About the Libertarian Party

The History of the Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party of the United States was formed in Colorado Springs in the home of Luke Zell by a group of individuals led by David Nolan on December 11, 1971, after several months of debate among members of the Committee to Form a Libertarian Party, founded July 17. The formation was prompted in part by price controls and the end of the Gold Standard implemented by President Richard Nixon. The Libertarian Party viewed the dominant Republican and Democratic parties as having diverged from what they viewed as the libertarian principles of the American Founding Fathers. This group included John Hospers, Edward Crane, Manuel Klausner, Murray Rothbard, Roy Childs, D. Frank Robinson, Theodora (Tonie) Nathan,[citation needed] and Jim Dean.

A press conference announcing the new party was held on January 31, 1972, at the party’s headquarters in Westminster, Colorado. The first national convention, attracting 89 delegates from 23 states, was held that June in Denver, Colorado. According to Ron Crickenberger, former Political Director of the LP, a search of LP records showed that the LP had elected Miguel Gilson-De Lemos in a partisan local board race in New York even before the adoption of its first platform.[citation needed] Several others were also elected or appointed that year. Party leaders initially doubted they would even see six people elected or appointed by 2001, so this led to early optimism among some. However, in subsequent years the number of people in office seemed to be about 1% of its donor base: approximately 30 officeholders with 3,000 donors in 1981; 100 in office and 10,000 donors in 1991; and 600 and 60,000 in 2001.

In 1971, seventy-five percent of members supported running a presidential ticket and sixty percent supported running candidates for lower offices. Members of the party supported giving its presidential nomination to Murray Rothbard, Alan Greenspan, Vivien Kellems, A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Martin Anderson, Phil Crane, Robert A. Heinlein, H. R. Gross, Milton Friedman, Sam Ervin, Henry Manne, or Karl Hess. The party’s name was selected by a vote of 111 to 87 in favor. John Hospers won the presidential nomination for the 1972 presidential election against James Bryan and Tonie Nathan defeated Diana Amsden for the vice-presidential nomination.

By the 1972 presidential election, the party had grown to over 80 members and had attained ballot access in two states. Their presidential ticket received between 3,000 and 4,000 votes, but received the first and only electoral college vote for a Libertarian presidential ticket, from Roger MacBride of Virginia, who was pledged to Richard Nixon. His was also the first vote ever cast for a woman in the United States Electoral College. MacBride became the party’s presidential nominee in the 1976 presidential election. The 1976 election established the Libertarian Party as the number 1 alternative political party in the United States, and it remains the most successful alternative political party since the end of the Second World War.