The Municipal Ownership League was an American third party formed in 1904 by controversial newspaper magnate and Congressman William Randolph Hearst for the purpose of contesting elections in New York City.
In addition to its anti-Tammany stance, the League was chiefly concerned with municipal ownership of public utilities, which were then in the hands of massive business combines called "trusts."
Although Hearst had no wish to run on the League's ticket himself, feeling that a resounding loss would cripple his ambition to one day be elected President of the United States, he announced his candidacy for mayor after failing to recruit attorney Charles Evans Hughes or Judge Samuel Seabury for the job.
His running mates were former State Senator John Ford for New York City Comptroller,[1] and James Graham Phelps Stokes for President of the Board of Aldermen,[2] who was a millionaire socialist writer, political activist, and philanthropist.
This local organization was expanded from New York to Massachusetts and California in 1907 and to national status as the Independence Party, holding a convention and nominating a ticket for President and Vice-President of the United States in 1908.