Marian Ruck Jackson, May 5, 1922 (El Dorado, Kan.) - January 22, 2005 (Wichita, Kan.)
VP candidate for American Party (aka American Party of Kansas) (1980)
Running mate with nominee: Frank W. Shelton (1907-1983)
Popular vote: 1,555 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
When the American Party nominated Percy L. Greaves for President there were a couple insurgent groups who could not accept his libertarian leanings (he had in fact been a member of the Libertarian Party) and his moderate views on abortion among other things. The Minnesota faction ran a slate of unpledged American Party Electors but in Kansas they ran an entirely different ticket.
At first the Kansas faction of this party had placed Ronald Reagan's name on the ballot, but Reagan declined the honor. Then they nominated Illinois US Rep. Philip Crane, perhaps the most conservative member of Congress in his era, but he withdrew as well. When the national party placed Greaves' name in the ballot, the local Kansas group challenged the placement and won the case. In Sept. 1980 they filled the void by nominating Frank W. Shelton for President and Marian Ruck Jackson for VP.
Shelton and Jackson had previously run as the American Party ticket for Kansas Governor and Lt. Governor in 1978 (and would do so again in 1982), so they were sort of a known political commodity. Even though they already had a built-in network they certainly did not have a lot of time to build and organize a campaign. Documents concerning their 1980 run are scarce.
Shelton was an active Reagan Republican until about 1977 when he joined the American Party. Jackson had also left the Republican Party citing her disapproval of "power politics."
When Shelton died the UPI summarized some of his platform issues in the obituary: "He had recommended sterilization of welfare recipients and felons, deportation of immigrants and restriction of government employees' voting rights."
On the ballot only in Kansas, they placed 5th out of 8 in that state with 0.16%. In 1978 the pair had finished with 2.32% in the Governor/Lt. Governor election, a strong result for a third party in a statewide race (they were spoilers in that one, giving the victory to the Democrats). In 1980 they were competing for votes against Reagan, who no doubt ate into their base as he was really not all that far away from the American Party on the political spectrum.
Because both candidates were residents of the same state their ticket would have been Constitutionally questioned and probably contested if they had somehow been elected.
If Shelton and Jackson had won and passed the resident hurdle, she would have assumed the Presidency on Nov. 28, 1983 upon his death. In a sad coincidence, Percy Greaves died on Aug. 13, 1984. Neither one of the American Party Presidential nominees would have lived long enough to finish their first term in the event of their victory.
Election history:
1978 - Lt. Governor of Kansas (American Party) - defeated
1982 - Lt. Governor of Kansas (American Party) - defeated
1984 - US Senate (American Party) - defeated
Other occupations: utilities commissioner Eureka Kansas, ranching, oil business
Buried: Sunset Lawns Cemetery (El Dorado, Kan.)
Notes:
Winner of the 1984 race was Nancy Landon Kassebaum.
Born Marian L. Fowler, buried as Marian L. Ruck.
Some sources state the running mate was Marian's husband George but I find no primary documents
to support that.
Marian was an Elector for her own ticket.
