Benjamin Calvin Bubar Jr. (June 17, 1917 – May 15, 1995), also known as Ben Bubar, was an ordained minister who was the youngest person ever to win election to the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via p ...

at age twenty-one and served as the

Prohibition Party The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movement. It is the oldest existing third party ...

's presidential candidate in 1976 and 1980 and was the last elected official to do so until

James Hedges James "Jim" Hedges (born May 10, 1938) is an American politician who served as the Tax Assessor for Thompson Township, Pennsylvania and as the Prohibition Party's 2016 presidential nominee. He is currently the only member of the Prohibition Pa ...

in 2016.

Life

Benjamin Calvin Bubar Jr. was born on June 17, 1917, in Blaine, Maine to Benjamin Bubar Sr. and Mary Louise Heal. His father was the first ordained

United Baptist United Baptist is name of several diverse Baptist groups of Christianity in the United States and Canada. History The name "United Baptist" appears to have arisen from two separate unions of Baptist groups: (1) the union of Regular Baptists and Se ...

minister in Maine and was active in politics. His father served as a member of the

, ran as an independent candidate in the 1936 gubernatorial election receiving 5,862 votes, and was a speaker at

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

rallies. On February 14, 1946, he married Virginia Ireland, with whom he had two children. He moved to

China, Maine China is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,408 at the 2020 census. China is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan New England City and Town Area. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, ...

in 1952, and began working for the Maine Christian Civic League where he would serve as superintendent from 1954 to 1984. Bubar ran for a seat in the state house in the 1938 election, despite not being able to vote as his twenty-first birthday was three days after the primary election, as a member of the Republican Party. He and his three friends were critical of the incumbent, who was sixty years old, and drew straws to decide who should run against him with Bubar winning. He won in the election becoming the youngest person to serve in the state legislature and served from 1939 to 1945. He was serving as the chair of the board of selectmen in his area by 1945. He created a weekly newspaper in

Mars Hill, Maine Mars Hill is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States, nestled at the foot of Mars Hill Mountain. The town borders Wicklow Parish, New Brunswick, Canada. The region is mainly agricultural. The population was 1,360 at the time of the 20 ...

, and later sold it. Bubar's father and grandfather had been members of the

and Bubar Sr. cast his first vote for a Prohibitionist candidate. Bubar joined the party in the 1950s. During the

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and 1980 presidential elections he was the National Statesman Party's presidential nominee with chairman

Earl Dodge Earl Farwell Dodge Jr. (December 24, 1932 – November 7, 2007) was an American politician who served as the Prohibition Party's chairman and presidential candidate from the 1984 to 2000 presidential elections and later ran with the nominatio ...

as his vice presidential running mate and is the most recent nominee to receive over 10,000 votes. He was on the ballot in fourteen states in the 1976 election and campaigned in all of them, but was only on the ballot in eight states in the 1980 election and did not actively campaign due to a lack of funds. He criticized Dodge's leadership of the party and blamed him for its decreased support in presidential elections due to his mismanagement of funds and possible theft which would eventually result in him being ousted as chairman in 2003. Bubar died on May 15, 1995, in Waterville, Maine from a heart attack after suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bubar, Ben 1917 births 1995 deaths People from Aroostook County, Maine Temperance activists from Maine Maine Prohibitionists 20th-century American legislators Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Prohibition Party (United States) presidential nominees Candidates in the 1976 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1980 United States presidential election