Theodora Nathalia "Tonie" Nathan (born 9 February 1923) is the first woman to have received an electoral vote in a United States presidential election. She was the 1972 Libertarian candidate (on the ticket with John Hospers) for vice president when Roger MacBride, a Republican elector from Virginia, cast the historic vote.[1]
Born in New York City to Jewish parents,[2] Nathan operated her own insurance agency, a music publishing firm and a decorating service in the Los Angeles area of California before moving to Eugene, Oregon. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oregon in 1971. Tonie Nathan also produced (and sometimes hosted) a daily talk show on KVAL-TV (NBC affiliate) in Eugene, Oregon, for 14 months prior to her vice-presidential campaign. She also hosted several radio talk shows during that period.
Nathan was still a radio and television producer in Eugene, Oregon, when she attended the first presidential nominating convention of the Libertarian Party in 1972. She was nominated by the delegates in attendance to run for vice president with presidential candidate John Hospers, chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Southern California. The ticket received only 3,671 official votes; however, Republican elector Roger L. MacBride, of Virginia, chose to vote for Hospers and Nathan instead of Nixon and Agnew.[1]
Following her vice-presidential run, which netted the Libertarian party its first electoral vote ever, she made a series of unsuccessful runs as a Libertarian candidate during the 1970s through the 1990s, including for offices including the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
In the 1980 race for the Senate, Nathan participated in three statewide television debates with then-U.S. Senator Bob Packwood and then-state attorney general Ted Kulongoski.
She is married to Charles "Chuck" Nathan, an ASCAP composer who wrote top-ten hit songs in the 1950s, and together they have three sons. She is presently marketing her husband's musicals and writing an autobiography.
Nathan was also a co-founder of both the Association of Libertarian Feminists and the Libertarian Party.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by No one (Party not yet commissioned) |
Libertarian Party Vice Presidential
candidate 1972 (3rd) |
Succeeded by David Bergland |
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