Myra Tanner Weiss

Who was Myra Tanner Weiss?

Myra Tanner Weiss was an American Communist following Trotskyism, and a three time U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party.

Myra Tanner was recruited to the American Trotskyist movement in 1935, while at the university in Salt Lake City. In 1942, she married Murry Weiss, also a member of the SWP. They were living and working for the Party in Los Angeles, and Myra Tanner ran for the mayor of Los Angeles in 1945 and 1949.

The SWP in the 1950s was very factionalized and the Weisses were often viewed as being allies of Jim Cannon who moved to the West Coast at this time. As a result of this the leadership around Farrell Dobbs found themselves in conflict with the Weisses over the infamous Bustelo Incident.

Myra Tanner Weiss was the SWP's vice-presidential candidate in 1952, 1956 and 1960, with Farrell Dobbs running for President of the United States. Later in life she and her husband Murry Weiss became political supporters of the Freedom Socialist Party.