# Craziest major-party Presidential nominees in US history? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821 "2011-08-15T20:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/1 "2011-08-15T20:15:36Z")
I’m hoping that this thread won’t get derailed by partisan sniping, but… I was just thinking it would be interesting to hear about whether anyone really wacky has ever won one of the major parties’ nomination for President of the US. I’m presuming we all more or less know what is meant by “major parties”… and as far as “really wacky”, I don’t mean “someone who disagrees fundamentally with the policies of the party you favor”, but more like “someone who most people, across the spectrum, would consider to have some really fringe ideas”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/2 "2011-08-15T20:44:04Z")
No answer is possible beyond partisan sniping. For any person to have gotten a major party’s nomination implies that there’s a very significant portion of the population who didn’t consider them crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/3 "2011-08-15T20:51:00Z")
Henry Wallace (elected vice-president in 1940) was accused of having “fringe ideas” because he had once followed a mystical Russian guru named Nicholas Roerich who renamed him Galahad. Not sure how that ought to disqualify anyone for office, but anyhow that’s how Wallace’s political enemies spun it. I don’t know anything about Roerich’s mystical beliefs, but I love him as a painter. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/4 "2011-08-15T21:12:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I don’t know anything about Roerich’s mystical beliefs, but I love him as a painter. Didn’t he do mostly ink-blots? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/5 "2011-08-15T21:26:30Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > “someone who most people, across the spectrum, would consider to have some really fringe ideas”. Strom Thurmond (1948) and George Wallace (1968) ran as third party candidates, but drew a significant amount of electoral votes (39 and 46, respectively… more than McGovern or Mondale drew as Democratic nominees). Both were staunch segregationists… not sure if that meets the definition of “fringe ideas.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/6 "2011-08-15T21:39:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No answer is possible beyond partisan sniping. For any person to have gotten a major party’s nomination implies that there’s a very significant portion of the population who didn’t consider them crazy. I agree. Moving to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/7 "2011-08-15T23:41:16Z")
Many people felt 1964 GOP nominee Barry Goldwater was an outlier; some psychologists allegedly armchair-diagnosed him as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Contributing to this impression were overly candid remarks like [ul][li]“sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea.”[/li][li]“defoliation of the forests [in Vietnam] by low-yield atomic weapons could well be done”[/li][/ul] However most sober observers found Goldwater, while arguably extremist, to be an admirable conservative in the best sense of the term. I hope it isn’t snarky to admit I would prefer Goldwater over any of today’s Republicans and even some of today’s Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/8 "2011-08-15T23:49:09Z")
I think it’s got to be Palin, at least in recent history. Teddy Roosevelt was kind of eccentric, but in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/9 "2011-08-16T04:19:47Z")
I don’t know that “crazy” applies exactly, but Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern’s first running mate in 1972, had several mental-health issues. He apparently had bipolar disorder. Bipolar is sometimes, but not always, associated with delusions or hallucinations. I don’t know if Eagleton had those symptoms, but he was on Thorazine at one point which is used to treat such symptoms, among others. Eagleton was officially nominated at the convention but when McGovern learned the whole truth, he dropped Eagleton from the ticket and replaced him with Sargent Shriver. The public latched onto the fact that Eagleton had undergone electroshock therapy, but frankly the fact that he needed Thorazine (or his doctors thought he did) bothers me a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/10 "2011-08-16T04:44:37Z")
William Jennings Bryan always seemed to me to have a screw loose. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/11 "2011-08-16T04:52:05Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think it’s got to be Palin, at least in recent history. Are you posting from the future? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/12 "2011-08-16T07:12:36Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Are you posting from the future? Let’s all hope not! ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/13 "2011-08-16T07:30:19Z")
George Wallace’s segregationist views [might have been one of the less ridiculous things he believed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace_presidential_campaign,_1968). I mean this is a guy who tried to get Colonel Sanders to be his running mate! Although he wasn’t an American politician, Canadian prime minister [Mackenzie King](http://www.cpac.ca/PMseries/William_Lyon_Mackenzie_King.pdf) was certainly an odd duck. Among other things he though he could intercept other people’s brainwaves, had seances with Da Vinci, and postponed a cabinet meeting to talk to his dog. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/14 "2011-08-16T08:13:23Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think it’s got to be Palin, at least in recent history Don’t mistake craziness with sheer stupidity and ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/15 "2011-08-16T09:57:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > William Jennings Bryan always seemed to me to have a screw loose. I would concede that Bryan was probably senile in the twenties, but his last nomination was in 1908. Frankly, getting rejected for the presidency 3 times may have had some negative effect on his mental state. I recall Mencken’s suggestion that losing candidates for President should be taken out and executed. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/16 "2011-08-16T15:13:21Z")
Not quite a major party but he was invited to the vice-presidential debate, so let’s talk about **Admiral James Stockdale** , Ross Perot’s choice of running mate for 1992. From the debate, Stockdale famously opened with a “What the hell am I doing here?” routine and then more famously didn’t have his hearing aid at full throttle and needed a question repeated. If one needed further evidence that Perot’s presidential bid was a complete joke they needed look no further from the guy he chose to assume the office in the event of an untimely kicking of the bucket. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/17 "2011-08-16T15:29:52Z")
Ross Perot himself is pretty crazy, althoughn never nominated by a major party. He claimed that he dropped out of the race at one point because Bush was going to dirupt his daughter’s wedding, he claimed that his private security defeated communist insurgents in Dallas, and there was that business about wrestling intruders on his front lawn. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/18 "2011-08-16T17:13:44Z")
While I appreciate all the responses, I was hoping I’d defined the OP sufficiently to exclude vice-presidential candidates and third-party candidates… I was looking for instances where one of the two major parties actually got to the point of selecting an individual as their choice for the Presidency who had ideas, beliefs, etc., that would be considered “woo-woo”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/19 "2011-08-16T17:25:52Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > I don’t know that “crazy” applies exactly, but Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern’s first running mate in 1972, had several mental-health issues. He apparently had bipolar disorder. Bipolar is sometimes, but not always, associated with delusions or hallucinations. I don’t know if Eagleton had those symptoms, but he was on Thorazine at one point which is used to treat such symptoms, among others. Eagleton was officially nominated at the convention but when McGovern learned the whole truth, he dropped Eagleton from the ticket and replaced him with Sargent Shriver. The public latched onto the fact that Eagleton had undergone electroshock therapy, but frankly the fact that he needed Thorazine (or his doctors thought he did) bothers me a lot more. Eagleton served another 18 years in the Senate after McGovern - uneventfully. Eagleton’s big problem was standard depression and his (rumored) attempts to self-medicate via booze. Yes, he was hospitalized, given electroshock therapy and took Thorazine for awhile, but it’s at least as likely those were attempts to dry him out rather than treatment for the more severe bipolar disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821/20 "2011-08-16T18:53:52Z")
Stockdale wasn’t crazy, just out of his element. He was competent in his own fields, military science and perhaps also philosophy. But he knew Jack’s shit about politics or public speaking. He made an ill-considered choice to run and got befuddled, but crazy, no. Ordinary human foibles. Perot, on the other hand, embraced the label of crazy with a certain glee and made Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” his theme song. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/craziest-major-party-presidential-nominees-in-us-history/592821.md?page=2)