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Roger MacBride

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Roger MacBride
Member of the
Vermont House of Representatives
In office
1963–1965
Personal details
Born
Roger Lea MacBride

(1929-08-06)August 6, 1929
New Rochelle, New York,US
DiedMarch 5, 1995(1995-03-05)(aged 65)
Miami Beach, Florida,US
Political partyRepublican(before 1972,
1980s–1995)
Libertarian(1972–1980s)
SpouseSusan Ford
Children1
Alma materPrinceton University
Harvard University
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • author
  • political activist

Roger Lea MacBride(August 6, 1929 – March 5, 1995) was an American lawyer, political figure, and writer. After working as a lawyer early in his career, he inherited the estate ofLaura Ingalls Wilder.He wrote several books in herLittle House on the Prairieseries and initiated the development ofits television adaptation.

In politics, MacBride served a single term as aRepublicanmember of theVermont House of Representativesin the 1960s. When serving as a Republicanpresidential electorin Virginia in1972,he defected from his pledged vote and became afaithless elector,casting a vote for theLibertarian Party's inaugural ticket ofJohn Hospersfor president andTonie Nathanfor vice president.Four years later,the party nominated him as their presidential candidate.[1][2]

Background[edit]

MacBride was born in 1929 inNew Rochelle, New York,the son of Elise Fairfax (Lea) and William Burt MacBride, an editor.[3][4][5]He called himself "the adopted grandson" of a family friend, writer and libertarianpolitical theoristRose Wilder Lane,[6]whom he met when he was 14 years of age.[7][8]Lane, daughter ofLaura Ingalls Wilder,noted author of theLittle Houseseriesof books, designated MacBride as her "political disciple,"executor,and soleheir.[3]

MacBride was a graduate ofPrinceton UniversityandHarvard Law School.[3]

Law career[edit]

MacBride worked forWhite & Case,a law firm onWall Street,for several years before opening a small practice inVermont.[3]By the mid-1970s, MacBride had relocated toVirginiaand was no longer practicing law full time.[2]

Writing and television producing career[edit]

MacBride was designated byRose Wilder Laneas her heir. He gained control of her literary estate on her death in 1968. In 1971 he publishedThe First Four Years.In 1974 he edited and published Laura Ingalls Wilder's letters to her husband Almanzo asWest From Home.He approved the creation of thetelevision seriesin the 1970s.[3]He was the credited author of a fictionalized series on the life of Rose Wilder Lane.[9]He was author of record for three additionalLittle Housebooks and launched theRocky Ridge Yearsseries ofchildren's novels,describing Lane'sOzarkchildhood.[3][6][10]He published two books onconstitutional law,The American Electoral CollegeandTreaties versus the Constitution,[11]and authored a Libertarian Partymanifesto:A New Dawn for America: The Libertarian Challenge.[3]

In the 1970s, MacBride co-created the television seriesLittle House on the Prairieand served as a co-producer for the show.[2][6]

Political career[edit]

Vermont politics[edit]

MacBride was elected to theVermont House of Representativesin 1962 and served one term.[12]While in the state legislature he proposed the abolition of the state college system.[13]

Running as aGoldwaterRepublican,[14]he made an unsuccessful bid for theRepublican Partynomination forGovernor of Vermontin 1964.[11][12][15]

1972 electoral vote[edit]

MacBride was the treasurer of theRepublican Party of Virginiain 1972 and one of the party's electors whenRichard Nixonwon the popular vote for his second term as president of the United States.[16]MacBride, however, as a "faithless elector,"voted for the nominees of the Libertarian Party: presidential candidateJohn Hospersand vice-presidential candidateTonie Nathan.In doing so, MacBride made Nathan the first woman in U.S. history to receive anElectoral Collegevote.[11][16]Political punditDavid Boazlater commented inLibertymagazine that MacBride was "faithless to Nixon andAgnew,anyway, but faithful to theconstitutionalprinciples Rose Wilder Lane had instilled in him. "[17]

1976 presidential campaign[edit]

MacBride touring thePrudhoe Bay Oil Fieldduring his presidential campaign in 1976

After casting hiselectoral votein 1972,[11]MacBride gained favor within the fledgling Libertarian Party, which had been founded the previous year.[18]As the Libertarian presidential nominee in 1976,[2]he achieved ballot access in 32 states,[3]campaigning on a platform of support for afree marketsystem, a return to thegold standard,the abolition of theFederal Reserve,an end tocorporate welfare,the abolition of theFCC,a foreign policy ofnon-interventionism,and the abolition ofvictimless crimes.[19]MacBride and hisrunning mateDavid Bergland[20]received 172,553 (0.2%) popular votes but no electoral votes. His best performance was inAlaska,where he received 6,785 votes, or nearly 5.5%.[11][21]

Republican Liberty Caucus[edit]

MacBride rejoined the Republican Party in the 1980s and helped establish theRepublican Liberty Caucus,a group promotinglibertarianprinciples within the Republican Party.[6][22] He chaired this group from 1992 until his death in 1995.[23]

Personal life and death[edit]

MacBride married Susan Ford. They then adopted a baby whom they named Abigail MacBride.[9]

MacBride died of heart failure at his home inMiami Beach, Florida,on March 5, 1995, at the age of 65.[3]He willed his estate, including the rights to theLittle Housefranchise, to his daughter.[24]In 1999, this was challenged by the public library system ofWright County, Missouri,containing the Laura Ingalls Wilder Library in Wilder's hometown ofMansfield;they contended that her will gave her daughter ownership of the literary estate for her lifetime only, and that all rights should have reverted to the library after Rose Wilder Lane's death in 1968.[25]The estate was estimated to be worth around $100 million at the time.[24]In 2001, a settlement was reached in which the Wright County library system was paid $875,000, but control of the estate remained with the MacBride family.[24]

In an obituary for MacBride, David Boaz wrote: "In some ways he was the last living link to the best of theOld Right,the rugged-individualist,anti-New Deal,anti-interventionistspirit of Rep.Howard Buffett,Albert Jay Nock,H. L. Mencken,Isabel Paterson,andLane."[17]

Partial bibliography[edit]

  • Series on the early life of Rose Wilder
    • Little House on Rocky Ridge(1993)
    • Little Farm in the Ozarks(1994)
    • In the Land of the Big Red Apple(1995)
    • On the Other Side of the Hill(1995)
    • Little Town in the Ozarks(1996)
    • New Dawn on Rocky Ridge(1997)
    • On the Banks of the Bayou(1998)
    • Bachelor Girl(1999)
  • A New Dawn for America: the Libertarian Challenge

References[edit]

  1. ^"Virginian switches his electoral vote".The Free Lance–Star.Associated Press.December 19, 1972.RetrievedJuly 25,2012.
  2. ^abcdSt. John, Jeffrey (September 30, 1975)."MacBride Plans Campaign".Merced Sun-Star.RetrievedJuly 25,2012.
  3. ^abcdefghiSaxon, Wolfgang (March 8, 1995)"Roger MacBride, 65, Libertarian And 'Little House' Heir, Is Dead",The New York Times.Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  4. ^Riggenbach, Jeff (April 14, 2010)."The Libertarian Legacy of Rose Wilder Lane".Mises Daily.Ludwig von Mises Institute.Transcribed from 'Roger MacBride and Rose Wilder Lane: A Libertarian Legacy'
  5. ^"Annie Elise Wing Lea 1873–1935".www.cataumetcemetery.org.RetrievedApril 16,2018.
  6. ^abcdThies, Clifford F. (October 1997)."Cast a Giant Ballot: Roger MacBride Made the Libertarian Party the Most Important Third Party in America".The Freeman.RetrievedJuly 27,2012.
  7. ^Holtz, William (1995).The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane.University of Missouri Press.pp. 323, 373.ISBN9780826210159.
  8. ^Doherty, Brian(2008).Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement.PublicAffairs.p. 131.ISBN978-1586485726.
  9. ^ab"Roger Lea MacBride".www.liwfrontiergirl.com.RetrievedOctober 22,2020.
  10. ^"Archive Today".
  11. ^abcdeBoaz, David(2008)."MacBride, Roger Lea (1929–1995)".InHamowy, Ronald(ed.).The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism.Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage;Cato Institute.pp. 310–11.doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n186.ISBN978-1412965804.LCCN2008009151.OCLC750831024.
  12. ^abLawyer Politicians in Virginia: Roger Lea MacBride (1929–1995),The Political Graveyard.Retrieved July 25, 2012.
  13. ^"Roger Lea MacBride '51".Princeton Alumni Weekly.July 7, 2017.RetrievedOctober 22,2020.
  14. ^Chamberlain, John(September 1, 1964)."A Goldwater Man in Vermont".The Times-News.RetrievedJuly 25,2012.
  15. ^(1964) Primary Election ResultsArchivedMay 18, 2013, at theWayback Machine,Office of the Vermont Secretary of State. State Archives. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
  16. ^abAdams, Mason; Sluss, Michael (June 13, 2011)."Remembering Virginia's" faithless "elector of 1972".The Roanoke Times.RetrievedJuly 26,2012.
  17. ^abBoaz, David "Roger Lea MacBride, 1929–1995",Liberty,March 1995, p. 13.
  18. ^Doherty, Brian (2008).Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement.PublicAffairs. pp. 393–95.
  19. ^"MacBride's New Book"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on March 30, 2017.
  20. ^"Libertarian candidate to visit".Daily News.March 18, 1976.RetrievedJuly 25,2012.
  21. ^"1976 Presidential General Election Results",Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
  22. ^The Republican Liberty Caucus Library,Republican Liberty Caucus: Background and Early History,Retrieved July 26, 2012.ArchivedJune 9, 2012, at theWayback Machine
  23. ^The Republican Liberty Caucus,History of our Movement,Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  24. ^abcMargolis, Rick (June 1, 2001)"Settlement on 'Little House' Books",School Library Journal.Retrieved July 26, 2012.ArchivedFebruary 29, 2012, at theWayback Machine
  25. ^Langton, James (November 29, 1999)"Library claims rights to `Little House' books",Chicago Sun-Times.Retrieved July 26, 2012.

External links[edit]

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