Prohibition Party Totally Explained

Everything about the Prohibition Party totally explained

The Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States. As the name implies, the party advocates the prohibition of the use of beverages containing alcohol and was an integral part of the temperance movement. While never one of the nation's leading parties, it was an important force in US politics in the late 19th century and the early years of the 20th century.

History

The party was founded in 1869. Its first National Committee Chairman was John Russell of Michigan, who served from 1867-1872 (External Link

). The party succeeded in getting many communities and a number of states to outlaw the production and sale of intoxicating beverages. At the same time, the party's ideology broadened to include aspects of progressivism. The party contributed to the third-party discussions of the 1910s and sent Charles H. Randall to the 64th, 65th and 66th Congresses as the representative of California's 9th congressional district. Prohibitionist Sidney J. Catts was elected Governor of Florida in 1916, serving 1917-1921.
The party's greatest success was in 1919, with the passage of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed the production, sale, transportation, import, and export of alcohol. The era during which alcohol was illegal in the USA is generally known as "Prohibition". The enactment of national prohibition took away the party's main issue, and the party declined in importance. The "Prohibition" era saw the rise of "Speakeasies", bootleggers, and a great growth of organized crime. By the start of the Great Depression, the cause of prohibition was considered discredited by much of the public. National prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933. Its core cause having fallen into disfavor, the US Prohibition Party declined into insignificance.
Components of the Prohibition Party organizational structure are the Prohibition National Committee, the National Prohibition Foundation, the Partisan Prohibition Historical Society, the Prohibitionists’ Caucus, the Action!, and all state and local affiliates.(External Link

) Gene Amondson has been chairman of the Prohibition National Committee since 2005.
From 1977 to 1980, the party was called the National Statesman Party.

Division of 2003

In 2003, the Prohibition National Committee divided into two camps. Efforts to heal the breach intensified in late 2007 but have not accomplished the goal as of November 20, 2007.
Complaints about Earl Dodge's leadership, his financial relationships with the party and its foundations, allegations of inadequate accounting and even of thievery had been published on the website (External Link

) (External Link

)(External Link

) and elsewhere (External Link

)and not disputed on the Dodge faction's website. (External Link

) However, the precipitating cause of the division was the invitation-only national nominating convention consisting of eight people including Dodge and two of his daughters held in his living room in Lakewood, CO, on June 12-13 of 2003. (External Link

) (External Link

). This convention nominated Dodge for a sixth presidential candidacy. Don Webb, a member of the National Committee from Alabama, charged that the convention was irregularly called, in violation of the National Committee by-laws, and lacked a quorum. Other party members who had criticized Dodge's leadership and had sponsored the presidential bid of Gary Van Horn in 1999 (External Link

) called a party convention at Fairfield Glade, TN, consistent with the party by-laws, to meet September 5-6 of 2003. Dodge chose not to attend and the convention increased the size of the National Committee, appointed Webb the national chairman, and vacated Dodge's nomination for President. Dodge and Lydick didn't accept the actions of the Fairfield Glade convention and continued to campaign for President and Vice President. They filed their slate of Presidential Electors in Colorado and appeared on the ballot there with the Prohibition Party label.
   The Webb faction decided in early February of 2004 to run the national ticket of Gene C. Amondson for President and Leroy J. Pletten for Vice President. They filed as the Prohibition ticket in Louisiana (the first time the party had appeared on the ballot there since 1888). In Colorado, the Concerns of People Party allowed Amondson to run on its line against Dodge, which was considered at the time to be the "Prohibition Party primary" to settle the future of the party.
   Although Amondson won the de facto primary of 2004 by a margin of 1,944 to 140, the breach wasn't healed. The Webb faction held its mid-term party conference in Bedford, PA, on June 15-16 of 2005 and elected Gene Amondson the party chairman, replacing Webb. It then re-organized the party in Florida, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, gaining ballot status in Florida for 2008. It appears that the Dodge faction didn't hold a mid-term conference.
   In 2007, the factions held separate nominating conventions. The trustee of the George Pennock Fund initiated legal proceedings to determine which faction was the legal recipient of funds left to the party, and the factions agreed to divide the money in half. The untimely death of Dodge in November of 2007 left the Dodge faction without a presidential nominee, and some party leaders have attempted to heal the breach. Amondson continues to be the chairman of the Webb faction (External Link

), and the chairmanship of the Dodge faction was vacant as of November 20, 2007.

Electoral history

The Prohibition Party has nominated a candidate for president in every election since 1872, and is thus the longest-lived American political party after the Democrats and Republicans.

Prohibition Party National Campaigns
Year	Convention	Site & City	Dates	Presidential nominee	VP nominee	Votes
1872	1st	Comstock's Opera House, Columbus OH	2/22/1872	James Black PA	John Russell MI	2,100
1876	2d	Halle's Hall, Cleveland OH	5/17/1876	Green Clay Smith KY	Gideon T. Stewart OH	6,743
1880	3d	Halle's Hall, Cleveland OH	6/17/1880	Neal Dow ME	Henry A. Thompson OH	9,674
1884	4th	Lafayette Hall, Pittsburgh PA	7/23-24/1884	John P. St. John KS	William Daniel MD	147,520
1888	5th	Tomlinson Hall, Indianapolis IN	5/30-31/1888	Clinton B. Fisk NJ	John A. Brooks MO	249,813
1892	6th	Music Hall, Cincinnati OH	6/29-30/1892	John Bidwell CA	James B. Cranfill TX	270,770
1896	7th	Exposition Hall, Pittsburgh PA	5/27-28/1896	Joshua Levering MD	Hale Johnson IL	125,072
1896	[7th]	Pittsburgh PA	5/28/1896	Charles E. Bentley NE	James H. Southgate NC	19,363
1900	8th	First Regiment Armory, Chicago IL	6/27/28/1900	John G. Woolley IL	Henry B. Metcalf RI	209,004
1900	[8th]	Carnegie Lyceum, NYC NY	9/5/1900	Donelson Caffery LA (declined); Edward M. Emerson MA	Archibald M. Howe MA	342
1904	9th	Tomlinson Hall, Indianapolis IN	6/29 to 7/1/1904	Silas C. Swallow PA	George W. Carroll TX	258,596
1908	10th	Memorial Hall, Columbus OH	7/15-16/1908	Eugene W. Chafin IL	Aaron S. Watkins OH	252,821
1912	11th	on a large temporary pier, Atlantic City NJ	7/10-12/1912	Eugene W. Chafin IL	Aaron S. Watkins OH	207,972
1916	12th	St. Paul MN	7/19-21/1916	J. Frank Hanly IN	Ira Landrith TN	221,030
1920	13th	Lincoln NE	7/21-22/1920	Aaron Watkins OH	D. Leigh Colvin NY	188,685
1924	14th	Memorial Hall, Columbus OH	6/4-6/1924	Herman P. Faris MO	Marie C. Brehm CA	54,833
1928	15th	Hotel LaSalle, Chicago IL	7/10-12/1928	William F. Varney NY	James A. Edgerton	20,095
1928	[15th]	[Californiaticket]		Herbert Hoover CA	Charles Curtis KS	14,394
1932	16th	Candle Tabernacle, Indianapolis IN	7/5-7/1932	William D. Upshaw GA	Frank S. Regan IL	81,916
1936	17th	State Armory Building, Niagara Falls NY	5/5-7/1936	D. Leigh Colvin NY	Alvin York TN (declined); Claude A. Watson CA	37,668
1940	18th	Chicago IL	5/8-10/1940	Roger W. Babson MA	Edgar V. Moorman IL	58,743
1944	19th	Indianapolis IN	11/10-12/1943	Claude A. Watson CA	Floyd C. Carrier MD (withdrew); Andrew Johnson KY	74,735
1948	20th	Winona Lake IN	6/26-28/1947	Claude A. Watson CA	Dale H. Learn PA	103,489
1952	21st	Indianapolis IN	11/13-15/1951	Stuart Hamblen CA	Enoch A. Holtwick IL	73,413
1956	22d	Camp Mack, Milford IN	9/4-6/1955	Enoch A. Holtwick IL	Herbert C. Holdridge CA (withdrew); Edwin M. Cooper CA	41,937
1960	23d	Westminster Hotel, Winona Lake IN	9/1-3/1959	Rutherford Decker MO	E. Harold Munn MI	46,193
1964	24th	Pick Congress Hotel, Chicago IL	8/26-27/1963	E. Harold Munn MI	Mark R. Shaw MA	23,266
1968	25th	YWCA, Detroit MI	6/28-29/1968	E. Harold Munn MI	Rolland E. Fisher KS	14,915
1972	26th	Nazarene Church Building, Wichita KS	6/24-25/1971	E. Harold Munn MI	Marshall E. Uncapher KS	12,818
1976	27th	Beth Eden Baptist Church Building, Wheat Ridge CO	6/26-27/1975	Benjamin C. Bubar ME	Earl F. Dodge CO	15,934
1980	28th	Motel Birmingham, Birmingham AL	6/20-21/1979	Benjamin C. Bubar ME	Earl F. Dodge CO	7,212
1984	29th	Mandan ND	6/22-24/1983	Earl Dodge CO	Warren C. Martin KS	4,242
1988	30th	Heritage House, Springfield IL	6/25-26/1987	Earl Dodge CO	George Ormsby PA	8,002
1992	31st	Minneapolis MN	6/24-26/1991	Earl Dodge CO	George Ormsby PA	935
1996	32d	Denver CO	1995	Earl Dodge CO	Rachel Bubar Kelly	1,298
2000	33d	Bird in Hand PA	6/28-30/1999	Earl Dodge CO	W. Dean Watkins AZ	208
2004	34th	Lakewood CO	6/2003	Earl Dodge CO	Howard Lydick TX	140
2004	34th	Fairfield Glade TN	2/1/2004	Gene Amondson AK	Leroy Pletten MI	1,944
2008	35th	Arvada CO	6/12/2007	Earl Dodge CO	Howard Lydick TX
2008	35th	Adams Mark Hotel, Indianapolis IN	9/13-14/2007	Gene Amondson AK	Leroy Pletten MI

Elected officials

Governor of Florida Sidney Johnston Catts: 1917-1921
U.S. Representative from California's 9th congressional district Charles Hiram Randall: 1915-1921
Argonia, Kansas Mayor Susanna M. Salter: 1887 (the first woman mayor in the United States)
Thompson Township, Pennsylvania, Tax Assessor Jim Hedges: 2002-present (first and only known office-holder of the 21st Century)

Further Information

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