James William Barton, October 20, 1922 (Illinois) - February 22, 1999 (Missouri)
VP candidate for Independent Party of America (1980)
Running mate with nominee: William James Barton (1949-2002)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Chester, Illinois resident William James Barton of the Independent Party of America promised that as President "all my speeches will be live with no notes." He challenged incumbent President Jimmy Carter to "a radio interview."
Barton selected a running mate he could trust-- his father, James William Barton of Granite City, Ill. This is the first instance of a son and father on the same ticket that I know of.
As far as I can ascertain this Independent Party of America was not connected with the later LDS-inspired party of the same name.
Precious little is known about this campaign or where they stood on the issues of the day. The ticket had some news coverage in Sept. 1979 but then were quickly ignored by the press.
Apparently no journalist made the connection between the Bartons' national campaign and a huge controversy taking place back home at the same time. The elder Barton, the Supervisor of Assessments of Madison County, Ill., was known as "the most powerful Democrat in Madison County." He had been appointed to the position Dec. 1972 and by the late 1970s he was embattled, beleaguered, and was in charge of an office in the midst of an organizational meltdown. By 1986 he entered a guilty plea when charged with bribery, but only after several years of prolonged court action. He was sentenced to six months in jail but his attorneys managed to postpone his original start date in 1987 and I cannot determine if he ever actually did serve some hard time or not.
If they had been elected the younger Barton at age 31 was legally too young to be President so the US House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats in that time period, would have selected the President.
But there is another possible legal issue. Both father and son were residents of the same state which poses a second Constitutional roadblock. But even if the elder Barton had somehow made it past that hurdle, it seems his illegal activity as a county public official would have caught up to him, forcing him to resign much like Vice-President Agnew in 1973 for the same reasons.
Election history:
1968-197- - District 7 School Board (Madison County, Ill.)
196--1972 - Granite City (Ill.) Assessor.
Other occupations: soldier (WWII), Supervisor of Assessments for Madison County, Ill. (1972-1984)
Buried: Goodbread Cemetery (Gorham, Ill.)
Notes:
Chester, Illinois is the "Home of Popeye"!
Was a pilot.
