He became active in the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1962, having moved from Glasgow first to Dunblane and then to Dollar, Clackmannanshire.
His wife, Olwen Drysdale, started the Dollar Branch of the SNP in 1962 and they were both very active politically.
Despite having no previous political experience,[1] he was elected as the SNP's Vice Chairman with responsibility for Organisation and Finance in 1964.
[4] Drysdale first stood for the SNP at the 1964 general election in Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire, taking 12.2% of the vote and narrowly failing to hold his deposit.
His elder daughter Karen married the SNP National Organiser, Ian Macdonald, in 1963, and his younger daughter Lorna married Robert Anderson, who was involved in the "Tartan Army" Scottish nationalist direct action movement of the mid-1970s.