American Independent Party

American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States founded in California in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. It is most notable for George Wallace running in the 1968 US Election. That year, it was made up of Democrats opposed to the ending of racial segregation and was most successful in Southern states (Wallace was governor of the Southern state of Alabama).

Chairman	Markham Robinson (CA)
Vice Chairman	Mark Seidenberg (CA)
Headquarters	476 Deodara St. Vacaville, California 95688
Ideology	Paleoconservatism
Political position	Far-right
National affiliation	America's Party
Colors	Purple
State Senate	0 / 40
State House	0 / 80
Website
aipca.org

Over time, the party became closer to the conservative movement and it renounced its policy against racial equality. Today, the party still exists but many of its members have left: most of the earlier members returned to the Democratic Party after the 1969 election and its later members have moved to the Constitution Party. The AIP has endorsed the Constitution Party nominee for President in recent years.

Background information

Wallace's 1969 AIP party card, showing annual dues of $3.00 for the organization

In 1967, the AIP was founded by Bill Shearer and his wife, Eileen Knowland Shearer. It nominated George C. Wallace (Democrat) as its presidential candidate and retired U.S. Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice-presidential candidate. Wallace ran on every state ballot in the election, though he did not represent the American Independent Party in all fifty states: in Connecticut, for instance, he was listed on the ballot as the nominee of the "George Wallace Party." The Wallace/LeMay ticket received 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes from the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. No third-party candidate has won more than one electoral vote since the 1968 election.

Presidential tickets

Year	Presidential nominee	Home state	Previous positions	Vice presidential nominee	Home state	Previous positions	Votes	References
1968	George Wallace Democratic (campaign)	Alabama	Governor of Alabama (1963–1967)	Curtis LeMay	California	General of the United States Air Force (1951–1965) Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Air Command (1948–1957) Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1957–1961) Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1961–1965)	9,906,473 (13.5%) 46 EV
1972	John G. Schmitz	California	Member of the United States House of Representatives from California's 35th district (1970–1973)	Thomas J. Anderson	Tennessee	Magazine publisher	1,099,482 (1.4%) 0 EV
1976	Lester Maddox	Georgia	Governor of Georgia (1967–1971) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia (1971–1975)	William Dyke	Wisconsin	Mayor of Madison (1969–1973) Candidate for Governor of Wisconsin (1974)	170,531 (0.2%) 0 EV
1980	John Rarick	Louisiana	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 6th district (1967–1975)	Eileen Shearer	California	Co-founder of the American Independent Party	41,268 (<0.1%) 0 EV
1984	Bob Richards (Populist)	Texas	Retired Olympic athlete (1948; 1952; 1956)	Maureen Kennedy Salaman	California	Writer, nutritionist	66,336 (0.1%) 0 EV
1988	James C. Griffin	Texas	Nominee for United States Senator from California (1980) Nominee for Governor of California (1982) Nominee for Lieutenant Governor of California (1986)	Charles Morsa			27,818 (<0.1%) 0 EV
1992	Howard Phillips (U.S. Taxpayers')	Virginia	Chairman of The Conservative Caucus Candidate for United States Senator from Massachusetts (1978)	Albion W. Knight	Florida	Presiding Bishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America (1989–1992)	43,369 (<0.1%) 0 EV
1996	Howard Phillips (U.S. Taxpayers')	Virginia	Chairman of The Conservative Caucus Candidate for United States Senator from Massachusetts (1978) Nominee for President of the United States (1992)	Herbert Titus	Oregon	Lawyer, writer	184,656 (0.2%) 0 EV
2000	Howard Phillips (Constitution)	Virginia	Chairman of The Conservative Caucus Candidate for United States Senator from Massachusetts (1978) Nominee for President of the United States (1992; 1996)	Curtis Frazier	Missouri	Candidate for United States Senator from Missouri (1998)	98,020 (0.1%) 0 EV
2004	Michael Peroutka (Constitution)	Maryland	Lawyer Founder of the Institute on the Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Florida	Pastor, radio host	143,630 (0.1%) 0 EV
2008	Alan Keyes (America's Independent)	New York	Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (1985–1987) Candidate for United States Senator from Maryland (1988; 1992) Candidate for President of the United States (1996; 2000) Candidate for United States Senator from Illinois (2004)	Wiley Drake	California	Minister, radio host	47,694 (<0.1%) 0 EV
2012	Tom Hoefling (America's)	Iowa	Activist	Robert Ornelas	California	Activist	40,641 (<0.1%) 0 EV
2016	Donald Trump (Republican)	New York	Businessman Chairman of The Trump Organization (1971–2017)	Mike Pence	Indiana	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd district (2001–2003) Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 6th district (2003–2013) Governor of Indiana (2013–2017)	62,984,825 (46.1%) 304 EV
2020	Rocky De La Fuente (Alliance; Reform)	California	Businessman and perennial candidate	Kanye West (Independent; Birthday)	Wyoming	Rapper, producer and fashion designer; 2020 presidential candidate	60,160 (0.34%) 0 EV

Since the fracture of the American Independent Party between the King and Noonan factions, control of the State Party, and thus the ballot line, has been in the hands of the Noonan faction. Attempts to nominate Chuck Baldwin (the 2008 Constitution nominee) or Virgil Goode (the 2012 Constitution nominee) were unsuccessful, as were their independent efforts to make it onto the California presidential ballot.