1968
1968
Austin Marion Burton, March 17, 1918 (Wenatchee, Wash.) - February 16, 2008 (Bennington, Vt.)
VP candidate for Independent (aka Independent Indian Party) (1976)
Running mate with nominee: Chief Burning Wood (1918-2008)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
It is pretty obvious from the get go that Austin Burton never let the facts get in the way of a good story, or hoax. And in true Washington State style it was all delivered with a straight face. So deciding what is confabulation vs. reality in his tales to the media is an interesting exercise. His claims of being a quarter or 1/8 Native American (the percentage would change with the telling as well what tribe) might have worked in 1976 but these days he would need to offer documentation or be charged with being a pretindian. He claimed he "was made a chief by three Oneida princesses on a TV show."
There were also dubious claims of being married to a topless dancer half his age and possessing a couple exotic animals, among other factoids fed to an uncritical press.
Burton said he invented the name Chief Burning Wood from a couple lines in the anti-LBJ play MacBird (1967)
"MacBird shall never, never be undone/
Till burning wood doth come to Washington."
In 1968 Burton, who was described as a "Republican who makes psychedelic posters in Greenwich Village" wanted to file in the New Hampshire primary as Chief Burning Wood but was not allowed so he was forced to have his real name on the ballot. But not for President. He was running for Veep. It was sort of a good news/bad news campaign looking at his tactics through the lens of Century 21. Good news because he was an advocate for the rights of indigenous Americans. Bad news because he was perpetuating a negative stereotype through his costume and comic antics.
Incredibly, he won the 1968 New Hampshire Republican primary for the Vice-Presidential nomination. "If Nixon wins he's morally obligated to take me as vice president. He said every candidate should be tested in the fires of the primaries, and I'm the one who has been," he said.
Around 1970 Burton moved to Panama, claiming he needed to escape oppression from the Nixon administration.
In 1972 he returned to New Hampshire to run for Vice-President as a Republican and declared, "When I won the New Hampshire primary in 1968 I thought it would impress the Republican party. Well it impressed them all right. They figured if an unknown kook could pick up 11,000 votes there must be something in it. So they went out and picked up an unknown kook of their own. Spiro Agnew." He paid his filing fee with a four-foot long snakeskin and wampum beads and was actually allowed on the ballot. It would seem that in both 1968 and 1972 the Chief Burning Wood character was running some kind of write-in campaign for the Republican nomination for President.
In 1976 he repeated his New Hampshire effort, but this time it seems like he wanted to extend his campaign beyond the Republican Party. In his FEC filing data for 1976 he filed nationally as Austin Burton and is listed as "Unknown" for party affiliation.
Having failed to attain any nomination from the Republican Party, newspapers called the Burton effort an independent campaign, and Burton himself mused at using the name Independent Indian Party. His Chief Burning Wood persona was the Presidential nominee and Burton would weirdly be a running-mate with himself
It seems active electioneering pretty much faded by the end of summer 1976.
Election history:
1968 - Republican nomination for US Vice-President - defeated
1972 - Republican nomination for US Vice-President - defeated
1976 - Republican nomination for US Vice-President - defeated
Other occupations: psychedelic poster shop owner, Junior Grade U.S. Naval Reserve (WWII), advertising, author, manager of Gourmet Dining Club in Louisville Ky., coupon book maker, retail salesman
Buried: Wenatchee City Cemetery (Wenatchee, Wash.)
Notes:
Attended Central Washington State College 1937-1939
University of Washington graduate with a degree in political science. Burton and I share the same
alma mater
Studied law at Gonzaga University
Allegedly had a pet spider monkey named Gerry Nixon Ford
Played the piano and organ
