PRESIDENTIAL MEMORABILIA

McKinley campaign button hearkens back to 1890s

Political buttons, though still commonly worn, have in recent years been outshined by the more creative innovations in political marketing.

Everybody has seen the yard signs and bumper stickers promoting the two presidential candidates and their running mates. But what about the John McCain ice scrapers, the Barack Obama neckties?

Even infants can get in on the action with “Babies for Change” or “Wee-publicans for McCain” onesies.

But large buttons designed to be pinned to a lapel, featuring the likenesses of candidates or slogans such as “I Like Ike,” were once the main fare when it came to campaign propaganda.

Green Valley resident Diane Stewart says she recently rediscovered a 110-year-old William McKinley campaign button, inherited from a distant relative, while unpacking some moving boxes.

The 5-inch, pin-back button, made from embossed brass or tin, shows McKinley before he was elected the 25th president of the United States in 1897, and was probably distributed in 1896, says Stewart.

The gold-colored button is shaped like a coin and features the slogan “An honest dollar,” a reference to McKinley’s support for the “Gold Standard” monetary system — and a criticism of his opponent’s (Democrat William Jennings Bryan) “Free Silver” campaign.

An inscription on the back of the button reveals that it was manufactured for the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, at that time a major newspaper in McKinley’s home state of Ohio.

“It’s fun to think about how elections today are so different from how they used to be,” Stewart said. “Even the small details — like campaign buttons.”

Stewart says she has a renewed interest in history after finding the button along with several other historical items passed down from her grandmother. They once belonged to her grandmother’s cousin, who fought in the Spanish-American War as a member of Teddy Roosevelt’s all-volunteer “Rough Riders.”

The most valuable of the items is probably a signed letter from future U.S. President Howard Taft, dated 1901. Another interesting find is an original roster that lists members of the Rough Riders.

Stewart says she doesn’t know how her relative, who lived in Washington state, got the Ohio-based McKinley button, but says she may do some investigating.

Though she’s seen the same button sell for more than $300 on Ebay.com, Stewart won’t part with the relic from the centuries-old political campaign.

“I may donate the button and some of these documents to a museum someday, but I won’t sell them,” she said. “It’s a lot more fun just to have them.”

jricharsdon@gvnews.com | 547-9726