John Hospers
| John Hospers | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Libertarian candidate for President of the United States |
|
| Election date November 7, 1972 |
|
| Running mate | Tonie Nathan |
| Opponent(s) | Richard Nixon (R) George McGovern (D) John G. Schmitz (AI). |
| Incumbent | Richard Nixon (R) |
| Preceded by | N/A |
| Succeeded by | Roger MacBride |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 9, 1918 Pella, Iowa |
| Died | June 12, 2011 (aged 93) Los Angeles, California |
| Political party | Libertarian |
| Profession | Academician |
John Hospers (June 9, 1918 – June 12, 2011)[1] was an American philosopher and politician. In 1972 he was the first presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, and the only minor party candidate to receive an electoral vote in the 1972 U.S. Presidential election.[2]
Contents |
Education and career [edit]
Born in Pella, Iowa, Hospers graduated from Central College. Hospers earned advanced degrees from the University of Iowa and Columbia University. He conducted research, wrote, and taught in areas of philosophy, including aesthetics and ethics. He taught philosophy at Brooklyn College and at the University of Southern California, where for many years he was chairman of the philosophy department and professor emeritus.[3]
In 2002, an hour-long video about Hospers' life, work, and philosophy was released by the Liberty Fund of Indianapolis, as part of its Classics of Liberty series.[4]
Works [edit]
Hospers' books include: Meaning and Truth in the Arts (1946), Introductory Readings in Aesthetics (1969), Artistic Expression (1971), Law and the Market (1985), Introduction to Philosophical Analysis (now in the 4th edition, 1996), Human Conduct (now in its 3rd edition, 1995), Understanding the Arts (1982), and Libertarianism – A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow (1971).[5] He was editor of three anthologies, and contributed to books edited by others. He wrote more than 100 articles in various scholarly and popular journals.[6]
Hospers was editor of The Personalist (1968–1982) and The Monist (1982–1992),[5] and was a senior editor at Liberty magazine.[7]
Friendship with Ayn Rand [edit]
During the period he taught philosophy at Brooklyn College, Hospers was much interested in Objectivism. He appeared on radio shows with Ayn Rand, and devoted considerable attention to her ideas in his ethics textbook Human Conduct.[8]
According to Rand's biographer, Barbara Branden, Hospers met Rand when she addressed the student body at Brooklyn College. They became friends, and had lengthy philosophical conversations. Rand's discussions with Hospers contributed to her decision to write nonfiction. Hospers read Atlas Shrugged, which he considered an aesthetic triumph. Hospers also became convinced of the validity of Rand's moral and political views, but disagreed with her about issues of epistemology, the subject of their extensive correspondence.[9] Rand broke with Hospers after he criticized her talk on "Art as Sense of Life," before the American Society of Aesthetics at Harvard.[10]
1972 presidential candidacy [edit]
In the 1972 U.S. Presidential election, Hospers and Tonie Nathan were the first presidential and vice-presidential nominees, respectively, of the newly formed Libertarian Party.[5] The Libertarian Party poorly organized at that time, and Hospers and Nathan managed to get on the ballot in only two states[11] (Washington and Colorado), receiving 3,674 popular votes.[12] They received one electoral vote from faithless elector Roger MacBride, a Republican from Virginia, resulting in Nathan becoming the first woman to have received an electoral vote in a United States presidential election.[11][13]
Electoral history [edit]
- United States presidential election, 1972
- Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew (R) (inc.) – 47,168,710 (60.7%) and 520 electoral votes (49 states carried)
- George McGovern/Sargent Shriver (D) – 29,173,222 (37.5%) and 17 electoral votes (1 state and D.C. carried)
- John Hospers/Theodora Nathan (Libertarian) – 3,674 (0.0%) and 1 electoral vote
- John G. Schmitz/Thomas J. Anderson (American Independent) – 1,100,868 (1.4%)
- Linda Jenness/Andrew Pulley (Socialist Workers) – 83,380 (0.1%)
- Benjamin Spock/Julius Hobson (People's) – 78,759 (0.1%)
- Others – 135,414 (0.2%)
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "John Hospers, first Libertarian presidential nominee, dies at 93". Libertarian Party (press release). June 13, 2011. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
- ^ Walker, Jesse (June 13th, 2011) "John Hospers, RIP", Reason Online. Retrieved June 14th, 2011.
- ^ "Who Is John Hospers? First Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate (1972)", www.Johnhospers.com.
- ^ John Hospers: The Intellectual Portrait Series, Liberty Fund.
- ^ a b c Hamowy, Ronald (2008). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. SAGE Publications. p. 228. ISBN 1412965802, 9781412965804 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ White, James E. (2005). Contemporary Moral Problems. Cengage Learning. p. 321. ISBN 0534584306, 9780534584306 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ Cox, Stephen (June 17, 2011) "John Hospers, R.I.P.", Liberty. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
- ^ Berliner, Michael S. (1995). Letters of Ayn Rand. Dutton. pp. 502–564. ISBN 0-525-93946-6.
- ^ Branden, Barbara (1986). The Passion of Ayn Rand. Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-19171-5. Text " pages 323–324, 413 " ignored (help)
- ^ Branden, Barbara, The Passion of Ayn Rand. ibid. p. 324.
- ^ a b Dionne, E. J. Why Americans Hate Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-671-68255-2
- ^ a b "1972 Presidential General Election Results", Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ^ Doherty, Brian (2008). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. PublicAffairs. pp. 392–393. ISBN 1586485725, 9781586485726 Check
|isbn=value (help).
External links [edit]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by No one (Party not yet created) |
Libertarian Party Presidential candidate 1972 (3rd in the electoral college) |
Succeeded by Roger MacBride |
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- 1918 births
- 2011 deaths
- American academics
- American book editors
- American magazine editors
- American philosophers
- American political philosophers
- American political writers
- Brooklyn College faculty
- California Libertarians
- Columbia University alumni
- Determinists
- Libertarian Party (United States) presidential nominees
- Libertarian theorists
- People from Pella, Iowa
- United States presidential candidates, 1972
- University of Southern California faculty
- Writers from California
- Writers from Iowa
- Writers from New York City
