The 1900 presidential election marked the second contest between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. Both men had new running mates. Garret Hobart, who had been McKinley's 1896 running mate had died. His replacement was Theodore Roosevelt. Some politicians supporting giving Roosevelt the nomination because they wanted to get him out of the New York State governor's chair. He was simply too much of a reformer. Bryan's second running mate was Adlai Stevenson. He was the grandfather of the Democratic candidate who ran in 1952 and '56. Bryan's first running mate, Arthur Sewall, was a Maine shipyard owner. That had not sat well with Bryan's more radical supporters. Stevenson had been vice president under Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1897. His support for the free coinage a silver had not sat well with Cleveland. Many campaign buttons were issued by both sides. Here are three of the most unusual pieces. They have ball bearing around the edge. This is the only time that buttons like this were issued. Two of them are stamped all the back with the words, "The Star Ball Retainer Co. Lancaster, PA." The designs are by the Whitehead and Hogg Company which was located in Newark, New Jersey. My guess is that the Star Ball Bearing company made this pieces as sort of a marketing experiment. Since the issued buttons for both sides, it does not seem that they were expressing a company endorsement for either candidate. These buttons have a coin collecting link. Bryan supported the free coinage of silver. His buttons usually had a silver background. McKinley supported the Gold Standard or "Sound Money." His buttons often had a gold backing. Here are the pieces. McKinley alone McKinley and Roosevelt Bryan and Stevenson
I would certainly concur with your thoughts. Someone at that company was way ahead of their time in the advertising field. LOL
Where do you get these? I'd love to get some McKinley memorabilia. I was born and raised in Canton, OH and grew up only a couple of miles from his tomb.
@johnmilton Neat buttons.. I found only 1 example at this website http://ronwade.freeservers.com/templatemckINLEYA.html
Try Google on these two sources: Tom French US Americana Anderson Auctions The founder recently passed on, but the auctions continue. The next sale will start shortly. They also have a “store” on their site. There were a couple of McKinley items there the last time I looked. The McKinley buttons were made during the “golden age of buttons.” The artwork was often quite nice, and large numbers were issued. There are rare, expensive varieties, but lots of common ones that sell for less than $25 to $100. These pieces come nice. Rusted, damaged, worn or bent ones should be avoided or very cheap.
