William Wesley Busick (May 26, 1904 – June 28, 1974) was an American labor organizer and Socialist Party functionary who served as state chairman of the

Socialist Party of California The Socialist Party of California (SPCA) was a socialist political party in the U.S. state of California. Founded in the early 1900s, it had been the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA since being re-chartered in 2011. As of July 2020, it was ...

from 1930 to 1932. He ran against Republican Clarence N. Wakefield for

State Assembly State Assembly is the name given to various legislatures, especially lower houses or full legislatures in states in federal systems of government. Channel Islands States Assembly is the name of the legislature of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The Baili ...

in 1930, polling 38% of the vote, the best showing of any Socialist candidate in the state. He was one of the leaders of a 1937

sit-down strike A sit-down strike (or simply sitdown) is a labour strike and a form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at factories or other centralized locations, take unauthorized or illegal possession of the workpl ...

at the

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and military, defense company based in Southern California. Founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr., it merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell D ...

plant in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Twenty years later Busick, now a restaurant owner and taxpayers' rights advocate, returned to politics when he ran a

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

campaign for

governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

in the 1966 election. Running as an

independent Democrat In U.S. politics, an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party (chooses to be an independent) or is denied the Democratic nomination in ...

, he presented himself as a

protest vote A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms ...

against incumbent governor

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he ...

, who he claimed did not have the confidence of his party. Fred Okrand, former legal director of the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

of Southern California, remembered Busick as "a dynamic speaker, very articulate, hocarried himself very well."

References

External links

Our Campaigns - Busick, William W.JoinCalifornia - William W. BusickAncestry - William Busick
* 1904 births 1974 deaths 20th-century California politicians Socialist Party of America politicians from California Trade unionists from California {{california-politician-stub