Early life, education, and early career

Anderson was born in Rockford, Illinois, where he grew up, the son of Mabel Edna (née Ring) and E. Albin Anderson, a Swedish immigrant. In his youth, he worked in his family's grocery store. He graduated as the valedictorian of his class at Rockford Central High School. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1939, and started law school, but his education was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the Army in 1943, and served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Field Artillery until the end of the war, receiving four battle stars. After the war, Anderson returned to complete his education, eventually earning a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1946. He was admitted to the Illinois bar the same year, and practiced law in Rockford.

Soon after, Anderson moved east to attend Harvard Law School, obtaining a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in 1949. While at Harvard, he served on the faculty of Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. In another brief return to Rockford, Anderson practiced at the law firm Large, Reno & Zahm (now Reno & Zahm LLP). Thereafter, Anderson joined the Foreign Service. From 1952 to 1955, he served in Berlin as the Economic Reporting Officer in the Eastern Affairs Division, as an adviser on the staff of the United States High Commissioner for Germany. At the end of his tour, he left the foreign service and once again returned to the practice of law in Rockford.

Political career

Soon after his return, Anderson was approached about running for public office. In 1956, Anderson was elected State's Attorney in Winnebago County, Illinois, first winning a four-person race in the April primary by 1,330 votes and then the general election in November by 11,456 votes. After serving for one term, he was ready to leave that office when the local congressman, 28-year incumbent Leo Allen, announced his retirement. Anderson joined the Republican primary for Allen's 16th District seat—the real contest in this then-solidly Republican district—with four other contenders. He won first the primary (by 5,900 votes) in April and then the general election (by 45,000 votes) in November. He served in the United States House of Representatives for ten terms, from 1961 to 1981.

Initially, Anderson was among the most conservative members of the Republican caucus. Three times (in 1961, 1963, and 1965) in his early terms as a Congressman, Anderson introduced a constitutional amendment to attempt to "recognize the law and authority of Jesus Christ" over the United States. The bills died quietly, but came back to haunt Anderson in his presidential candidacy.

As he continued to serve, the atmosphere of the 1960s weighed on Anderson and he began to re-think some of his beliefs. By the late 1960s, Anderson's positions on social issues shifted to the left, though his fiscal philosophy remained largely conservative. At the same time, he was held in high esteem by his colleagues in the House. In 1964, he won appointment to a seat on the powerful Rules Committee. In 1969, he became Chairman of the House Republican Conference, the number three position in the House Republican hierarchy in what was (at that time) the minority party.

Anderson increasingly found himself at odds with conservatives in his home district and other members of the House. He was not always a faithful supporter of the Republican agenda, despite his high rank in the Republican caucus. He was very critical of the Vietnam War, and was a very controversial critic of Richard Nixon during Watergate. In 1974, despite his criticism of Nixon, he was nearly swept out by the strong anti-Republican tide in that year's election; he was re-elected with 55 percent of the vote, what would be the lowest percentage of his career. His spot as the chairman of the House Republican Committee was challenged three times after his election. And, when Gerald Ford was defeated in the 1976 Presidential campaign, Anderson lost a key ally in Washington.

In late 1977, a fundamentalist television minister from Rockford, Don Lyon, announced that he would challenge Anderson in the Republican primary. It was a contentious campaign, where Lyon with his experience before the camera proved to be a formidable candidate. Lyon raised a great deal of money, won backing from many conservatives in the community and party, and put quite a scare into the Anderson team. Though Anderson was a leader in the House and the campaign commanded national attention, Anderson won the primary by 16% of the vote. Anderson was aided in this campaign by strong newspaper endorsements and crossover support from independents and Democrats.

1980 Presidential campaign

Feeling that his time in the House was coming to an end (because of elements of boredom, restlessness, and his unwillingness to face the indignity of other challenges to his leadership position and House seat), Anderson began considering other options soon after the 1976 presidential campaign. While many urged him to run for the Senate seat held by Adlai Stevenson III (even after Stevenson announced his retirement), Anderson had higher sights: the Republican presidential nomination. In 1978, he formed an exploratory committee, finding little public or media interest. Anderson postponed his decision to run, lost his campaign manager, and struggled to raise money, but in late April 1979 he made the decision to enter the Republican primary anyway, joining a crowded field that included Robert Dole, John Connally, Howard Baker, Harold Stassen, George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

He did not fare much better as an announced candidate in the summer and fall, but the last six weeks of 1979 saw a modest reversal of his fortunes. He introduced (as congressional legislation) his signature campaign proposal, advocating that a 50-cent a gallon gas tax be enacted with a corresponding 50% reduction in social security taxes. This idea, while not broadly supported, was hailed as interesting and innovative. Experts agreed that it would reduce gasoline consumption dramatically and cost average families nothing if they drove less than about 18,000 miles a year, depending upon the fuel efficiency of their vehicles.

He also improved in other areas: his modest fund-raising improved to the point where he qualified for federal matching funds. He built modest state campaigns in four targeted states—New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Wisconsin. He won some political support among Republicans, picking up a few important endorsements along the way that helped legitimize him in the race. Most importantly, he began to build support among media elites, who appreciated his articulateness, straightforward manner, moderate positions, and his refusal to walk down the conservative path that all of the other Republicans were traveling.

Rise

The turning point for Anderson occurred in the first political event of 1980, a Republican candidates debate in Des Moines, Iowa on January 5. On stage Anderson successfully showed that he was very different from the others in the GOP race. He was alone in supporting Jimmy Carter's grain embargo against the Soviet Union as a reaction to its recent invasion of Afghanistan, an unpopular position in an agricultural state. Anderson also took issue with the other candidates who criticized his 50/50 plan, whose only new strategies for dealing with the energy crisis were deregulating the industry and mining more coal.

When questioned about which episode in their career they most regretted, none of the other candidates would answer the question, except Anderson, who cited his vote for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Unlike the others, he said lowering taxes, increasing defense spending, and balancing the budget were an impossible combination. In a stirring summation, Anderson invoked his father's emigration to the United States and said that we would have to make sacrifices today for a better tomorrow. For the next week, Anderson's name and face were all over the national news programs, in newspapers, and in national news magazines.

Anderson was not competing in the Iowa caucuses and spent less than $2000 in the state, but he finished with a surprising 4.3% of the vote, good for sixth place. In New Hampshire, he campaigned very hard and made one memorable appearance before a gun owners group. After all of the other candidates took the stage and invoked their personal histories as patriots, hunters, and members of the NRA, Anderson stood before them and made a modest statement about licensing gun owners. He said that it was an important thing to do to get cheap guns out of the hands of criminals, mental incompetents, and convicted felons. He left the stage to a chorus of lusty boos, catcalls and threats. The television networks were covering the event, portraying Anderson to a national audience as a man of character and principle. When the voters in New Hampshire went to the polls, Anderson again exceeded the expectations, finishing fourth with just under 10% of the vote.

Anderson was hitting his stride, just after he left New Hampshire for the next round of primaries. Campaigning in a liberal state like Massachusetts and riding the wave of national media coverage and greater campaign funds coming into his effort, he rose in the polls dramatically. When voters went to the voting booths, Anderson was at his peak. He was declared the winner in both Massachusetts and Vermont by the Associated Press, but in the wee hours of the morning ended up losing both primaries by an eyelash. In Massachusetts, he lost to George Bush by 0.3% and in Vermont he lost to Reagan by 690 votes. Nonetheless, Anderson was now a top-tier candidate in the Republican race and for the first time a true contender for the nomination.

The next major primary for Anderson was in Illinois, his home state. He arrived there after his New England triumph and had a lead in the state polls. But his Illinois campaign struggled despite endorsements from the state's two largest newspapers. His campaign, no longer taken lightly by his opponents, was outmatched organizationally and he was ganged up upon in a candidate's debate. Reagan defeated him 48% to 37%. Anderson carried Chicago and Rockford (the state's two largest cities at the time), but he was clobbered in the southern section of the state. The next week, there was a primary in Connecticut, which (while Anderson was on the ballot) his team had chosen not to campaign actively in. While this strategy of bypassing the event had worked for him in some southern primaries, as a front runner, he no longer could pick and choose his campaigns. He finished third in Connecticut with 22% of the vote, and it seemed to most like any other loss, whether Anderson said he was competing or not. Next was Wisconsin, and this was thought to be Anderson's best chance for victory. But the bloom was off the rose by this time and he again finished third, winning 27% of the vote.

Run as independent

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Anderson was at a crossroads. He seemed to have three options: to continue as a Republican despite the fact that the calendar was not friendly and he had lost three consecutive primaries in states where he needed to do well; to drop out of the race; or to mount an independent candidacy. The third option had a huge amount of support. The presumptive major party nominees, Carter and Reagan, then engendered little enthusiasm. The Republican platform failed to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment or support extension of time for its ratification. Anderson was a strong supporter of both. Pollsters were finding that Anderson was much more popular across the country with all voters than he was in the Republican primary states. Without any campaigning, he was running at 22% nationally in a three-way race. With the support of one of the premier media strategists of the day, David Garth, Anderson decided to join the race.

Anderson faced a huge number of obstacles as a non-major party candidate: having to qualify for 51 ballots (which the major parties appeared on automatically), having to raise money to run a campaign (the major parties received close to $30 million in government money for their campaigns), having to win national coverage, having to build a campaign overnight, and having to find a suitable running mate among them. Initially, Anderson did very well as an independent. He built a new campaign team, qualified for every ballot, raised a great deal of money, and rose in the polls to as high as 26% in a Gallup poll.

But the summer was cruel to Anderson. He had an overseas campaign tour to show his foreign policy credentials and it took a drubbing on national television. The major parties, particularly the Republicans, basked in the spotlight of their national conventions where Anderson was left out of the coverage. Anderson made an appearance with Ted Kennedy and it too was a huge error. By the third week of August he was in the 13-15% range in the polls.

Anderson again recovered and went on a modest spree of successes. A critical issue for him was appearing in the fall presidential debates and he won an important victory when the League of Women Voters created a qualification threshold of 15% for him to appear. In late August, he named Patrick Lucey, the former two-term Democratic Governor of Wisconsin and Ambassador to Mexico as his running mate. Late in August, Anderson released a 317-page comprehensive platform, under the banner of the National Unity Party, that was very well received. In early September, a court challenge to Federal Election Campaign Act was successful and Anderson qualified for post-election public funding. Also, Anderson submitted his petitions for his fifty-first ballot. Then, the League ruled that the polls showed that he had met the qualification threshold and said he would appear in the debates.

Fall

This set off a controversy. Carter said that he would not appear on stage with Anderson, and sat out the debate, which hurt the President in the eyes of voters. Reagan and Anderson had a debate in Baltimore on September 21, 1980. Anderson did well, and polls showed he won a modest debate victory over Reagan. But Reagan, who had been portrayed by Carter throughout the campaign as something of a warmonger, proved to be a reasonable candidate and carried himself well in the debate. The debate was Anderson's big opportunity. He needed a break-out performance, but what he got was a modest victory. In the following weeks, Anderson slowly faded out of the picture with his support dropping from 16% to 10-12% in the first half of October. By the end of the month, Reagan debated Carter alone and Anderson's support continued to fade. Although Reagan would win a sizable victory, the polls showed the two major party candidates closer (Gallup's final poll was 47-44-8) going into the election and it was clear that many would-be Anderson supporters were now supporting their second choice. In the end, Anderson finished with just under 7% of the vote.

Most of Anderson's original support came from Rockefeller Republicans, who were more liberal than Reagan, but it bled away. Many prominent intellectuals, including the author and activist Gore Vidal, All in the Family creator Norman Lear, and the editors of the liberal magazine The New Republic, also endorsed the Anderson campaign. He also had the support of many independents. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury ran several strips sympathetic to the Anderson campaign. According to the recently published journals of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis voted for Anderson, as did Schlesinger himself. Although the Carter campaign feared Anderson could be a spoiler, Anderson's campaign turned out to be "simply another option for frustrated voters who had already decided not to back Carter for another term. Polls found Anderson voters nearly as likely to list Reagan as their second choice as Carter."

Anderson did not carry a single precinct in the country. Anderson's finish was still the best showing for a third party candidate since George Wallace's 14% in 1968 and the sixth best for any such candidate in the 20th century (trailing Theodore Roosevelt's 27% in 1912, Robert LaFollette's 17% in 1924, and Ross Perot's 19% and 8% in 1992 and 1996, respectively).

He pursued Ohio's refusal to provide ballot access to the U.S. Supreme Court and won 5-4 in Anderson v. Celebrezze. His inability to make headway against the de facto two-party system as an independent in that election would later lead him to become an advocate for instant-runoff voting, helping to found FairVote in 1992.

Later career

By the end of the campaign, Anderson's support came mostly from college students. He capitalized on that by becoming a visiting professor at a series of universities: Stanford University, Duke University, University of Illinois College of Law, Brandeis University, Bryn Mawr College, Oregon State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Nova Southeastern University (his most recent post).

He was Chair of FairVote from 1996 to 2008 and continues to serve on its board, served as President of the World Federalist Association and on the advisory board of Public Campaign and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and is of counsel to the Washington, DC-based law firm of Greenberg & Lieberman, LLC. He was the first executive director of the Council for the National Interest, founded in 1989 by former Congressmen Paul Findley (R-IL) and Pete McCloskey (R-CA) to promote American interests in the Middle East.

In the 2000 U.S. presidential election, he was briefly considered as possible candidate for the Reform Party nomination but instead endorsed Ralph Nader. In January 2008, Anderson indicated strong support for the candidacy of fellow Illinoisan, Democratic contender Barack Obama.

In 2012, he played a role in the creation of the Justice Party, a progressive, social-democratic party organized to support the candidacy of former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson (no relation) for the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]