In a time when people think of a Nixon button
as being an antique, you might expect that political
campaign buttons or pins are a modern device, conceived
by some media representative to boost name recognition.
As a result, it comes as a surprise to many that George
Washington wore the first political button in 1789 at
his first Inauguration in New York. He, and many present,
wore buttons, but these buttons were clothing
buttons made of brass and proudly reading "G.W.-Long Live the President", modeling
the phrase "Long live the King."
Clothing-type buttons continued to be used by citizens in a very young United States,
oftentimes with the name of a hero like Andrew Jackson conservatively
placed on the reverse side of the button. Since most campaigns for the
Presidency didn't involve active campaigns, as we know them today,
political memorabilia for the early Presidents consisted of the buttons
and silk ribbons. It wasn't until the first "modern-style" election
in 1840 that America saw a candidate actively admitting he even wanted the
office with William Harrison's log cabin campaign. Literally hundreds of
objects featuring the log cabin design were used to influence voters
throughout the growing new country. The log cabin campaign belied the
fact that Harrison wasn't born in a log cabin at all, but to considerable
wealth. That didn't matter since the idea "sold" him as someone
befitting to be elected President and he was.
It wasn't until the 1860
campaign of Abraham Lincoln, along with other major party nominees for
President, that the likeness of a President was available for use on campaign
buttons and devices. All because of the advent of the tintype or ferrotype photo process.
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Extremely Rare 1864 Political Campaign Pin for President Abraham Lincoln's
re-election campaign during the midst of the Civil War.
1" x 1 1/4" with
hole at top from which wearer used a ribbon to wear on lapel.
Has some lightness -
Valued at $650.
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For the first time a voter hundreds of miles away from Washington could actually see
what a candidate for President looked like. The 1860 ferrotype buttons for
Lincoln are easily distinguishable from his 1864 re-election buttons as his
famous beard was by then on all official photos of the Civil War President.
And calling these "buttons" is stretching it a
bit since most of these were made of a metal ring surrounding a round tintype
picture with a hole punched in the top, from which a ribbon was used to hang the picture on a
supporter's lapel.
What we now know as a campaign button didn't come about until
1896 with the patent by the now famous Whitehead and Hoag Company. The device was made of
4 pieces sandwiched together -- a piece of metal on which was placed a printed image with a
slogan or photo of 1896 candidate for President William McKinley or his Democratic opponent,
William Jennings Bryan. On top of that printed image was a thin piece of see-through
celluloid and all of this was placed together by a machine with a small metal pin attached
on the reverse. The 1896 discovery of campaign buttons was so popular that now, some 106
years later, buttons from the McKinley-Bryan race are still fairly common and can be bought
for as little as $10, although most buttons are much more than that.
1896 "McKinley and Hobart" sepia celluloid photo stud Valued at $45.
"McKinley and Tanner" which says "Illinois 1896" below photos on
flag background 7/8" celluloid button. Valued at $45. |
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Images Courtesy of Ron Wade, (c)2002
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