1960
1968
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr., April 7, 1938 (San Francisco, Calif.) -
VP candidate for Independent (aka Eagle Party) (1976)
VP candidate for Independent (1980)
Running mate with nominee (1976): Lucy Mayberry (1906-1998)
Running mate with nominee (1980): Fred Weiland III (b. 1919)
Popular vote (1976, 1980): ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1976, 1980): 0/538
The campaign (1976):
Lucy Mayberry had apparently run for President in the past. A news photo of her alongside a pet goat named Alicia was taken in the 1960 campaign season. In 1968 she made another run, and was quoted by the media: "My name is Lucy Mayberry I live at 1709 O Street Sacramento California and I am the presidential candidate of the Eagle party. While driving toward the desert from San Diego in the fall of 1959 a voice spoke in my inner ear it said run for president and then repeated run for president I was stunned shaken and scared out of my wits but I started an inadequate campaign in 1960 and I have spent much of my time since then in meditating the needs of this planet and I offer a political platform ..."
In 1976 she originally ran in the Democratic primaries but after Jimmy Carter was nominated she took the independent write-in route and continued the journey to the White House. In her previous two attempts she had run under the banner of the Eagle Party.
California Governor Jerry Brown, who had just lost the Democratic nomination for President, was selected as her running mate. Mayberry, who lived in Washington, DC by 1976 was found by a reporter while handing out campaign literature in a Virginia shopping mall and explained how Gov. Brown came to be on her ticket: "I wrote him and asked him if he would be my running mate, and he didn't say 'No' so he evidently has no objection."
One of her campaign literature pieces says in print for all to see: "I am going to run as an independent, write in candidate. Jerry Brown, Gov. of California, has agreed to serve as my Vice President. (If I'm elected)."
So I guess that settles that.
In her 1976 tabloid-sized campaign brochure, she went into more detail about why she was running:
In the fall of 1959, on a Friday night while driving on a mountain road near San Diego, California, I had the most shattering experience of my life. I was knocked totally immobile by a still small voice in my right inner ear. Six words: "Run for president - run for president." That was all.
The car slid across the road to a stop. Every cell in my body was vibrating. I couldn't move but I could see the fine tremors of my hands. I never lost consciousness, but all physical use of myself was gone. I have no idea how long it was before I could lift my head to look at the sky, but when I did it seemed to have a greater depth than I had ever seen before.
When I was finally able to move, I drove on over the mountain and began to imagine me running for president. Me! I started to laugh; and the more I considered the ridiculousness of that, the more I laughed. Miles out into the desert, I pulled twenty five feet off the road and spent the night in the car. I couldn't sleep for laughing; even if I dozed off, gales of laughter woke me up. It wasn't hysteria, but the funniest, purest howls of merriment that ever filled a desert night. I was not about to make such a fool of myself.
But a few months later, in May, 1960, I drew up a platform and ran for President - going to Virginia City, Nevada to make the announcement in that ghost town newspaper. I would run for President, just as the voice said, but at the same time, nobody I knew would ever find out about my candidacy.
That was sixteen years ago. For eight years I never mentioned the experience of the voice. I was afraid of being thought crazy, and even I wasn't sure that I was sane. When I see and hear all the foolish and empty political posturing of shallow men seeking the presidency, I think perhaps something up there did nominate me. I've never heard a voice before or since, and I am totally irreverant where religion is concerned.
I've had sixteen years of contemplation and I know what to do about our problems. The men seeking the presidency have been too busy clawing their way to develop wisdom.
Mayberry may be the same Lucy Mayberry who worked with her sister, Irene Cliett, in performing stunts to draw attention to various grievances with the Eisenhower administration and Texas government regarding a property dispute. This included locking her neice to the White House gates and her sister declaring her 700+ acre Texas ranch to be an independent country named Eneri (Irene in reverse). Mayberry served as the Vice President of this new nation around the same time she heard "The Voice" instruct her to run for US President.
Popular vote results for the Mayberry/Brown ticket were not reported.
The campaign (1980):
Independent Presidential candidate Fred Weiland III of Morgantown, West Va. had a simple three-point platform designed to eliminate representative government of have direct participation in place of it.
1. Passage of legislation would be performed by the voters via contacting a central computer system through telephone.
2. Same principle would be applied to the President's budget.
3. The Electoral College would be eliminated.
He also suggested that acting as an enormous jury, voters could use the computer system to vote on Supreme Court decisions.
In characterizing his political stance he said, "I don't like the labels 'right' or 'left' but if I had to put myself on the political spectrum, I'd say I'm to the right if that means maximum private ownership and maximum personal freedom."
Some of his positions sounded not so Right-wing however. On what he termed "greed limits," Weiland proposed a cap on net worth ($1 million) and unearned income (5%).
Although he admitted he never contacted Jerry Brown, the California Governor was his choice for a running-mate. In Jan. 1980 Weiland told a reporter, "There is the most intelligent of all the other candidates. If he would be willing to obey majority rule, people would be well-advised to write in his name for Vice President."
Weiland, 60, was a retired Army Colonel and something of a local perennial candidate. He appeared to campaign seriously as much as his budget would allow, which apparently was not much. He did garner more news articles than most in his league and some of the reporters actually treated his campaign with respect instead of writing fluff. He was ahead of his time in discussing the incorporation of computers as part of voter/government communication.
Election history:
1971-1975 - California Secretary of State (Democratic)
1975-1983 - Governor of California (Democratic)
1976 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1980 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1980 - Democratic nomination for US Vice-President - defeated
1982 - US Senate (Calif.) (Democratic) - defeated
1992 - Democratic nomination for US President - defeated
1999-2007 - Mayor of Oakland, Calif. (Nonpartisan)
2007-2011 - California Attorney General (Democratic)
2011-2019 - Governor of California (Democratic)
Other occupations: attorney
Notes:
Was in a relationship with Linda Ronstadt
