Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 5365741, member: 101855"]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 [ATTACH=full]1228200[/ATTACH] McKinley and Roosevelt [ATTACH=full]1228199[/ATTACH] Bryan and Stevenson [ATTACH=full]1228202[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

Create my FREE Account!

Log in or Sign up

Reply to Thread

Useful Searches