Former
United States presidential candidate John B. Anderson, who received 6
million votes as an independent candidate in 1980, served as chair
of FairVote from 1996 until 2008 after four years as chair of its Advisory Board.
John’s recent media appearances include the BBC, NPR and C-SPAN among
others. He is a frequent lecturer and expert commentator on issues of
electoral reform, United Nations reform, foreign affairs, American
politics, and independent candidacies. He also writes regularly on the
role of Congress in both domestic and international affairs. For years
he was president of the World Federalist Association.
Mr. Anderson teaches constitutional law at Nova Southeastern
University. He has taught political science as a visiting professor at
numerous universities, including Bryn Mawr College, Brandeis
University, Stanford University, Oregon State University, the
University of Illinois and the Washington School of Law.
Between 1961 and 1981, Mr. Anderson served ten terms in the U.S. House
of Representatives from the 16th District of Illinois. He served on the
House Rules Committee and for a decade was Chairman of the House
Republican Conference. He served as States Attorney in Winnebago
County, Illinois for four years.
During World War II, Mr. Anderson was a staff sergeant in the U.S.
Field Artillery. In foreign service between 1952 and 1955, he was
Economic Reporting Officer in the Eastern Affairs Division.
Mr. Anderson earned his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, received an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School in
1949, and has since been awarded honorary doctorates of law from
Wheaton College and Trinity College.
[John Anderson's FairVote Bio on YouTube]
[ Read more on John Anderson in the Harvard Law Bulletin ]
[Watch a video tribute to John Anderson]Forging a Living Democracy
Fairvote's Rob Ritchie and John Anderson comment on upcoming elections and some of the important issues to consider. Among them is the implementation of instant runoff voting.
A Time for Principle
On the brink of a new century, we cannot afford complacency. The complexity of our global society and the degeneration of our democracy demand boldness, innovation and frank talk.[ Previous ] [ Next ]