The American Independent Party (AIP) was established in 1968 primarily as a means for Alabama governor George C. Wallace to launch a third-party presidential campaign. The AIP consisted of 50 separate state parties, of which only 12 used the American Independent label. Through the Wallace campaign’s tight control of election activities and the high media profile that accompanied their candidate, the party qualified for inclusion on the ballot in all 50 states. Wallace selected former air force general Curtis LeMay as his vice presidential candidate. The campaign was based on Wallace’s populist rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to disgruntled voters, especially his opposition to the Civil Rights movement and his hawkish stance on the Vietnam War. Wallace attempted to limit the influence of the right wing on his campaign, especially the John Birch Society, and discouraged other candidates from running on the AIP platform, although 14 candidates ran for the House of Representatives in California. Wallace intended his campaign to deny an electoral college majority to either major party and to set the groundwork for a presidential bid in 1972. While he did not achieve his aim, Wallace received almost 10 million popular votes and 46 electoral votes—at that time the largest popular vote ever received by a third party.
After the election Wallace kept his distance from the American Independent Party. The party split in 1969 into the American Party, which supported Wallace, and the more conservative National Committee of Autonomous State Parties. Although Wallace ran in the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, he was careful not to alienate either section. An assassination attempt on Wallace in May 1972, which left him paralyzed from the waist down, effectively ended his presidential ambitions. The two organizations then united under the American Party banner and nominated John G. Smith, a member of the John Birch Society, as presidential candidate and Thomas Anderson as his running mate. In the 1972 election they managed to receive only a little more than 1 million votes, about 1.4 percent of the popular vote.
After the election the party split again, with Anderson gaining control of the American Party and William
K. Shearer, the chair of the California section, forming a dissident group as a new American Independent Party. In the 1976 election the American Party nominated Anderson as presidential candidate. The American Independent Party nominated former Georgia governor Lester Maddox, thwarting an attempt by conservatives including Richard Viguerie, William Rusher, and Howard Phillips to take over the party. The combined vote of both parties in the 1976 election was 0.4 percent of the popular vote.
Since 1976 the American Independent Party has run in fewer states and supported its last presidential candidate, John C. Rarick, in 1980. The AIP still fields candidates in a few states, mainly California, and is a state affiliate party to the Constitution Party.
See also elections; political parties; Wallace, George C.
Further reading: American Independent Party. Available online. URL: Http://www. aipca. org/. Downloaded November 3, 2008.
—Steve Hardman
World History
