Howard was first elected to the House of Representatives as a Populist in 1894, defeating incumbent William H. Denson.[1] He was reelected in 1896 in a three-way race, although he won only 35.8% of the vote. He did not seek another term in 1898. He was the last Populist to hold Congressional office from Alabama. Howard returned to his hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama to practice law. In 1908, his name was put into nomination for the presidency at the first convention of the Independence Party in Chicago, but he finished third in the balloting to Thomas L. Hisgen.
He moved to California in 1918 to pursue literary efforts and worked briefly in the silent movie business. Meeting with Benito Mussolini in the late 1920s, Howard would become a committed fascist for the rest of his life. In 1934, he was one of the editors of The Awakener. Following his death in Los Angeles, his cremated remains were interred, along with those of his first wife, in a large rock, into which the Sallie Howard Chapel, a memorial to his first wife near Mentone, Alabama, was built.[2]
Sallie Howard Chapel (1937), near Mentone, Alabama Interment site of Milford W. Howard
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