Top 10 Most Controversial American Presidential Candidates
Throughout the history of democracy, American elections are held for every four years for the people to elect a new president. While it is always good for the masses to have a say inside their government, these occasions just bring out the most contentious of people.
Aside from Goldwater, Wallace was the presidential candidate who was all for segregation of whites and people of color which obviously didn't go well with some Americans at the time. A committed segregationist, he tried to block the entrance of the University of Alabama to prevent black people from enrolling. He was quite successful in several southern states in 1968.

Barry Goldwater was NOT a racist and should be revered by everyone. He supported Racial equality but only opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for constitutional reasons. He himself said this was his greatest regret.
Most likely the victim of an early version of the Liberal Hit Squad. Not coincidental that once the election was over, he returned to being the senior Senator from Arizona for the rest of his life, and was venerated as an elder statesman by virtually all members of both parties.
Your stereotypical Republican; anti-big government and laissez-faire capitalist and all that stuff. An opponent of LBJ, he was against the Civil Rights Act which earned him the support of the Ku Klux Klan. Fortunately, LBJ won the elections and America didn't had a literal racist in office. Possibly exacerbating race tensions there.

It was only in 1930s America that a communist could contend in elections. Earl Browder did just that and he was no saint either. A pro-Soviet Stalinist and anti-capitalist, obviously this didn't sound too appealing for Americans at that time.

Of course a black man wouldn't possibly win in racist America in the 1900s which made him a rather controversial figure for his time.

Was involved in a controversy where he fathered a secret love child which nearly costed him his re-election bid. Certainly this didn't sound well in America back then. His opponent candidate's unpopularity was the only thing that made him win.


"Ex" klan member. Former grand wizard of the klan. "Former" member of the American nazi party. He was a candidate in the 1988 presidential primaries as a Democrat and in 1992 as a Republican.




A Reform Party candidate in 2000; his over the top campaign promises included barring non-whites into entering America and he was openly homophobic as well. We have Dubya won the election but at least he was marginally better than this bigot.





A brave adventurer and millionaire, John Fremont was the first Republican candidate. The only problem surrounding him was his cannibalism which costed his chances in winning.

A socialist candidate, he was the Bernie Sanders of the 1900s. This gave him a lot of appeal for workers back then. But his most controversial act was to dodge the draft which landed him in prison in WWI.

Granted that Long attempted to run for the presidency in 1936 before being assassinated but I'll just count my man in anyways. Known as a populist demagogue and for his intimidation policies to further his agenda, his policies helped the state of Louisiana a lot especially in the fields of infrastructure and education. There are more things to list about him but for his time, he was a de-facto "benevolent" dictator of an American state.
The Kingfish was a hoot

In the 1870s, a woman like Victoria obviously she stood no chance during an era of traditionalist sexism which made her a controversial figure at the time. Winning only a few thousands supporters along the way.
The first woman to run for president. She actually had a lot of good morals unlike some female politicians we see today.



First open communist sympathizer on a major party ticket. lately has been saying nice things about castro and also the communist Chinese.

