Merrill Riddick was a seasoned political campaigner. He ran unsuccessfully for the Montana Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1960 and 68. He then switched parties to run for the U.S. Senate in 1972. Again, no success. Undeterred, he ran for president.
In 1976, 80 and 84 Riddick ran for president under a political party he created, the Puritan Ethic and Epic, Prohibition and Magnetohydrodynamics Party.
Puritan Ethic and Epic stood for moral values. Magnetohydrodynamics is a process for clean electricity generation. Prohibition meant barring illegal campaign contributions.
He campaigned by traveling across the country on Greyhound buses. He refused campaign donations over one dollar. But six hundred dollars that appeared anonymously in his bank account funded at least one of his campaigns.
Learn more about Merrill Riddick at UW's American Heritage Center.
