Editing Roger MacBride

{{Short description|American writer, TV producer, and politician (1929–1995)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = Roger MacBride
|image       = Roger MacBride.jpg
|office      = Member of the <br>[[Vermont House of Representatives]]
|term_start  = 1963
|term_end    = 1965
|birth_name  = Roger Lea MacBride
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1929|8|6}}
|birth_place = [[New Rochelle, New York]], US
|death_date  = {{death date and age|1995|3|5|1929|8|6}}
|death_place = [[Miami Beach, Florida]], US
|party       = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (before 1972, 1980s–1995)<br>[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] (1972–1980s)
|alma_mater  = [[Princeton University]]<br>[[Harvard University]]
|occupation  = {{hlist|Lawyer|author|political activist}}
|spouse      = Susan Ford
|children    = 1
}}
'''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 of [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]]. He wrote several books in her ''[[Little House on the Prairie]]'' series and initiated the development of [[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|its television adaptation]].

In politics, MacBride served a single term as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] member of the [[Vermont House of Representatives]] in the 1960s. When serving as a Republican [[United States electoral college|presidential elector]] in Virginia in [[1972 United States presidential election|1972]], he defected from his pledged vote and became a [[faithless elector]], casting a vote for the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]]'s inaugural ticket of [[John Hospers]] for president and [[Tonie Nathan]] for vice president. [[1976 United States presidential election|Four years later]], the party nominated him as their presidential candidate.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ut9NAAAAIBAJ&pg=6064,2632594&dq=roger-macbride+electoral+vote&hl=en | title=Virginian switches his electoral vote | publisher=[[Associated Press]] | work=[[The Free Lance–Star]] | date=December 19, 1972 | access-date=July 25, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Merced">{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aTlcAAAAIBAJ&pg=6934,3939826&dq=roger-macbride+little+house+on+the+prairie+producer&hl=en | title=MacBride Plans Campaign | work=[[Merced Sun-Star]] | date=September 30, 1975 | access-date=July 25, 2012 | author=St. John, Jeffrey}}</ref>

==Background==
MacBride was born in 1929 in [[New Rochelle, New York]], the son of Elise Fairfax (Lea) and William Burt MacBride, an editor.<ref name="Saxon">Saxon, Wolfgang (March 8, 1995) [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/08/obituaries/roger-macbride-65-libertarian-and-little-house-heir-is-dead.html "Roger MacBride, 65, Libertarian And 'Little House' Heir, Is Dead"], ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved June 15, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Riggenbach|first=Jeff|title=The Libertarian Legacy of Rose Wilder Lane|journal=Mises Daily|date=April 14, 2010|url=https://mises.org/daily/4235/The-Libertarian-Legacy-of-Rose-Wilder-Lane|publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]|quote=Transcribed from 'Roger MacBride and Rose Wilder Lane: A Libertarian Legacy'}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cataumetcemetery.org/?page_id=4202|title=Annie Elise Wing Lea 1873–1935 |website=www.cataumetcemetery.org|access-date=April 16, 2018}}</ref> He called himself "the adopted grandson" of a family friend, writer and libertarian [[political theorist]] [[Rose Wilder Lane]],<ref name="freeman">{{cite web | url=http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/cast-a-giant-ballot/ | title=Cast a Giant Ballot: Roger MacBride Made the Libertarian Party the Most Important Third Party in America | work=[[The Freeman]] | date=October 1997 | access-date=July 27, 2012 | author=Thies, Clifford F.}}</ref> whom he met when he was 14 years of age.<ref name="ghost">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inodj1jyRtkC&q=a+ghost+in+the+little+house |title=The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane | publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] | author=Holtz, William | year=1995 | pages=323, 373 | isbn= 9780826210159}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxHtqKoxI7YC&q=%22roger+macbride%22+brian+doherty |title=Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] | author=Doherty, Brian | author-link=Brian Doherty (journalist) | year=2008 | page=131 | isbn=978-1586485726}}</ref> Lane, daughter of [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]], noted author of the [[Little House on the Prairie|''Little House'' series]] of books, designated MacBride as her "political disciple," [[executor]], and sole [[heir]].<ref name="Saxon"/>

MacBride was a graduate of [[Princeton University]] and [[Harvard Law School]].<ref name="Saxon"/>

==Law career==
MacBride worked for [[White & Case]], a law firm on [[Wall Street]], for several years before opening a small practice in [[Vermont]].<ref name="Saxon"/> By the mid-1970s, MacBride had relocated to [[Virginia]] and was no longer practicing law full time.<ref name="Merced"/>

==Writing and television producing career==
MacBride was designated by [[Rose Wilder Lane]] as her heir. He gained control of her literary estate on her death in 1968. In 1971 he published ''[[The First Four Years (novel)|The First Four Years]]''. In 1974 he edited and published Laura Ingalls Wilder's letters to her husband Almanzo as ''West From Home''. He approved the creation of the [[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|television series]] in the 1970s.<ref name = Saxon/> He was the credited author of a fictionalized series on the life of Rose Wilder Lane.<ref name="Roger Lea MacBride"/> He was author of record for three additional ''Little House'' books and launched the ''Rocky Ridge Years'' series of [[Children's literature|children's novels]], describing Lane's [[The Ozarks|Ozark]] childhood.<ref name="Saxon"/><ref name="freeman"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Archive Today |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/08/obituaries/roger-macbride-65-libertarian-and-little-house-heir-is-dead.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190913225829/http://web.archive.org/web/20121105025030/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/08/obituaries/roger-macbride-65-libertarian-and-little-house-heir-is-dead.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-09-13 }}</ref> He published two books on [[constitutional law]], ''The American Electoral College'' and ''Treaties versus the Constitution'',<ref name="Hamowy">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Boaz |first= David |author-link= David Boaz|editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |title=MacBride, Roger Lea (1929–1995) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC  |year=2008 |publisher= [[SAGE Publishing|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |doi= 10.4135/9781412965811.n186 |isbn= 978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 |pages=310–11 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and authored a Libertarian Party [[manifesto]]: ''A New Dawn for America: The Libertarian Challenge''.<ref name="Saxon"/>

In the 1970s, MacBride co-created the television series ''Little House on the Prairie'' and served as a co-producer for the show.<ref name="Merced"/><ref name="freeman"/>

==Political career==

===Vermont politics===
MacBride was elected to the [[Vermont House of Representatives]] in 1962 and served one term.<ref name="graveyard">[http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/VA/lawyer.M.html Lawyer Politicians in Virginia: Roger Lea MacBride (1929–1995)],  [[The Political Graveyard]]. Retrieved July 25, 2012.</ref> While in the state legislature, he proposed the abolition of the state college system.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 7, 2017|title=Roger Lea MacBride '51|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/roger-lea-macbride-51|access-date=October 22, 2020|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|language=en}}</ref>

Running as a [[Barry Goldwater|Goldwater]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19640901&id=ucodAAAAIBAJ&pg=4888,15382| title=A Goldwater Man in Vermont | work=[[Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina)|The Times-News]]| date=September 1, 1964| access-date=July 25, 2012|author=Chamberlain, John|author-link=John Chamberlain (journalist)}}</ref> he made an unsuccessful bid for the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] nomination for [[Governor of Vermont]] in 1964.<ref name="Hamowy"/><ref name="graveyard"/><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130518023127/http://vermont-archives.org/govhistory/elect/primary/pdf/p1964.pdf  (1964) Primary Election Results]}}, Office of the Vermont Secretary of State. State Archives. Retrieved July 25, 2012.</ref>

===1972 electoral vote===
MacBride was the treasurer of the [[Republican Party of Virginia]] in 1972 and one of the party's electors when [[Richard Nixon]] won the popular vote for his second term as president of the United States.<ref name="faithless">{{cite web | url=http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/2011/06/13/remembering-virginias-faithless-elector-of-1972/ | title=Remembering Virginia's "faithless" elector of 1972 | work=[[The Roanoke Times]] | date=June 13, 2011 | access-date=July 26, 2012 |author1=Adams, Mason |author2=Sluss, Michael }}</ref> MacBride, however, as a "[[faithless elector]]," voted for the nominees of the Libertarian Party: presidential candidate [[John Hospers]] and vice-presidential candidate [[Tonie Nathan]]. In doing so, MacBride made Nathan the first woman in U.S. history to receive an [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]] vote.<ref name="Hamowy"/><ref name="faithless"/> Political pundit [[David Boaz]] later commented in ''[[Liberty (1987)|Liberty]]'' magazine that MacBride was "faithless to Nixon and [[Spiro Agnew|Agnew]], anyway, but faithful to the [[United States Constitution|constitutional]] principles Rose Wilder Lane had instilled in him."<ref name="Boaz">Boaz, David "Roger Lea MacBride, 1929–1995", ''[[Liberty (1987)|Liberty]]'', March 1995, p. 13.</ref>

===1976 presidential campaign===
[[File:Roger MacBride 1976 Campaign.jpg|thumb|170px|MacBride touring the [[Prudhoe Bay Oil Field]] during his presidential campaign in 1976]]
After casting his [[United States Electoral College|electoral vote]] in 1972,<ref name="Hamowy"/> MacBride gained favor within the fledgling Libertarian Party, which had been founded the previous year.<ref>Doherty, Brian (2008). ''[[Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement]]''. PublicAffairs. pp. 393–95.</ref>  As the Libertarian presidential nominee in 1976,<ref name="Merced"/> he achieved ballot access in 32 states,<ref name="Saxon"/> campaigning on a platform of support for a [[free market]] system, a return to the [[gold standard]], the abolition of the [[Federal Reserve]], an end to [[corporate welfare]], the abolition of the [[FCC]], a foreign policy of [[non-interventionism]], and the abolition of  [[victimless crime]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=MacBride's New Book|url=http://rothbard.altervista.org/articles/libertarian-forum/lf-9-7.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330090328/http://rothbard.altervista.org/articles/libertarian-forum/lf-9-7.pdf|archive-date=March 30, 2017}}</ref> MacBride and his [[running mate]] [[David Bergland]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wPgeAAAAIBAJ&pg=6084,2170100&dq=roger-macbride+little+house+on+the+prairie+co-creator&hl=en | title=Libertarian candidate to visit | work=[[The Daily News (Kentucky)|Daily News]] | date=March 18, 1976 | access-date=July 25, 2012}}</ref> received 172,553 (0.2%) popular votes but no electoral votes. His best performance was in [[United States presidential election in Alaska, 1976|Alaska]], where he received 6,785 votes, or nearly 5.5%.<ref name="Hamowy"/><ref>[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1976&minper=0&f=0&off=0&elect=0 "1976 Presidential General Election Results"], Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 25, 2012.</ref>

===Republican Liberty Caucus===
MacBride rejoined the Republican Party in the 1980s and helped establish the [[Republican Liberty Caucus]], a group promoting [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarian]] principles within the Republican Party.<ref name="freeman"/><ref>[http://www.rlc.org/Library/OrgDocs/rlcbrochure.pdf The Republican Liberty Caucus Library, ''Republican Liberty Caucus: Background and Early History'', Retrieved July 26, 2012.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609175016/http://www.rlc.org/Library/OrgDocs/rlcbrochure.pdf |date=June 9, 2012 }}</ref>
He chaired this group from 1992 until his death in 1995.<ref>[http://www.rlc.org/2011/02/20/history-of-our-movement/ The Republican Liberty Caucus, ''History of our Movement'', Retrieved July 26, 2012.]</ref>

==Personal life and death==
MacBride married Susan Ford. They then adopted a baby whom they named Abigail MacBride.<ref name="Roger Lea MacBride">{{Cite web|title=Roger Lea MacBride|url=http://www.liwfrontiergirl.com/roger.html|access-date=October 22, 2020|website=www.liwfrontiergirl.com}}</ref>

MacBride died of heart failure at his home in [[Miami Beach, Florida]], on March 5, 1995, at the age of 65.<ref name="Saxon"/> He willed his estate, including the rights to the ''Little House'' franchise, to his daughter.<ref name = Margolis>Margolis, Rick (June 1, 2001) [http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA83667.html "Settlement on 'Little House' Books"], ''[[School Library Journal]]''. Retrieved July 26, 2012. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229033616/http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA83667.html |date=February 29, 2012}}</ref> In 1999, this was challenged by the public library system of [[Wright County, Missouri]], containing the Laura Ingalls Wilder Library in Wilder's hometown of [[Mansfield, Missouri|Mansfield]]; 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.<ref>Langton, James (November 29, 1999)  [https://web.archive.org/web/20130516210631/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4525382.html "Library claims rights to `Little House' books"], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''. Retrieved July 26, 2012.</ref> The estate was estimated to be worth around $100 million at the time.<ref name = Margolis/> 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.<ref name = Margolis/>

In an obituary for MacBride, David Boaz wrote: "In some ways he was the last living link to the best of the [[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]], the rugged-[[Individualism|individualist]], anti-[[New Deal]], anti-[[Interventionism (politics)|interventionist]] spirit of Rep. [[Howard Buffett]], [[Albert Jay Nock]], [[H. L. Mencken]], [[Isabel Paterson]], and [[Rose Wilder Lane|Lane]]."<ref name="Boaz"/>

==Partial bibliography==
* 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==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{LCAuth|n85221016|Roger Lea MacBride|20|}} (previous page of browse report, under 'MacBride, Roger Lea, 1929–' without '1995')
* [https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/p17208coll5/id/65621/rec/1 Interview with Roger Lea MacBride] about ''Little House on Rocky Ridge'', ''All Abut Kids! TV Series'' #143 (1993)
* [https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/p17208coll5/id/65450/rec/2 Interview with Roger Lea MacBride] about ''The Little Farm in the Ozarks'', ''All About Kids! TV Series'' #186 (1994)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macbride, Roger}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
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[[Category:American children's writers]]
[[Category:American legal writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
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[[Category:Candidates in the 1976 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States]]
[[Category:Faithless electors]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Libertarian Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Monetary reformers]]
[[Category:New York (state) lawyers]]
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[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Television producers from New York (state)]]
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[[Category:Virginia Libertarians]]
[[Category:Virginia Republicans]]
[[Category:Writers from New Rochelle, New York]]
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[[Category:Writers from Virginia]]
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