page_title: Prohibition Party
section_title: Rise
hierarchical_section_title: Prohibition Party / History / Rise
caption_attribution_description: English: The 1884 Prohibition Party Convention
context_page_description: The Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movement. It is the oldest existing third party in the United States and the third longest active party.
  Although it was never one of the leading parties in the United States, it was once an important force in the Third Party System during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The organization declined following the enactment of Prohibition in the United States, but saw a rise in vote totals following the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933. However, following World War II it declined with 1948 being the last time its presidential candidate received over 100,000 votes and 1976 being the last time it received over 10,000 votes.
  The party's platform has changed over its existence with its platforms throughout the 19th century supporting progressive and populist positions including women's suffrage, equal racial and gender rights, bimetallism, equal pay, and an income tax.
context_section_description: In 1879, Frances Willard became the president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and although it had remained non-partisan in the 1876 and 1880 presidential elections Willard pushed for a resolution where the organization would pledge its support to whichever party would support alcoholic prohibition. Willard's attempts in 1882 and 1883 were unsuccessful, but was successful in 1884 after her opponents left to join Judith Foster's rival Non-Partisan WCTU. During the 1884 presidential election the organization sent its resolution to the Republican, Democratic, Greenback, and Prohibition parties and only the Prohibition Party accepted. At the Woman's Christian Temperance Union's 1884 national convention in St. Louis the organization voted 195 to 48 in favor of supporting the Prohibition Party and would continue to support the Prohibition Party until Willard's death in 1898.
  During 1884 election the party nominated John St. John, the former Republican governor of Kansas, who with the support from Willard and the WTCU saw the party 147,482 votes for 1.50% of the popular vote. However, the party was accused of spoiling the election due to Grover Cleveland's margin of victory over James G. Blaine in New York being less than John's vote total there. In 1888 the party's presidential nominee, Clinton B. Fisk, was accused of being a possible spoiler candidate that would prevent Benjamin Harrison from winning, but Harrison won the election although without winning the national popular vote.
  From January to February, 1892, Willard met with representatives from the Farmers' Alliance, People's Party, National Reform Party, and the remainder of the Greenback Party in Chicago and St. Louis in an attempt to create a fusion presidential ticket, but the organizations were unable to agree to a platform. The People's Party would later fuse with the Democratic Party in the 1896 presidential election.
  The party suffered a schism at the 1896 Prohibition convention between the narrow gauger faction which only supported having an alcoholic prohibition plank in the party's platform and the broad gauger faction which supported the addition of free silver and women's suffrage. After the narrow gaugers successfully chose the presidential ticket and the party platform the broad gaugers performed a walkout lead by former presidential nominee John St. John, Nebraska state chairman Charles Eugene Bentley, and suffragette Helen M. Gougar and created the breakaway National Party and nominated a rival ticket with Bentley as president and James H. Southgate as vice president. The Prohibition party ticket of Joshua Levering and Hale Johnson had the worst popular vote performance since Neal Dow's 10,364 votes in 1880, but still outperformed the National Party's 13,968 votes. Following the 1896 election most of the members of the National Party became disillusioned with party and returned to the Prohibition party, but those who remained reformed into the Union Reform Party and supported Seth H. Ellis and Samuel Nicholson during the 1900 presidential election.
  At the same time, its ideology broadened to include aspects of progressivism. The party contributed to the third-party discussions of the 1910s and sent Charles H. Randall to the 64th, 65th and 66th Congresses as the representative of California's 9th congressional district. Democrat Sidney J. Catts of Florida, after losing a close Democratic primary, used the Prohibition line to win election as Governor of Florida in 1916; he remained a Democrat.
  During the 1916 presidential election the party attempted to give its presidential nomination to former Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, but he rejected the offer via telegram. At the national convention the presidential nomination was given to former Indiana Governor Frank Hanly although an attempt to make his nomination unanimous was defeated by Eugene W. Chafin, who had served as the presidential nominee in 1908 and 1912, who had supported giving the nomination to former New York Governor William Sulzer. Virgil G. Hinshaw wrote t
caption: 1884 National Prohibition Convention in Lafayette Hall, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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