Auburn Lee Packwood, December 1, 1928 (Cape Fair, Mo.) - November 30, 1988 (Missouri?)
VP candidate for Independent (1976)
Running mate with nominee: Billy Joe Clegg (1928-1997)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In 1972 Billy Joe Clegg ran with the Spirit of Jesus as his running mate. In 1976 his VP was a mere mortal while Clegg said God, the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit of Jesus were part of the campaign staff for this self-described "Five-star general in God's Army."
His human Vice-Presidential choice was Auburn Lee Packwood a pastor at Haven at Rest Church in Springfield, Mo.
Packwood's selection as a running mate started with an admiring phone call to Clegg: "I told him about how I felt we have been blackmailed in our school, by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and through revenue sharing. They (HEW) get the children first of all hooked on Free Love, then on dope, then on Communism in many cases."
They began running as a Democratic ticket in the New Hampshire primary but eventually ran as independents.
Clegg said he was "more conservative than Reagan." Their platform opposed busing, promoted privatizing the US Postal Service, opposed abortion, opposed pornography, supported school prayer, promoted converting obsolete military equipment into agricultural machinery, and supported turning the UN building into a headquarters for the Boy Scouts.
Packwood identified some of the threats to the American way of life as being the Mafia, Communism, the NAACP, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
At one point they filed a $1 million lawsuit in a Boston Federal District court to gain Secret Service protection. Clegg did quip that God was actually his Secret Service agent.
In April, citing financial difficulties, Clegg said he was withdrawing from the race and supporting George Wallace's quest for the Democratic nomination. But by August he was back on the campaign trail again, his disappearance from the hustings was only momentary, no doubt he returned due to Wallace's failure to defeat Jimmy Carter.
But Packwood didn't seem to be too active in the campaign after April. In September he was in legal trouble back in Springfield for failure to pay taxes. Packwood's response was that he refused to pay taxes that give federal aid to fund abortions.
Running as write-ins, the national results for the Clegg/Packwood ticket were not reported.
In 1988 Clegg and Packwood campaigned side by side in Iowa and New Hampshire while riding around in Clegg's beat up 1973 Cadillac. Clegg was running in the Democratic primaries and Packwood in the Republican.
Election history:
1988 - Republican nomination for US President - defeated
Other occupations: soldier (USAF, Korea), lawn equipment retailer, Asst. Pastor Haven of Rest Baptist Church
Buried: Rose Hill West Cemetery (Billings, Mo.)
Notes:
Also called Evan Lee Packwood in one news report.
