The Libertarian Party of the United States is an American political party and the world's first explicitly libertarian party. The Libertarian Party originated in 1971 among right-libertarian critics of the Nixon administration.
1970s Background The founding of the party was prompted in part due to concerns about the Nixon administration's wage and price controls, the Vietnam War, conscription, and the end of the Gold Standard and introduction of fiat money. The party's organizers drew inspiration from the works and ideas of the prominent Austrian school economist Murray Rothbard. These organizers viewed the dominant Republican and Democratic parties as having diverged from what they viewed as the libertarian principles of the American Founding Fathers.
The Committee to Form a Libertarian Party was the precursor to the modern Libertarian Party. It was formed to debate the desirability of a specifically libertarian political force. The committee was founded July 17, 1971 by David Nolan, a Colorado consultant and businessman, and 4 friends to co-ordinate interest in founding a Libertarian Party in the United States.Bill Winter, "1971–2001: The Libertarian Party's 30th Anniversary Year: Remembering the first three decades of America's 'Party of Principle'" LP NewsBrian Doherty, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, PublicAffairs, 2007, 389–391.
It was, according to one outreach brochure, preceded by several abortive attempts, including a Libertarian Party in California and a functional Libertarian group in Florida. The Florida Libertarian Party (founded in 1970) achieved an early Libertarian victory, a popular initiative.R. Swanson, "An Interesting History," Libertarian Party of Florida brochure, 1981.
Formation
In August 1971, the Libertarian Party was conceived at meetings in the home of David Nolan in Westminster, Colorado.Martin, Douglas. David Nolan, 66, Is Dead; Started Libertarian Party, New York Times, November 22, 2010. This founding group included John Hospers, Edward Crane, Manuel Klausner, Murray Rothbard, Roy Childs, D. Frank Robinson, and Theodora (Tonie) Nathan. On December 11, 1971, the eight-member Committee to Organize a Libertarian Party voted to formally launch the new Libertarian Party in the home of Luke Zell in Colorado Springs. The committee was immediately dissolved and replaced by the Steering Committee, which had its first meeting immediately after, which in turn was superseded by the National Executive Committee with the first national convention in 1972.
A press conference announcing the new party was held on January 31, 1972, at the party's headquarters in Westminster, Colorado. The first Libertarian National Convention, attracting 89 delegates from 23 states, was held in June 1978 in Denver. According to Ron Crickenberger, former Political Director of the LP, a search of LP documents showed that the LP had elected Miguel Gilson-De Lemos in a partisan local board race in New York even before the adoption of its first platform. Several others were also elected or appointed that year. Party leaders initially doubted they would even see six people elected or appointed by 2001, so this led to early optimism among some. However, in subsequent years the number of people in office seemed to be about 1% of its donor base: approximately 30 officeholders with 3,000 donors in 1981; 100 in office and 10,000 donors in 1991; and 600 and 60,000 in 2001.
Early platform debates included at the second convention whether to support tax resistance and at the 1974 convention whether to support anarchism. In both cases, a compromise was reached, neither supporting nor denouncing either view. The Libertarian Party's Statement of Principles was written by John Hospers, later to run as Libertarian nominee for President.
Subsequent history In 1971, seventy-five percent of members supported running a presidential ticket and sixty percent supported running candidates for lower offices. Members of the party supported giving its presidential nomination to Murray Rothbard, Alan Greenspan, Vivien Kellems, A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Martin Anderson, Phil Crane, Robert A. Heinlein, H. R. Gross, Milton Friedman, Sam Ervin, Henry Manne, or Karl Hess. The party's name was selected by a vote of 111 to 87 in favor. John Hospers won the presidential nomination for the 1972 presidential election against James Bryan and Tonie Nathan defeated Diana Amsden for the vice-presidential nomination.
By the 1972 presidential election, the party had grown to over 80 members and had attained ballot access in two states. Their presidential ticket with John Hospers for President and Tonie Nathan for Vice President, received between 3,000 and 4,000 votes. The ticket received the first and only electoral college vote for a Libertarian presidential ticket, from Roger MacBride of Virginia, who was pledged to Richard Nixon. His was also the first vote ever cast for a woman in the United States Electoral College. MacBride became the party's presidential nominee in the 1976 presidential election. The 1976 election established the Libertarian Party as the number 1 alternative political party in the United States, and it remains the most successful alternative political party since the end of the Second World War.
In 1978, Dick Randolph became the first Libertarian to win state-level office with his election to the Alaska House of Representatives. Two years later, he won another term and Ken Fanning was also elected as a Libertarian to that chamber.
1980s In the 1980 presidential contest, the Libertarian Party gained ballot access in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam, the first time a third party accomplished this since the Socialist Party in 1916 (when there were only 48 states and the District of Columbia did not get to vote for president). The ticket of Ed Clark and David H. Koch spent several million dollars on this political campaign and earned more than one percent of the popular vote with almost one million votes.Quitoxic '80 campaign gave birth to Kochs' Powerful Network, The New York Times, May 15, 2014. Accessed April 30, 2021.
The party ran more candidates for seats in the United States House of Representatives than any other minor party since the 1980 elections.
The Massachusetts Libertarian Party was one of the few organizations to support a 1980s campaign to repeal prostitution laws.
On December 29, 1981, the first widely reported successful election in the continental United States of a Libertarian Party candidate in a partisan race occurred as Richard P. Siano, a Boeing 707 pilot for Trans World Airlines, running against both a Republican and a Democrat, was elected to the office of Kingwood Township Committeeman in western Hunterdon County, New Jersey. His election resulted from the special election held on December 29, 1981, to break a tie vote in the general election between him and the Democratic candidate. He received 63% of the votes cast in the special election. He served a three-year term of office."Libertarian victory", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 31, 1981. Accessed November 19, 2019.
In 1984, the party's presidential nominee, David Bergland, gained access to the ballot in 36 states and earned one-quarter of one percent of the popular vote. In 1987, Doug Anderson became the first Libertarian elected to office in a major city, elected to the Denver Election Commission (later, in 2005, Anderson was elected to the Lakewood, Colorado city council).Lakewood City Council page showing Council members. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
Norma Jean Almodovar, a former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and former call girl who authored the book From Cop to Call Girl about her experiences, ran on the Libertarian Party ticket for California lieutenant governor in 1986 and was actively supported by the party. Mark Hinkle described her as being the most able "of any Libertarian" "to generate publicity".
In 1988, former Republican Congressman Ron Paul won the Libertarian nomination for president and was on the ballot in 46 states. Paul later successfully ran for United States House of Representatives from Texas, once again as a Republican, and held that office until 2013. He ran in the Republican primaries in 2008 and sponsored HR 1207 in the House of Representatives, a bill to audit the Federal Reserve.Now for a Real Underdog: Ron Paul, Libertarian, For President. The New York Times October 17, 1988. Retrieved on April 30, 2021 His running mate was Andre Marrou, a former member of the Alaska legislature; the ticket was thus one of the few "third-party" tickets in American history to have former office-holders in both slots.
1990s In 1992, Andre Marrou, a Libertarian elected to the Alaska state legislature and Ron Paul's running mate in 1988, led the ticket, with attorney Nancy Lord as his vice presidential (VP) running mate. For the first time since the Clark campaign in 1980, the Libertarian Party's presidential ticket made the ballot in all 50 states, DC, and Guam usually as independent candidates without party labelling. In 1994, radio personality Howard Stern embarked on a political campaign for Governor of New York, formally announcing his candidacy under the Libertarian Party ticket. Although he legally qualified for the office and campaigned for a time after his nomination, many viewed the run for office as nothing more than a publicity stunt. He subsequently withdrew his candidacy because he did not want to comply with the financial disclosure requirements for candidates.
Investment adviser Harry Browne headed the 1996 and 2000 presidential tickets. The VP candidate in 1996 was South Carolina entrepreneur Jo Jorgensen; in 2000, Art Olivier of California was Browne's running mate. In 1996 the Party's presidential candidate again made the ballot in all 50 states, often as an independent without Libertarian labelling Washington, D.C. and Guam. The party's presidential ticket again made the ballot in 49 states, D.C. and Guam in 2000, mostly without party labelling. Although the LP has had ballot access with party labelling in some states for an election or for a time, the LP has never had ballot access with party labelling in all fifty states.
2000s In 2000, the Arizona Libertarian Party, which had been disaffiliated from the national organization in late 1999, but which controlled the Libertarian ballot line in that state, nominated science fiction author L. Neil Smith and newspaperman Vin Suprynowicz, rather than Browne and Olivier, as its presidential slate. Smith and Suprynowicz polled 5,775 votes (0.4%) in Arizona.
2004–2007 In the 2004 election cycle, the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination race was the closest to date. Three candidates came within two percent of each other on the first two ballots at the 2004 national convention in Atlanta: Gun-rights activist and software engineer Michael Badnarik, talk radio host Gary Nolan, and Hollywood producer Aaron Russo. Badnarik was chosen as the party's presidential nominee on the third ballot after Nolan was eliminated, a comeback many saw as surprising, as Badnarik had not been viewed as a front-runner for the nominationmany delegates were won over during the convention itself, due to Badnarik's perceived strong performance in a formal candidate debate. The Badnarik campaign secured ballot status in 48 states (plus D.C. and Guam) and earned 397,265 votes. Despite less name recognition and a much smaller campaign checkbook, Badnarik polled nearly as well as independent candidate Ralph Nader. The Libertarian party also garnered more votes than the Green Party that year. His running mate was Richard Campagna who secured the vice presidential nod at the party's Atlanta convention with a landslide victory.