J.B. Stoner (PJW)

'''Jessie Benjamin "J.B." Stoner''' (April 13, 1924 - June 10, 1985) was a notorious Senator, Governor, and presidential candidate from Georgia.

An open white supremacist, Stoner was elected Senator from Georgia due to his tough stance on racial violence during the tumultuous times of the 1950s. Stoner switched allegiance from the Democrats to the Citizens' Party, and quickly became a leading figure. In 1965, Stoner left his Senate seat to become the new Secretary of Racial Affairs for Acting President James William Fulbright. It is still unknown why Stoner would leave the Senate to become part of an unstable, temporary cabinet; when Richard Nixon was elected president in November, Stoner would be sacked. Without a cabinet position or his Senate seat, Stoner retreated from national politics, instead focusing on establishing support for the Citizens' Party.

Stoner returned to national politics by winning the election for Governor of Georgia in 1970. During the repressive regime of President Frank Carlucci, the membership of the Citizens Party skyrocketed as dissidents from both sides joined the ranks. During the 1980 election, Stoner was the Citizens' Party candidate for president; in a gambit to unseat the Young Representatives, Stoner allied himself with the rump Democrat party and chose independent, moderate, war hero Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate, with a plan to have a coalition elect Stockdale to Acting President when the election would be thrown into Congress. The plan failed when a handful of Senators were arrested by the regime for charges of espionage, preventing a Senate vote and allowing Carlucci to remain in power. The Young Representatives would later be overthrown in the Spring Revolution by a military coup led by Alexander Haig.

When Haig announced the new presidential elections for November 1983, the Citizens' Party was the most well-organized party in the nation. The nomination was a violent event, as Louisiana Governor John Rarick, Kansas Governor Fred Phelps, and Stoner all competed for the election. They would all be defeated by former Pennsylvania Governor Jim Jones, who was subsequently elected president. Distrustful of Jones, Stoner returned home to Georgia where he continued to drum up support for the Citizens'.

When Haig led a second military coup against Jones, he decided to purge the Citizens' Party leadership. Stoner was arrested, and was eventually found responsible for the Bethel Baptist Church bombing in 1958. Stoner was sentenced to death and was hanged on June 10, 1985.