Florence Garvin

Florence Garvin (February 27, 1876—July 10, 1968) was a women's rights activist, the daughter of former Rhode Island governor Lucius F. C. Garvin, the author of several books including "Land Rent," "Arden Charm" and "Americanism" and a candidate for United States Vice President in the 1932 and 1936 presidential elections.

She was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the head of the Rhode Island College Equal Suffrage League ["History of Women Suffrage" Ida Husted Harper(editor)] and Third Vice-President of the Women's National Single Tax League, a group supporting the ideas of Henry George. ["Club Women of New York 1910-1911"]

In 1932 she was the running mate of presidential candidate John Zahnd of the National Party, also known as the Independent Party; Zahnd has been called "one of the more intriguing fringe candidates in American history." ["Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s" by Darcy G Richardson, page 235.] She was the third woman to have run for vice-president in the United States. They won 1,645 votes versus the 22,821,277 of winners Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Nance Garner. It was the only time perennial candidate Zahnd was known to have received any votes. [Richardson, page 236] She ran again with Zahnd in 1936 at which point the party's name was changed to the Greenback Party.

Notes and references