President:   William F. Varney (NY) business administrator
	Vice-President:   James A. Edgerton (VA) newspaperman, writer, philosopher
	20,106 reported votes (plus 14,394 for an alternative slate in CA), 6 states
1932	President:   William D. Upshaw (GA) lecturer, Democratic congressman
	Vice-President:   Frank S. Regan (IL) lecturer, state legislator
	81,869 reported votes, 22 states
1936	President:   D. Leigh Colvin (NY) historian, temperance society executive
	Vice-President:   Claude A. Watson (CA) lawyer, business administrator (Free Methodist)
	37,847 reported votes, 25 states
1940	President:   Roger W. Babson (MA) economist, businessman (Congregational Christian)
	Vice-President:   Edgar V. Moorman (IL) businessman
	59,492 reported votes, states (28): Alabama (700 / 0.24%), Arizona (742 / 0.49%), Arkansas (793 / 0.39%), California (9400 / 0.29%), Colorado (1597 / 0.29%), Delaware (220 / 0.16%), Florida (96 write-ins), Georgia (1003 / 0.32%), Illinois (9190 / 0.22%), Indiana (6437 / 0.36%), Iowa (2284 / 0.19%), Kansas (4056 / 0.47%), Kentucky (1443 / 0.15%), Louisiana (81 write-ins), Massachusetts (1370 / 0.,07%), Missouri (1809 / 0.10%) Michigan (1795 / 0.09%), Montana (664 / 0.27%), New Jersey (873 / 0.04%), New Mexico (100 / 0.05%), New York (3250 / 0.05%), North Dakota (325 / 0.12%), Ohio (58 write-ins), Oklahoma (3027 / 0.37%), Oregon (154 write-ins), Pennsylvania (495 write-ins),  Rhode Island (74 / 0.02%), South Carolina (2 write-ins), Tennessee (1606 / 0.31%), Texas (928 / 0.09%), Virginia (882 / 0.25%), Washington (1686 / 0.21%),Wisconsin (2148 / 0.15%), Wyoming (172 / 0.15%).
Storms credits (p. 48) Babson and Moorman with changing the philosophical emphasis of the Prohibition Party from progressive to conservative, but the change was neither abrupt nor clear-cut. The party platform continued to include progressive planks, and still does, but the party leadership has chosen more and more to emphasize conservative planks.
1944	President:   Claude A. Watson (CA) lawyer, business administrator (Free Methodist)
	Vice-President:   Andrew Johnson (KY) evangelist, lecturer (Methodist)
	74,758 reported votes, states (26): Alabama (1095 /  0.45%), Arizona (421 / 0.31%), California (14,770 / 0.42%), Delaware (294 / 0.23%), Florida (27 write-ins), Georgia (36 write-ins), Idaho (503 / 0.24%), Illinois (7411 / 0.18%), Indiana (12,574 / 0.75%), Iowa (3752 / 0.36%), Kansas (2609 / 0.36%), Kentucky (2012 / 0.23%), Massachusetts (973 / 0.05%), Michigan (6503 / 0.29%), Missouri (1175 / 0.07%), Montana (340 / 0.16%), New Jersey (4255 / 0.22%), New Mexico (148 / 0.10%, North Dakota (549 / 0.25%), Oklahoma (1663 / 0.23%), Oregon (2362 / 0.49%), Pennsylvania (5750 / 0.15%), Rhode Island (433 / 0.14%), South Carolina (365 / 0.35%), Tennessee (885 / 0.17%), Texas (1017 / 0.09%), Virginia (459 / 0.12%), Washington (2396 / 0.28%)
1948	President:   Claude A. Watson (CA) lawyer, business administrator (Free Methodist)
	Vice-President:   Dale H. Learn (PA) realtor, insurance salesman, civic activist
	103,343 reported votes, 19 states
1952	President:   Stuart Hamblen (CA) musician
	Vice-President:   Enoch A. Holtwick (IL) historian, president of Los Angeles Pacific Junior College
	78,181 reported votes, 20 states
1956	President:   Enoch A. Holtwick (IL) historian, president of Los Angeles Pacific Junior College
	Vice-President:   Edwin M. Cooper (CA) lawyer, YMCA official In New Jersey, the ticket was Holtwick and Holdridge.
	41,937 reported votes, 10 states
1960	President:   Rutherford L. Decker (MO) minister, co-founder of National Association of Evangelicals (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   E. Harold Munn, Sr. (MI) television executive, educator
	46,239 reported votes, 11 states
1964	President:   E. Harold Munn, Sr. (MI) television executive, educator
	Vice-President:   Mark R. Shaw (MA) minister, peace activist (Methodist)
	23,267 reported votes, 9 states
1968	President:   E. Harold Munn, Sr. (MI) television executive, educator
	Vice-President:   Rolland E. Fisher (KS) evangelist (Free Methodist)
	15,123 reported votes, 9 states
1972	President:   E. Harold Munn, Sr. (MI) television executive, educator
	Vice-President:    Marshall E. Uncapher (KS) educator, salesman
	13,444 reported votes, 4 states
1976	President:   Ben Bubar (ME) state legislator, temperance lobbyist (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (Baptist)
	15,961 reported votes, 9 states
1980	President:   Ben Bubar (ME) state legislator, temperance lobbyist (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (Baptist)
	7237 reported votes, 4 states
1984	President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (Baptist)
	Vice-President:  Warren C. Martin (KS) member of Kansas state Board of Paroles and Pardons (Free Methodist)
	4204 reported votes, 5 states
1988	President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   George Ormsby (PA) businessman, president National Council of the International  Organization of Good Templars (Presbyterian Church in America)
	8004 reported votes, states (4) : Arkansas (1,319 / 0.14%, Colorado (4,604 / 0.34%), New Mexico (249 / 0.05%), Tennessee (1,807 / 0.11%) -- also: 16 write-ins from Michigan,  5 write-ins from Michigan, 7 write-ins from North Dakota
1992	President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   George Ormsby (PA) businessman, president National Council of the International Organization of Good Templars (Presbyterian Church in America)
	935 reported votes, states (3) :  Arkansas ((472 / 0.05%), New Mexico (120 / 0.02%), Tennessee (343 / 0.02%) -- also:  21 write-ins from Colorado, 2 write-ins from Massachusetts, 3 write-ins from North Dakota
1996	President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (Baptist)
	Vice-President:   Rachel Bubar Kelly (IL) educator, president of Women's Christian Temperance Union
	1294 reported votes, states (4) : Arkansas (483 / 0.05%), Colorado (375 / 0.02%), Tennessee (324 / 0.02%), Utah (111 / 0.02%) -- also:  one write-in from Illinois and 4 write-ins from Massachusetts
2000	President:   Earl F. Dodge (CO) Prohibition Party executive secretary/chairman (independent Baptist)
	Vice-President:  W. Dean Watkins (AZ) retired aeronautical engineer (independent Baptist)
	208 reported votes, 1 state : Colorado (208 / 0.01%)
2004	A private, invitational conference of (some) Prohibition National Committeemen, held at the chairman's home in June, 2003, recommended then-chairman Earl F. Dodge for president and Texas national committeeman Howard Lydick for vice-president. These candidacies were explicitly rejected by the 34th quadrennial nominating convention of the Prohibition Party, held at Fairfield Glade, Tennessee in September .
	President:   Gene Amondson (AK) Evangelist and Artist (Church of God, Anderson)
	Vice-President:  Leroy Pletten (MI) Law Enforcement Consultant (Church of God)
	Preliminary figures show a total of 1896 votes -- the best showing for the Prohibition Party since l988.  Louisiana provided 1512 of those, and Colorado (on the "Concerns of People" line) provided 324.       Dodge and Lydick, the unendorsed independents in Colorado, received 140 votes, fewer than half as many as the official Prohibition Party ticket.  This is an unequivocal repudiation by the voters of Earl F. Dodge as a Prohibition Party spokesman. (Dodge and Lydick failed to get on the ballot in any other state.) Probably, ballot position had much to do with the large vote in Louisiana:  We were at the top of the second column.  In Colorado, we were about half way down the column (Dodge & Lydick were five positions below "Concerns of People.") 2004 Election Analysis 2004 Campaign Cost
2008	President:   Gene Amondson (AK) Evangelist and Artist (Church of God, Anderson)
	Vice-President:  Leroy Pletten (MI) Law Enforcement Consultant (Church of God)
Educational Backgrounds of the Candidates Third-party movements tend to appeal to members of specific cultural, social, or economic subgroups within the larger American population.  Some of this data on Prohibition Party leaders is given in the preceding list of candidates.  The following table gives their educational backgrounds; where and how long people attend school is one determinant (or reflection) of their philosophical frameworks and value systems. The names are given in their order of nomination (names of vice-presidential candidates are italicized).  Some individuals ran more than once, and for both vice-president and for president in different years -- only the first nomination is listed. James Black      ----- John Russell      ----- Green Clay Smith      ----- Gideon T. Stewart      ----- Neal Dow      ----- Henry A. Thompson      ----- John P. St. John      ----- William Daniel      ----- Clinton B. Fisk      (BA) Michigan Central College John A. Brooks      ----- John Bidwell      ----- James B. Cranfill      ----- Joshua Levering      ----- Hale Johnson      ----- John G. Wooley      ----- Henry B. Metcalfe      ----- Silas C. Swallow      ----- George W. Carroll      ----- Eugene W. Chafin      ----- Aaron S. Watkins      ----- J. Frank Hanley      ----- Ira Landrith      ----- D. Leigh Colvin      (PhD) Columbia University Herman P. Faris      ----- Marie C. Brehm      ----- William F. Varney      ---- James A. Edgerton      ----- William D. Upshaw      (attended) Mercer University Frank S. Regan      ---- Claude A. Watson     Alma College Roger W. Babson      (BA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Edgar V. Moorman      ----- Andrew Johnson      (BA) Asbury Seminary Dale H. Learn      ----- Stuart Hamblen      (BA) McMurray State Teachers College Enoch A. Holtwick      (BA) Greenville College Edwin M. Cooper      ----- Rutherford L. Decker      ----- E. Harold Munn, Sr.      (BA) Greenville College, (MA) University      of Michigan Mark R. Shaw      (BA) Boston University Rolland E. Fisher      (attended) Central College (McPherson,      Kansas) and Greenville College, (BA)      Kansas University Marshall E. Uncapher      ----- Ben Bubar      (attended) Colby College Earl F. Dodge      (not) Warren C. Martin      ----- George Ormsby      home-schooled Rachel B. Kelly      (BA) Colby College W. Dean Watkins      (BA) Butler University Gene Amondson      (BA) Warner-Pacific College, (MA) Asbury      Seminary Leroy Pletten      (BA) University of Minnesota

"Our Party stands for a country so financially, politically, and morally clean as to make it an object lesson to be imitated....." - Silas Swallow, 1904 presidential candidate Click Here to return to the Prohibition Party History Page