John B Anderson was an American politician who served in the US House of Representatives, representing Illinois’s 16th congressional district from 1961 to 1981.  He graduated as the valedictorian of his class at Rockford Central High School and from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1942.  A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the Chairman of the House Republican Conference from 1969 until 1979.  Initially one of the most conservative members of the Republican House caucus, Anderson’s views moderated during the 1960s, particularly regarding social issues. Originally, Anderson introduced a constitutional amendment to attempt to “recognize the law and authority of Jesus Christ” over the United States three times.  Anderson was also supportive of Barry Goldwater’s candidacy for president in 1964 because Goldwater was a “honest, sincere man.”  However, Anderson voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  He strongly criticized the Vietnam War as well as President Richard Nixon’s actions during the Watergate scandal.  Anderson entered the 1980 Republican presidential primaries, introducing his signature campaign proposal of raising the gas tax while cutting social security taxes.  He established himself as a contender for the nomination in the early primaries, but eventually dropped out of the Republican race, choosing to pursue an independent campaign for president, because the Republican platform failed to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment.  Without any campaigning, he was running at 22% nationally in a three-way race.  He qualified for every ballot, raised a great deal of money, and rose in the polls to as high as 26%. However, in the summer of 1980, he had an overseas campaign tour that was a huge error.  By the third week of August, he was in the 13–15% range in the polls.  In late August, he named Patrick Lucey, the former two-term Democratic Governor of Wisconsin and Ambassador to Mexico, as his running mate with a 317-page comprehensive platform, under the banner of the National Unity Party.  Carter said that he would not appear on stage with Anderson, and sat out the first presidential debate, which hurt President Carter.  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 was seen as a reasonable candidate who carried himself well in the debate.  In the following weeks, Anderson slowly faded out of the picture with his support dropping from 16% to 10% in the first half of October.  By the end of the month, Reagan debated Carter alone without Anderson.  Anderson’s support continued to fade down to 5%.  In the end, Anderson finished with 6.6% of the vote.  Most of Anderson’s support came from those Liberal Republicans who were suspicious of Reagan’s conservative record.  Anderson did not carry a single precinct in the country. He won support among Democrats who became disillusioned with Carter, as well as Rockefeller Republicans, independents, liberal intellectuals, and college students.  I voted for him.  Since that time, I have made sure that I always voted for the Democratic candidate rather than an independent. After the election, he resumed his legal career and helped found an organization that advocates for electoral reform, including an instant-runoff voting system.  Anderson served as a visiting professor at numerous universities and was on the boards of several organizations.  He endorsed Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000.  He often referred to his candidacy as “a campaign of ideas,” which I found attractive.  Have you ever heard about John Anderson?