Frank Tetes Johns (February 23, 1889May 20, 1928) was a carpenter and American

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

political activist and politician. He is best remembered for having been twice nominated for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

by the Socialist Labor Party of America.

Biography

Early life

Frank T. Johns was born February 23, 1889. He was a carpenter by trade and made his home in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

.Olive M. Johnson, "Frank T. Johns,''
''Seventeenth National Convention, Socialist Labor Party, May 12-14, 1928: Minutes, Reports, Resolutions, Platform, Etc.''
New York: National Executive Committee, Socialist Labor Party, 1929; pp. 3-4.

Political career

Johns ran twice for

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

in the Oregon 3rd District, where he was the 1920 and 1922 nominee of the "Industrial Labor Party." This organization was the name by which the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP) was forced to appear on the Oregon ballot in those years due to state electoral laws. Johns was nominated for

by the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP) in 1924. At the time of his selection, Johns was the youngest person ever to be nominated by a political party to run for president, just 255 days over the

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

requirement of 35 years. Johns and running mate Verne L. Reynolds received 33,904 votes from 20 states in which they appeared on the ballot. The official report by the SLP's governing National Executive Committee to the organization's 1928 convention cast the 1924 campaign of Johns and Reynolds in a favorable light:

"An intense campaign was carried on in 1924 with the two candidates heading the force of
agitators The Agitators were a political movement as well as elected representatives of soldiers, including members of the New Model Army under Lord General Fairfax, during the English Civil War. They were also known as ''adjutators''. Many of the ideas o ...
in the campaign. Both Comrades Johns and Reynolds performed splendid work for the Party, both of them exerting themselves almost to the point of exhaustion. Both candidates toured from east to west and addressed a great number of outdoor meetings with the number of attentive listeners running into the thousands. We succeeded in getting on the ballot in twenty states and although the vote that was cast might not seem proportionate to the effort expended, still we have cause to be satisfied with the result, for the SLP understands that it is not primarily a question of the number of votes cast, but the amount of agitation done and the number of workers reached, that counts."Arnold Petersen, "The Report of the National Executive Committee to the Convention,
''Seventeenth National Convention, Socialist Labor Party, May 12-14, 1928: Minutes, Reports, Resolutions, Platform, Etc.''
New York: National Executive Committee, Socialist Labor Party, 1929; pg. 14.

Satisfied with their previous performance, the May National Convention of the Socialist Labor Party in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

renominated their 1924 ticket of Frank T. Johns for President and Verne L. Reynolds for Vice President for the 1928 campaign.

Death and legacy

The 1928 convention of the SLP adjourned on May 14 and the party's candidates immediately began to prepare to start their tours of America to speak on behalf of their candidacies and the socialist cause. Frank Johns headed home for

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, making his first appearance of the campaign in the

Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards ...

town of Bend on Sunday afternoon, May 20. At the end of his speech, delivered at a park on the banks of the

Deschutes River Deschutes River may refer to: *Deschutes River (Oregon) The Deschutes River in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many ...

, Johns was answering the questions of some of those who had attended his speech. Suddenly, cries rang out from a young boy who had fallen from a footbridge into the river and was being swept away by the current.Socialists Plan Meeting in Bend: Late Frank T. Johns to Be Honored Here
" ''Bend Bulletin,'' August 20, 1936. Johns instantly threw off his coat and dove into the frigid river in an attempt to retrieve the boy. He swam about 75 yards to reach the youngster and began to swim with him, pulling the boy to shore. A short distance from safety Johns' strength gave out and the pair were swept away to their deaths. Frank Johns was 39 years old at the time of his death, and the boy he unsuccessfully tried to rescue, John C. "Jack" Rhodes, Jr. of Bend, was 10. Distressed by the loss but choosing to move onward, on May 22, 1928 the NEC of the Socialist Labor Party made Verne Reynolds its new nominee for president. The party then added

Jeremiah D. Crowley Jeremiah D. Crowley was an American socialist activist from New York (state), New York. In May 1928, Crowley was nominated for Vice-President on the Socialist Labor Party of America ticket alongside Verne L. Reynolds. At the May 1928 convention, th ...

of Syracuse, New York to the ticket as its new choice for vice president on June 7. Johns was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

awarded a Carnegie Medal for Heroism, which paid his widowed wife (who died in 1933) and the couple's two daughters a stipend of $1,000 per year.

Footnotes

Works

* "Reform Straws Show How the Revolutionary Wind Blows," ''Weekly People,'' vol. 34, no. 5 (April 26, 1924), pg. 5. * "Letter of Acceptance of Frank T. Johns, Socialist Labor Party Candidate for President of the US," May 15, 1924. Appendix t
''16th National Convention, Socialist Labor Party, May 10-13, 1924: Minutes, Reports, Resolutions, Platform, Etc.''
New York: National Executive Committee, Socialist Labor Party, 1924; pp. 149–153.

External links

Carnegie Hero Fund Commission official website
carnegiehero.org Retrieved March 10, 2010.
Socialist Labor Party Candidate Frank T. Johns
C-SPAN, March 3, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Frank 1889 births 1928 deaths American Marxists Candidates in the 1924 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1928 United States presidential election 20th-century American politicians Socialist Labor Party of America presidential nominees Socialist Labor Party of America vice presidential nominees Oregon socialists Politicians from Portland, Oregon Accidental deaths in Oregon Deaths by drowning in the United States