The People's Party was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, founded in 1971 by various individuals and state and local political parties, including the

Peace and Freedom Party The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) is a socialist political party in the United States which operates mostly in California. It was formed in 1966 from anti–Vietnam War and pro–civil rights movements. PFP operates both as an organization unt ...

, Commongood People's Party, Country People's Caucus, Human Rights Party, Liberty Union, New American Party, New Party (Arizona), and No Party. The party's goal was to present a united anti-war platform for the coming election. The People's Party fielded candidates for the presidency two times: First in the 1972 US presidential election with Dr. Benjamin Spock (an American pediatrician and author of parenting books) as their candidate; then the party contested the 1976 US presidential election, with Margaret Wright as their candidate. Dr. Spock was the Party's candidate for vice president in 1976. After the election, the party moved to become a loose

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

, but was soon defunct, with most of its founding parties also dissolved. The party's papers are now in the ''Western Historical Manuscript Collection'' of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, having been where the party had held its conventions. After dissolution, many members joined the Citizens Party.

History

1972 election

The People's Party ran Dr. Benjamin Spock for president and Julius Hobson for vice president in the 1972 U.S. presidential election. The party platform included free medical care, legalized

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, legalized

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

, a guaranteed

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

, the withdrawal of American troops from all foreign countries,Eric Pace
"Benjamin Spock, World's Pediatrician, Dies at 94"
''The New York Times'', March 17, 1998 a guaranteed maximum wage, and promoting toleration of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

. Dr. Spock and the People's Party received 78,759 votes (0.10%). In 1976, Spock was the party's vice presidential candidate.

Greer v. Spock

In 1972, Spock, Hobson, Linda Jenness (Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate), and Socialist Workers Party vice presidential candidate Andrew Pulley wrote to Major General Bert A. David, commanding officer of Fort Dix, asking for permission to distribute campaign literature and to hold an election-related campaign meeting. On the basis of Fort Dix regulations 210-26 and 210-27, General David refused the request. Spock, Hobson, Jenness, Pulley, and others then filed a case that ultimately made its way to the United States Supreme Court (424 U.S. 828—Greer, Commander, Fort Dix Military Reservation, et al., v. Spock et al.), which ruled against the plaintiffs. Greer v. Spock was, according to Professor Joshua E. Kastenberg, part of the Burger Court's jurisprudence of insulating the military from non-mainstream political influences. As Spock and his contemporaries had been outspoken against the United States involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, there was a fear that he would influence soldiers to refuse to comply with orders to deploy into combat.

1976 election

In 1976 the People's Party ran Margaret Wright as president and Spock this time as vice president after

Maggie Kuhn Margaret Eliza "Maggie" Kuhn (August 3, 1905 – April 22, 1995) was an Americans, American activist known for founding the Gray Panthers movement, after she was forced to retire from her job at the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, then ...

declined the spot. The People's Party received 49,016 votes (0.06%).

Election results

Presidential elections

References

{{United States political parties Political parties established in 1971 Defunct political parties in the United States Defunct democratic socialist parties in the United States Defunct social democratic parties in the United States 1971 establishments in the United States