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Roger Lea MacBride (August 6, 1929 – March 5, 1995) was an American lawyer, political figure, and writer. After working as a lawyer early in his career, he inherited the estate of Laura Ingalls Wilder. He wrote several books in her Little House on the Prairie series and initiated the development of its television adaptation.
In politics, MacBride served a single term as a Republican member of the Vermont House of Representatives in the 1960s. When serving as a Republican presidential elector in Virginia in 1972, he defected from his pledged vote and became a faithless elector, casting a vote for the Libertarian Party's inaugural ticket of John Hospers for president and Tonie Nathan for vice president. Four years later, the party nominated him as their presidential candidate.
MacBride was a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
In the 1970s, MacBride co-created the television series Little House on the Prairie and served as a co-producer for the show.
Running as a Barry Goldwater Republican, he made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican Party nomination for Governor of Vermont in 1964., Office of the Vermont Secretary of State. State Archives. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
MacBride died of heart failure at his home in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 5, 1995, at the age of 65. He willed his estate, including the rights to the Little House franchise, to his daughter.Margolis, Rick (June 1, 2001) "Settlement on 'Little House' Books", School Library Journal. Retrieved July 26, 2012. In 1999, this was challenged by the public library system of Wright County, Missouri, containing the Laura Ingalls Wilder Library in Wilder's hometown of Mansfield; they contended that her will gave her daughter ownership of the literary estate for her lifetime only, and that all rights should have reverted to the library after Rose Wilder Lane's death in 1968.Langton, James (November 29, 1999) "Library claims rights to `Little House' books", Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved July 26, 2012. The estate was estimated to be worth around $100 million at the time. In 2001, a settlement was reached in which the Wright County library system was paid $875,000, but control of the estate remained with the MacBride family.
In an obituary for MacBride, David Boaz wrote: "In some ways he was the last living link to the best of the Old Right, the rugged-Individualism, anti-New Deal, anti-interventionist spirit of Rep. Howard Buffett, Albert Jay Nock, H. L. Mencken, Isabel Paterson, and Lane."
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Categories: 1929 Births, 1995 Deaths, 20th-century American Businesspeople, 20th-century American Lawyers, 20th-century American Male Writers, 20th-century American Non-fiction Writers, American Children's Writers, American Legal Writers, American Male Non-fiction Writers, American Political Writers, Candidates In The 1976 United States Presidential Election, Deaths From Congestive Heart Failure In The United States, Faithless Electors, Harvard Law School Alumni, Libertarian Party Presidential Nominees, Republican Party Members Of The Vermont House Of Representatives, Monetary Reformers, New York Lawyers, Politicians From New Rochelle, New York, Princeton University Alumni, Television Producers From New York, Vermont Lawyers, Virginia Lawyers, Virginia Libertarians, Virginia Republicans, Writers From New Rochelle, New York, Writers From Vermont, Writers From Virginia, 20th-century Members Of The Vermont General Assembly, Politicians From Miami Beach, Florida
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