Presidential Also Rans

Recently we have seen Jeopardy! contestants not know the names of two men who ran for the presidency of the United States and lost.

One was Barry Goldwater. The clue wasn’t about the presidential election — they just wanted to what state he was from. If you don’t know that, then you don’t know who was running for president in 1964. The other asked for the name of the GOP candidate who lost to FDR in 1940.

So how does one go about learning this information that goes all the way back to 1796?

The They Also Ran Gallery to the rescue!

They Also Ran is a museum located in Norton, Kansas that was the brainchild of William Walter Rouse, a former president and owner of the First State Bank of Norton and avid history buff. After receiving Irving Stone’s book “They Also Ran” (1964). So fascinated was he by the lives of the 19 men in the book, he began a collection of black and white copies of portraits and photographs from the Library of Congress and that was the beginning of this unique exhibit. The video above shows Mitt Romney getting his picture put up.

You can visit the gallery in person. It’s located at 105 W. Main Street in Norton and open from 9 am to 3 pm on weekdays. If you can’t get to Norton, check out the They Also Ran Online Gallery. The gallery boasts short bios of the main opposition in each election.

But don ‘t expect to find H. Ross Perot or Ralph Nader in there. The Library of Congress has a more complete chronological list of Also Rans.