Monday, October 31, 2016

Political Campaign Buttons

The Sandusky Library owns a collection of political campaign buttons, which are housed in the Archives Research Center and the Follett House Museum. Here is a sample of some of them.


William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully for U.S. President three times. Pictured above is a campaign button from his 1900 run against President William McKinley. 

Amos H. Jackson was elected as Representative to the 58th U.S. Congress, from March 4, 1903 to March 3, 1905. A.H. Jackson is also known for being the founder of the A.H. Jackson Manufacturing Company, which began in Fremont, Ohio, and had a division in Sandusky in the early 1900s.
     

Jay J. Perry served as Erie County Sheriff from 1898-1902 and from 1917-1920. The campaign button featuring an image of Jay J. Perry is most likely from his first campaign.


   Republican Warren G.  Harding, a former newspaper man from Marion, Ohio, defeated Democratic candidate James M. Cox for U.S. President in 1920.
 

This classic red, white, and blue pin promoted Dwight D. Eisenhower and his vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon. This team ran in both the 1950 and 1956 presidential campaigns. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson in both elections.   
  

3 comments:

PalmsRV said...

Nice collection!

Ed Daniel said...

I've always been impressed by the fact that the first 5 streets (execpt for Railroad, Water, and Market Streets) parallel to the Bay were named for our first 5 presidents. I know that there are many other streets in Sandusky that are named for later presidents (Fillmore, Hayes, Cleveland [??], Pierce, Harrison, Tyler, Jackson, Polk, McKinley, etc.) but I wonder how many there are that were so-named, and who was the last president for whom Sandusky has a named street/road. Ed Daniel

Sandusky Library Archives Research Center said...

It appears that streets in Sandusky's main grid were named for presidents up to Grant; that street is just north of the city line at Perkins Avenue. There is also a street named for Rutherford B. Hayes, Route 4, one of the main diagonal routes that leads out of the city. I am sure that Cleveland Road was named for the city, rather than the president. Along Cleveland Road are Roosevelt Drive and McKinley Drive, presumably named for presidents.