William Wadsworth Evans Jr. (May 6, 1921 – August 19, 1999) was an American Republican politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1960 to 1962 and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1968.
Early life
Evans was born in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.William Wadsworth Evans
William Wadsworth Evans (October 5, 1886 – November 1972) was an American Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1919 to 1924.
Early life
Evans was born in Paterson, New ...
(1886–1972) and Isabel Urquhart Blauvelt (1892–1967). He was a graduate of the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
and the
University of Miami School of Law
The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida.
Founded in 1926, the University of Miami School of Law is the oldest law school in ...
. He served in the
U.S. Marines
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...
during World War II. Evans was elected Mayor of Wyckoff, New Jersey in the 1950s.
New Jersey Assemblyman
He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1959. He was the top vote-getter in the 1959 election, receiving 141,222 votes countywide to win one of
Bergen County
Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Democratic rival by 33,381 votes. He was not a candidate for re-election to a second term in 1961.
Evans took two months off from his law firm in 1960 to work on
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's 1960 presidential campaign. He had been the co-chairman of
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
's New Jersey campaign in 1964.
Presidential candidate
On September 16, 1967, Evans announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president in 1968. He said by entering the
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosi ...
, he would seek to use his candidacy as a platform to expound upon his opposition to the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and seek to pressure other candidates to clarify their views on Vietnam. Evans "campaigned extensively, visiting the offices of nearly every newspaper in the state." A ''New York Times'' story on the New Hampshire primary in January showed a picture of an Evans for President billboard at the south end of Main Street in
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
, which the newspaper said was the first billboard of the campaign. Evans received just 151 votes statewide.
Later life
He was married to Marie Archbold Evans (1923–2012) and had five children. He retired from the practice of law in the early 1980s and moved to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Evans died in
Stuart, Florida
Stuart is a city in and the seat of Martin County, Florida, United States. Located on Florida's Treasure Coast, Stuart is the largest of four incorporated municipalities in Martin County. The population is 17,425 according to the 2020 United State ...