William Kennedy Shearer of California was the chairman of the Constitution Party

Constitution Party (United States)

The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...

 from 1996 to 1999, and founded the American Independent Party

American Independent Party

The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...

 in 1967 with his wife Eileen to support George C. Wallace's

George Wallace

George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...

 presidential campaign

George Wallace presidential campaign, 1968

Former Governor of Alabama George Wallace ran in the 1968 United States presidential election as the candidate of the American Independent Party.Wallace's pro-segregation policies had been rejected by the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The impact of the Wallace campaign was substantial,...

. In 1970 Shearer was the California AIP's first candidate for Governor

California gubernatorial election, 1970

The California gubernatorial election, 1970 was held on November 3, 1970. The incumbent, Republican Ronald Reagan, won re-election over Democrat and Speaker of the Assembly Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh...

, receiving 65,847 votes for 1% of the total vote. His daughter, Nancy Spirkoff, was the party's state chair from 2004 to 2006. Shearer died on Saturday, March 3, 2007, at the age of 75, in San Diego.