Myra Tanner Weiss (May 17, 1917 - September 13, 1997) was an American Communist following Trotskyism, and a three time U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party.
Myra Tanner was recruited to the American Trotskyist movement in 1935, while at the university in Salt Lake City. In 1942, she married Murry Weiss, also a member of the SWP. They were living and working for the Party in Los Angeles, and Myra Tanner ran for the mayor of Los Angeles in 1945 and 1949.
The SWP in the 1950s was very factionalized and the Weisses were often viewed as being allies of Jim Cannon who moved to the West Coast at this time. As a result of this the leadership around Farrell Dobbs found themselves in conflict with the Weisses over the infamous Bustelo Incident.
Myra Tanner Weiss was the SWP’s vice-presidential candidate in 1952, 1956 and 1960, with Farrell Dobbs running for President of the United States. Later in life she and her husband Murry Weiss became political supporters of the Freedom Socialist Party.
| Preceded by Grace Carlson |
Socialist Workers Party Vice Presidential candidate 1952 (lost), 1956 (lost), 1960 (lost) |
Succeeded by Ed Shaw |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Weiss, Myra Tanner |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | May 17, 1917 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | September 13, 1997 |
| Place of death | |
Famous quotes containing the word tanner:
“Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have been changed into a pine at last? No! no! it is the poet.... All the pines shudder and heave a sigh when that man steps on the forest floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)