The Prohibition Party is the oldest
third party in the
United States, founded in
1869. It was originally founded on a
platform of
temperance and universal
sufferage (the two issues were intertwined, as in that day many viewed alcohol as the source of male mistreatment of women), and its first presidential candidate,
James Black, was the founder of the
National Temperance Society.
Today, the party is an extreme
right-wing Christian fringe party. They are pro-
family values, anti-
abortion, anti-
communist, and anti-
drug.
The Prohibition Party has fielded a candidate in every election since their founding in the 19th century. The current presidential candidate is
Earl Dodge, who has been their candidate since the
1984 election. In the
1996 election, Dodge only received 1300 votes.
Thanks to the Fall 2000 students in SLS 1101 section 55 at the University of South Florida for providing much of the factual information contained in these writeups.