LOS ANGELES — John Hospers, a philosophy professor who in 1972 became the Libertarian Party’s first presidential candidate, died in Los Angeles. He was 93.
Hospers’ death Sunday was announced on the party’s website Monday. No cause of death was disclosed.
Chair Mark Hinkle said in a statement that Hospers “was very influential in the formative days of our party, and we will miss him.”
Running on a platform of limited government and individual rights, Hospers and vice presidential nominee Theodora Nathan were on the ballot in two states in 1972 and received 3,671 votes and a single electoral vote. The election sent Richard Nixon to the White House for a second term.
Hospers taught philosophy at the University of Southern California. A statement on his website recalls that “traversing the country in a political campaign was hardly his style, and he was relieved to return to academia to resume his academic career.”
According to the website, Hospers was born in Pella, Iowa, near Des Moines, and earned a doctorate at Columbia University. He also taught at Columbia, Brooklyn College, the University of North Carolina and the University of Minnesota.
The Libertarian Party was founded in Colorado in 1971.
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