Fred Halstead

{{short description|American politician}}

{{distinguish|Fred Halsted}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Fred Halstead

| image = Fred Halstead.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|04|21}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|6|2|1927|4|21}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| known_for = Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate, 1968}}

Fred W. Halstead (April 21, 1927 – June 2, 1988)"Fred Halstead, Trotskyist Leader, Dies at 61" New York Times June 4, 1988 was the Socialist Workers Party's candidate for President of the United States in 1968. His running mate was Paul Boutelle.

Halstead played a significant role in the movement against the Vietnam War, outlined in his book Out Now! He also was a staff writer on The Militant, the publication of the Socialist Workers Party.

Halstead was a 6′6″, 350-pound ex–garment cutter who worked briefly as a bouncer in a country-and-western saloon in the 1950s, when he was on the blacklist.[http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2002/msg00864.htm Fred Halstead] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040125075144/http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2002/msg00864.htm |date=2004-01-25 }}, University of Utah Archives On July 10, 1968, Halstead appeared on the political talk show Firing Line.{{Citation |title=Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Socialist Workers' Party and American Politics | date=4 July 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpV5xr3tQoE |access-date=2023-07-31 |language=en}}