April 1995
Roger MacBride
Roger MacBride, the Libertarian Party's 1976 presidential candidate, died March 5, 1995, at his home in Miami Beach, FL. He was 65.
MacBride was the adopted grandson of Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of "Little House" author Laura Ingalls-Wilder. He was heir to the literary estate and authored three follow-up books in the Little House series. He also co-produced the popular 1970s television series, "Little House on the Prairie."
A Harvard-educated lawyer, MacBride won a seat in the Vermont State Legislature as a Republican in 1962. In 1972, as a presidential elector in Virginia, he made political history by casting his electoral vote for the Libertarian Party presidential ticket of John Hospers and Tonie Nathan. This vote made Nathan the first woman in U.S. history to receive an electoral vote. In the 1976 presidential campaign, MacBride received approximately 175,000 votes while appearing on 32 state ballots as the LP candidate.
In 1983, MacBride rejoined the Republican Party and became an active supporter of numerous Republican candidates. He also became the major benefactor of the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC), a group of libertarians working within the Republican Party.
In 1994, MacBride was elected chairman of the RLC and most recently helped to launch the Congressional Liberty Caucus, a small group of self-described "libertarian" Republicans in the U.S. House.
