VP candidate for Loyal USA Party (1972)
VP candidate for Independent (1988)
VP candidate for Independent (2008)
Running mate with nominee (1972): Billy Joe Clegg (1928-1997)
Running mate with nominee (1988): Basil Tellou (1922-2009)
Running mate with nominee (2008): Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian (b. 1975)
Popular vote (1972, 1988, 2008): 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1972, 1988, 2008): 0/538
The campaign (1972)
Billy Joe Clegg, a registered Democrat in Oklahoma, announced he was running for President on Nov. 12, 1970. Recently retired from the Air Force he had found religion and declared that his oath of office on Inauguration Day would consist only of the Lord's Prayer. He told the press that his anger over removing prayer from public schools was the spark that ignited his run for office. Other times he said God directed him to campaign for President.
Although he immediately formed his own political organization, the Loyal USA Party, Clegg initially ran in the Democratic primaries to the point of visiting New Hampshire. In the fall of 1971 he said US Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson (D-Wash.) would be a fine running mate. Later it was announced Clegg had drafted Rev. Billy Graham to be the VP on the Loyal USA Party ticket. But Jackson and Graham apparently had other plans.
Clegg called Jesus his campaign manager, but the Savior was elevated to the official running mate position at the start of Sept. 1972 when Clegg announced "The Spirit of Jesus Christ" was going to be his VP. It wasn't clear if he meant this literally or metaphorically. Around the same time Clegg also said, "I'm a five-star general in God's Army-- self-appointed."
Frequently strapped for cash, the candidate toured the country by bus or hitchhiking. Clegg's request to have Secret Service protection during the course of the campaign somehow fell on deaf ears if you can imagine that.
Many politicians and political movements both Left and Right have declared God to be on their side, but Clegg actually said God was on his campaign staff as well and, hey, what other candidate but Clegg had the Spirit of Jesus was his running mate in 1972?
Running a strictly write-in campaign, Clegg's popular vote total on Election Day is unknown. He later ran for President in 1976, 1988, 1992, 1996 and had announced he was running in 2000 just a few months before his death in 1997. Some sources claim he also ran for President in 1980 and 1984 but if that is so they must have been stealth campaigns. His pattern was the same each time. He would first attempt to win the Democratic or Republican primaries and then failing that would move on to a third party bid. 1972 was the only election where he declared the Spirit of Jesus to be his VP.
The campaign (1988):
Basil Tellou was retired, but during his career he was a character actor in Hollywood films, and simply just a character as a non-actor in general. In 1988 he was living in a Pasadena house trailer and listed his occupation as poet and mystic. "Purity and immortality are the themes of my campaign-- clean air, no drugs, no gangs, no rock 'n' roll."
Tellou had created his own religion called Tellosophy and assigned himself the title of "Bishop." Since he possessed "the knowledge of ultimate reality" of course this qualified him to be President.
But becoming President was only the beginning. He was hoping to be proclaimed America's philosopher-king. "Democracy and communism are both enemies of the individual," he said. "The only political safeguard for an individual is an aristocracy, an aristocracy not necessarily composed of persons of title or pedigree but rather of persons who are exceptionally gifted-- the intelligentsia, mystics, artists, poets, writers."
As President-King, Tellou would provide unlimited to scientific research as long as animals were not harmed. Cryogenics and cities in space were two projects he wanted to explore.
Some Tellou quotes from the campaign:
My system is to bring food, shelter and medical care to everybody to get them out from under the yoke of having to work. You've got to give them a chance to develop. You've got to give them time to read, instead of going to work, watching television and going to bed. That's a robotized life.
I want to awaken them to the fury of truth. I want to be an alarm clock-- Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Time to wake up, man, and see what's happening to the country! ... I don't bring the false peace that keeps you asleep. I bring you the fury that awakens your soul.
I will eliminate crime by not allowing anyone on a sub-human level to have children ... If sub-human people can't have children, no crime. That's where you get your crime, from the sub-human kids of the sub-human parents. [When asked to define the sub-human people] That will be determined by spiritual men with special powers to know. It's beyond average intellectuality, you wouldn't understand it.
We were never meant to die.
Get the preservatives out of bread!
Once I pass by, I never return.
I never explain what I mean. Let the people wonder, "What does he mean? What does he mean?" A good ending, right?
To a reporter: Be sure to mention that I've been celibate for 25 years.
He also wanted Raymond Burr to be his campaign manager. In a 1953 television production entitled The Triumphant Hour, Burr played St. Peter and Tellou had the role of Jesus. Take note of that as the story continues.
Tellou had asked Rose Bird to be his running-mate, "I wrote her a letter and she sent me a nice picture." In 1988 she was still pretty well known, especially to those of us on the West Coast. Bird had been removed as the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court by the voters in a Nov. 1986 election due to her liberal interpretations of the law and alleged administrative mismanagement.
When Bird failed to provide a definite answer, Tellou wrote to Jackie Onassis but, incredibly, he did not receive a reply. "For awhile I considered asking Jessica Hahn," he said late in the campaign. Hahn was a celebrity in 1988 and known for blowing the whistle on the sexual escapades of televangelist Jim Bakker.
"Then it came to me one night," Tellou told a reporter. "I jumped out of bed. Why not Jesus?" In clarifying his VP choice to the journalist he added, "That's Jesus in spirit. Be sure you add that or people will think I'm batty because Jesus ain't here, you understand?"
Running as a write-in candidate, the Tellou/Jesus ticket's popular votes have not been reported.
The campaign (2008):
Canadian-American comedian and satirist Deven Green, in her persona as Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian, released a video for the 2008 campaign declaring her run for President with Jesus as her running mate. Her take on the matter was a bit different than Mr. Clegg's.
In explaining why she assumed the role of Presidential candidate while Jesus was "the invisible running mate," Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian said, "As I explained, with laborious patience, I don't play second banana to anyone, especially a Jew with a criminal record."
Election history (physical body): none
Election history (spirit form):
2008 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2012 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2016 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2020 - US President (Independent) - defeated
2024 - US President (Independent) - pending
Other occupations (physical body): carpenter, activist
Buried (physical body): burial place a matter of conjecture
Notes:
In 2008 a book entitled Jesus for President was a best seller and the authors' tour resembled a
political campaign. The authors renewed the idea in 2012 as well.
