Darlington Hoopes (1896—1989) was a the candidate of the
Socialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a democratic socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization in 1899.In the...
for
President of the United StatesThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
in the
1952The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly. In the United States Senate, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had become a national figure after chairing congressional...
and
1956 presidential electionsThe United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully run for re-election. The 1956 election was a rematch of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Democrat Adlai Stevenson II, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.Incumbent President...
.
Early years
Darlington Hoopes was born was born September 11, 1896 in Vale, Maryland in
Harford CountyHarford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2004, its population was estimated to be 233,340. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...
, the son of a farmer. He was a descendant of Joshua Hoopes, a Quaker who had come to Pennsylvania in 1683 to take part in
William PennWilliam Penn was an English founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with...
's "Holy Experiment." Young Darlington attended the public schools of Maryland until the eighth grade, and then completed his education at a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania, the
George SchoolGeorge School is a private Quaker boarding and day high school located on a rural campus near Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded at its present site in 1893, and has grown from a single building to over 20 academic, athletic, and residential buildings...
, graduating in 1913. While attending the George School, Darlington became a Christian Socialist.
After the George School, Hoopes returned to Maryland to work on the farm of his parents. In 1914, he began his studies at the University of Wisconsin, majoring in agriculture. He also visited the
MadisonMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
office of the Socialist Party in October 1914 and joined the party. Hoopes only completed one year at the University before being called back to work on his parents' new farm in Pennsylvania. He changed his career goals and decided to study the law on his own, taking correspondence courses in public speaking and law from the socialist school People's College at
Fort Scott, KansasFort Scott is a city in Bourbon County, Kansas, United States, 88 miles south of Kansas City, on the Marmaton River. The population was 8,297 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be in the year . Fort Scott is the county seat of Bourbon County, and is the home of the Fort Scott National...
, as well as studying during the evening for a five year period at a law office in
Norristown, PennsylvaniaNorristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 6 miles northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
. He passed his final Pennsylvania Bar Exam in 1921. Hoopes practiced law in Norristown from 1921 to 1927.
From 1923 Hoopes served as the Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the Socialist Party of Pennyslvania. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania state grange.
Hoopes relocated to
Reading, PennsylvaniaReading is a city and the county seat of Berks County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the center of the Greater Reading Area...
in December, 1927 following the victory of the Socialist Party there in the November, 1927 elections. In that election
J. Henry StumpJ Henry Stump was an American Socialist politician and mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania 1927 - 1931, 1935 - 1939 and 1943 - 1947.-External links:...
won the first of his three terms as Mayor of Reading, and saw the majority of Reading City Council won by members of the Socialist Party. Hoopes was hired in 1928 as an assistant city solicitor by the Stump Administration.
Political career
Hoopes' first election campaign was for judge in
Berks CountyBerks County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2000 census, the population was 373,638. The population in 2006 was estimated at 401,149 by the US Census Bureau. Its county seat is Reading...
(county of the city of Reading) in 1929, but he was defeated. He did win his next election, as a Socialist candidate to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (he would be re-elected in 1934 and 1936). For his work on outlawing child labor in Pennsylvania, Hoopes was voted as the "most able legislator" by Pennsylvania journalists. Also elected with Hoopes to the legislature (in 1930, 1932, and 1934) was Lilith Martin Wilson, the first Socialist woman elected to any such body in the United States (in 1922, she had been the first woman candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania).
Hoopes had also been the Socialist vice presidential candidate in 1944, as the running mate of
Norman ThomasNorman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
, and had also been a chairman of the party. He served in the
Pennsylvania House of RepresentativesThe Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two year terms from single member districts. Elections are held in November of even numbered...
from 1930 to 1936, at one point being voted "most able legislator" by journalists.
In both the 1952 and 1956 elections, his running mate was Samuel H. Friedman. In 1952 they received 20,065 votes, in 1956 only 2,044. The 1956 election would be the last presidential election the Socialist Party contested until after it broke into three groups in 1972-1973. In 1973 Hoopes joined the reconstituted
Socialist Party USAThe Socialist Party USA is one of the heirs to the Socialist Party of America of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. It is a democratic socialist, multi-tendency party, advocating a broad-based, democratic social revolution from below...
, which resumed fielding presidential candidates and remains a small third party.
Hoopes died on September 25, 1989.
Additional Reading
- J. Paul Henderson, Darlington Hoopes: The Political Biography of an American Socialist. Glasgow, Scotland: Humming Earth, 2005. ISBN 1-84622-000-9
External links
- Darlington Hoopes on Social Justice (on The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts programs regarding historical events and persons, as well as various metaphysical, pseudoscientific, and paranormal phenomena—-often with observations and explanations by noted...
)