Campaign Memorabilia

Olive P. Hackett '76

     The history of women's participation in presidential campaigns would seem totally insignificant if our record were kept by a collection of campaign buttons, gadgetry and slogans. While we may be overlooked in the symbols themselves. Dr. Clinton I. Winslow, an avid collector of such memorabilia, has used this hobby as well as his knowledge of American politics to educate Goucher women.

     Dr. Winslow, chairman of the political science department from 1926-1958, began his remarkable collection in 1921 when a Tacoma, Washington high school student of his showed him a pancake sized, cast-iron, free-silver joke on the Bryan campaign.

     Although Dr. Winslow didn't start collecting the gadgetry from contemporary political battles until the 1936 Wilkie campaign, he does have a piece in the collection that represents William Henry Harrison, a small token, circa 1840.

     From the early 1800s until the present, political parties have used many different styles and materials to convince the voting public. Intricate metal tokens which were used as pocket pieces, watch fobs, or lapel decorations were used along with patriotic ribbons up until the late 19th century when the "cheap pins" appear. The pins in this category are not at all cheap today. Some like a 1920 jugate are very rare. A jugate is one button with both the presidential and vice-presidential photograph on it. Dr. Winslow explains that the reason for the particular value of such a button from the 1920 Roosevelt/Cox campaign is that the Democrats didn't have enough money to produce many.

     With women having victoriously concluded a 5O-year old fight for suffrage, the 1920 campaign was the first national election in which they added their vote. Despite such a major historical change there is no parallel change in the style or content of the political buttons in Dr, Winslow's collection.

     Women first appear, much later, among the slogans in a later FDR battle for reelection. "We don't want Eleanor either" began the rather odd practice of pitting one candidate's wife against another, a style carried to the ridiculous in the 1960 Pat Nixon-Jackie Kennedy talent show. Until the 1968 elections there didn't seem to be a direct appeal to women voters on the buttons themselves. However, Dr, Winslow has all sorts of paraphernalia intended to attract the feminine eye, such as Eisenhower earrings, brooch pins, donkey bracelets, rhinestone lapel buttons, and even a decorative campaign compact.

     In 1968 McGovern buttons are the first that include women's symbols, and of course there is a button from the earlier candidacy of Margaret Chase Smith and then in '72 of Shirley Chisolm.