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Prohibition Party

The Prohibition Party of the United States was formed in 1869. Before the civil War (1861-1865) temperance groups had promoted voluntary abstinence from alcoholic beverages. That great conflagration had diverted national attention to other matters and the movement fell into abeyance.

Moral suasion had proved to be both difficult and frustrating. Following the Civil War, temperance groups increasing called for the power of the state to be used to prohibit the legal production and consumption of beverage alcohol.

The Prohibition Party found early success in pressuring towns and counties to enact prohibition laws. While other prohibition groups such as the Anti-Saloon League were non-partisan and supported dry (pro-prohibition) candidates regardless of party affiliation, the Prohibition Party ran candidates on its own ticket.

The Party's success in getting candidates elected to political office has been very limited. Sidney J. Cattts was elected governor of Florida in 1916, the highest office ever achieved by a Prohibition Party candidate; he was blatantly racist and anti-Catholic. Beginning in 1914, Charles H. Randall was elected from California to the U.S. House of Representatives for three successive terms on the Prohibition Party ticket. In his first re-election campaign in 1916, he successfully ran as the candidate of the Prohibition Party as well the candidate of the Democratic, Republican, and Progressive parties to defeat a candidate running as an independent. Susanna M. Salter, the first woman mayor in the U.S., won on the Prohibition Party ticket. The only successful Prohibition Party candidate in the 21st century has been the tax assessor of Thompson Township in Pennsylvania.

Following the implementation of the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) in 1920, the Prohibition Party pressed for strict enforcement of the law. However, problems created by National Prohibition grew ever more serious as it contributed to burgeoning organized crime; gangsterism; political corruption; bootlegging even within the halls of Congress; violence, blindness and deaths caused by illegally produced alcohol; law enforcement corruption; disrespect for law, and binge drinking.

Popular support for Prohibition collapsed after the mid-1920s and anti-Prohibition groups sprouted and grew quickly. By 1932 the platform of the Democratic party contained an anti-Prohibition plank.

Following Repeal in 1933, the Prohibition Party began its long decline. Although it has run a candidate for the presidency of the U.S. in every election since 1872, the number of votes its candidates have received have dropped precipitously. For example, the votes won for its presidential/vice-presidential candidates numbered 270,770 in 1892, 103,489 in 1948, 23,266 in 1964 and 140 in 2004.

The declining fortunes of the Prohibition Party can be seen in the venues of its conventions over time. In the early years they were held in such places as the opera house in Columbus (OH), the Exposition Hall in Pittsburgh, and the First Regiment Armory in Chicago. In later years, they have been held in such places as a motel in Birmingham (AL), an unknown location in Bird-in Hand (PA), and in a private living room in Lakewood (CO).

When it briefly changed its name to the National Statesman Party in 1977 (it changed it back in 1980), Time magazine suggested that it was "'doubtful' that the name change would ‘hoist the party out of the category of a political oddity.'"

The Prohibition National Committee is the governing body of the Prohibition Party. A faction of that body asserts that it operates the official web site of the PNC at prohibition.org.

A majority group operates another site (prohibitionists.org) in which it asserts that it represents the Prohibition National Committee. In making its claim, the majority group states that

All actions of the private, invitational meeting of selected Prohibition National Committee members, held last June, held at Lakewood, Colorado, were declared null and void by an absolute majority of PNC members, meeting at Fairfield Glade, Tennessee on 5-6 September 2003.

It states that

An alleged "2003 nominating convention" of the Prohibition Party was held at the Chairman's home in Lakewood, Colorado on June 12-13, 2003. Some members of the National Committee were not notified in advance that the meeting was being held, and others were told by Chairman Earl F. Dodge that they would not be admitted. Eight people were present: Chairman Dodge, his two daughters, and five other members supportive of Dodge. In addition to failing to observe the By-Laws requirement for prior notification, there was not a quorum.

Allegations that Earl Dodge had misused Prohibition Party funds, kept secrets from party members, stole property from party members, and other problems apparently led to the party split.

In the 2004 election, the majority faction ran Gene Amondson as its presidential candidate. With the death of Earl Dodge in 2007, Amondson was the sole Prohibition Party candidate for that office in 2008.

With the death of Amondson in 2009, the future of the Prohibition Party remains uncertain.

Other components of the Prohibition Party organizational structure are the National Prohibition Foundation, the Partisan Prohibition Historical Society, the Action!, Prohibitionists' caucus, and all state and local affiliates.

In spite of the clear failure of Prohibition, many people and organizations today support neo-prohibition ideas and strongly defend the numerous vestiges of Prohibition that still exist.

 

Prohibition Party National Campaigns

Year	Presidential nominee	VP nominee	Votes
1872	James Black PA	John Russell MI	2,100
1876	Green Clay Smith KY	Gideon T. Stewart OH	6,743
1880	Neal Dow ME	Henry A. Thompson OH	9,674
1884	John P. St. John KS	William Daniel MD	147,520
1888	Clinton B. Fisk NJ	John A. Brooks MO	249,813
1892	John Bidwell CA	James B. Cranfill TX	270,770
1896	Joshua Levering MD	Hale Johnson IL	125,072
	Charles E. Bentley NE	James H. Southgate NC	19,363
1900	John G. Woolley IL	Henry B. Metcalf RI	209,004
	Donelson Caffery LA (declined); Edward M. Emerson MA	Archibald M. Howe MA	342
1904	Silas C. Swallow PA	George W. Carroll TX	258,596
1908	Eugene W. Chafin IL	Aaron S. Watkins OH	252,821
1912	Eugene W. Chafin IL	Aaron S. Watkins OH	207,972
1916	J. Frank Hanly IN	Ira Landrith TN	221,030
1920	Aaron Watkins OH	D. Leigh Colvin NY	188,685
1924	Herman P. Faris MO	Marie C. Brehm CA	54,833
1928	William F. Varney NY	James A. Edgerton	20,095
	Herbert Hoover CA	Charles Curtis KS	14,394
1932	William D. Upshaw GA	Frank S. Regan IL	81,916
1936	D. Leigh Colvin NY	Alvin York TN (declined); Claude A. Watson CA	37,668
1940	Roger W. Babson MA	Edgar V. Moorman IL	58,743
1944	Claude A. Watson CA	Floyd C. Carrier MD (withdrew); Andrew Johnson KY	74,735
1948	Claude A. Watson CA	Dale H. Learn PA	103,489
1952	Stuart Hamblen CA	Enoch A. Holtwick IL	73,413
1956	Enoch A. Holtwick IL	Herbert C. Holdridge CA (withdrew); Edwin M. Cooper CA	41,937
1960	Rutherford Decker MO	E. Harold Munn MI	46,193
1964	E. Harold Munn MI	Mark R. Shaw MA	23,266
1968	E. Harold Munn MI	Rolland E. Fisher KS	14,915
1972	E. Harold Munn MI	Marshall E. Uncapher KS	12,818
1976	Benjamin C. Bubar ME	Earl F. Dodge CO	15,934
1980	Benjamin C. Bubar ME	Earl F. Dodge CO	7,212
1984	Earl Dodge CO	Warren C. Martin KS	4,242
1988	Earl Dodge CO	George Ormsby PA	8,002
1992	Earl Dodge CO	George Ormsby PA	935
1996	Earl Dodge CO	Rachel Bubar Kelly	1,298
2000	Earl Dodge CO	W. Dean Watkins AZ	208
2004	Gene Amondson WA	Leroy Pletten MI	1,944
	Earl Dodge CO	Howard Lydick TX	140
2008	Gene Amondson WA	Leroy Pletten MI	643