Marion Gordon Robertson, March 22, 1930 (Lexington, Va.) -
VP candidate for Loyal USA Party (1992)
Running mate with nominee: Billy Joe Clegg (1928-1997)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
After running in the New Hampshire primary and failing to win the Republican or Democratic elections, perennial candidate Billy Joe Clegg once again lifted the Loyal USA Party flag and ran as a write-in. "People are dissatisfied with the caliber of candidates running for President because they are politicians and not statesmen," he said. "People are voting for something else, and I am something else. By not being polluted by politics, we are saying no to foreign aid, abortion, and defense spending."
Clegg promised to cut foreign aid and redirect the funds to education, "I would put a computer in every classroom in America. Instead if sending billions of dollars to Russia we can put that money into the classrooms to help educate children."
He had a plan for the war in drugs. "We should not eliminate our National Guard," he proposed, "and should strengthen our drug prevention program by using the military."
On taxation, he said, "The first thing I'd do would be to eliminate the IRS by executive order. We don't need it and it's unpatriotic."
Clegg promised he would appoint Vice-President Dan Quayle to be Ambassador to the United Nations. He had kind of a thing about Quayle, even to the point of being President of the Quit Quayle Bashing Club.
As for his campaign staff, Clegg explained "I am represented by God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is my campaign manager." When Clegg had run for President in 1972, the Spirit of Jesus was identified as his running-mate, but 20 years later the candidate expressed his desire to name another Heavenly entity to the role of VP-- the televangelist Rev. Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson. Needless to say, if Robertson had a reaction to this honor I was unable to find it.
As Fate would have it, I am writing this profile on March 22, 2020, Robertson's 90th birthday!
As if Robertson was not already well known to a large segment of Americans, he became a household name to the mainstream when he ran for President in the Republican primaries in 1988, pushing the Party further to the evangelical Right. I believe here in my home state of Washington he received a large chunk of delegates and the Establishment Republican Party here has never fully recovered since then.
Like many other extreme media talking heads and political demagogues, Robertson has learned the trick that the more outrageous, hateful, insane and controversial your statements are, the more attention you'll get-- and this has made him a very wealthy man. So he doesn't need any more coverage from me on this point.
But I do have a Pat Robertson story that should bring a smile--
At some point in the 1990s I discovered Robertson's father was the Senator Absalom Willis Robertson (1887-1971) (D-VA). The earliest known Willis ancestor we know in my family was named Absalom Willis. My guy was born during the Revolution and lived in Virginia. He vanished shortly after 1840, walking into the SW Virginia woods in a fit of anger and was never seen again.
We don't know exactly where my guy was born and raised, who his parents were, exact birth or death date, or even his true first name since he was also known as Abner Willis. But Absalom is such a weird and bizarre choice for a name that I just had to see if perhaps Rev. Robertson was a relative and had more information. We knew we were a distant cousin to Thomas Jefferson with a shared immigrant ancestor at Jamestown, so maybe Robertson was another famous Virginia relative?
So I wrote to him, making it clear I had no interest in his religious or political endeavors, just the genealogy. As you have by now no doubt surmised, I pretty much don't agree with Robertson on much of anything. Shortly after that I was rewarded with a barrage of 700 Club junk mail which I found quite disheartening.
Then to my surprise and delight I received a nice personal letter from Robertson. He didn't really have any data to share that was useful but I did appreciate his gracious response.
I thought the matter was closed but then a short time later I had a phone call (this was in the landline days). A Southern Belle asked for me by name and when I affirmed she requested that I stay on the line for a personal message from Pat Robertson. Boy, was I excited! I bet he asked around and found something perhaps scrawled in a family Bible!
But nooooo. It was recorded message in Pat's pleading voice saying something like, "My friends, the End Times are almost here. We need your financial support more than ever ..." I didn't hear the rest, instead just quietly hung up the phone laughing at myself for being suckered.
My Willis family has a very strong outlaw element and criminal history. So when all this conjectured blood connection to Robertson was still hanging in the air, the news covered some of kind of alleged Robertson con job where money supposedly raised to help Third World people was actually used to finance some for-profit private enterprise. When that was broadcast we looked at each other and said, "Wow! That settles it. He IS one of us!"
Ever since then we have called him "Cousin Pat."
Election history:
1988 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
Other occupations: Southern Baptist minister, CEO of Regent University, Chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, host of The 700 Club, author
Notes:
Went to Yale Law School but failed the New York bar exam.
In 1996 Billy Joe Clegg ran in the Republican primaries and dropped out of the race to support Pat
Buchanan.
