Emil Matalik, circa 1964

Emil Matalik is an American visionary whose work lands somewhere in between outsider art and utopian political experiment. For the past 40 years Emil Matalik has been a World/US Presidential Candidate. Because he sees the US electoral process as too flawed to participate in, his presidential campaign remains one of an educational nature.

Emil Matalik's public life began in 1962 when he donated 20 acres of his Wisconsin farm to the United Nations as an example that he hoped the rest of the people of the world would follow. He believed that eventually a peaceful, united world could exist in which everyone had their own land and their own voice in world affairs. Polite society, for the most part , didn't argue with Matalik's utopianism. The UN, however, declined his offer (several times) stating that they could not use land in Wisconsin, but would accept monetary donations.

United Nations Pin, 1964 (OBSOLETE)

Then Emil Matalik made a move that would lead him down a unique, intriguing and arduous path. He decided that if the UN wouldn't help him make a better world he'd just have to do it himself. In 1964, at the age of 34, he created the United Nations Party and announced his candidacy for President of the United States. His idea was to use the office of President to forge a dramatically strengthened UN that would carry out his strategy for uniting the world's people. Soon after he gave up on the UN entirely and founded the 1 United Nature's Organization (1 U.n.o.) political party (AKA #1 Party) under which he continues as World /US Presidential Candidate to this day. Through his literature for the 1 U.n.o. Party, he elaborated extensively on his ideas which are as intensely humanitarian as they are idiosyncratic.

1 U.n.o. Pin, circa 1975

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"I don't need to make any money", Emil Matalik said as I began my visit with him at the psychiatric ward of a New York City hospital. His political career has never been about money, though arguably it's about a certain kind of power. In person, Matalik is mild mannered and polite, sometimes difficult to communicate with, and stubbornly unflinching when it comes to what he believes is right.

"He seems to be a radical or liberal in most things. Is he really 'crazy?' I suppose that depends on whether or not you think it is 'crazy' to seek unity in a divisive world, to value nature and the land, and to promote peace. Perhaps he is more 'sane' than many of our leaders." James T. Havel, author, U.S. Presidential Candidates and the Elections: A Biographical and Historical Guide

At the age of 75, Emil Matalik persists in his #1 Party campaign for the 1 United Nature's Organization world government. When asked for his comments on the current political situation, Matalik responded that Bush should be impeached (a remedy he's suggested for every other US President since 1964) because he is a racist, a term that for Matalik is synonymous with nationalist. He asserts that "if we had correct elections a lot more people would vote and Bush would fail." He believes that "The airplanes that went down [on 9/11] were not a US accident, but were planned out of an ideological battle of rich vs. poor."

His 1 U.n.o. world government would have a flag made of the 191 flags of the member countries. In Matalik's view, the UN has "191 countries competing against each other when they should be working together." He points out that, "Nations have made their constitutions so complicated that they fight each other." Matalik wants to donate land to the same countries as he did years ago, adding, "The land is so beautiful that it makes people want to cooperate because of it."