As America hurtles toward the November 2012 presidential election, we can expect to be inundated with commercial after commercial extolling the strengths of each party's candidate.
Untold millions of dollars will be spent beaming these messages into our homes via television. For those avoiding television in hopes of escaping this media blitz, beware of direct mail with the return address of "Citizens for ..." on it.
Alas, only the smallest slice of campaign funds are spent producing campaign buttons. Nearly gone are the days when a citizen would commit to a candidate by proudly displaying a button on his or her lapel and be ready to discuss the merits of their chosen presidential nominee.
I have collected political buttons for several decades and own over 200 of these time capsules of history, but I am afraid this is a hobby that is on the endangered species list.
Probably one of the most well-known buttons is the "I Like Ike" pin popularized in the 1950's for the Dwight Eisenhower campaigns- simple, direct, and it rhymed.
My all-time favorite button that I purchased for my collection features an image of a glass tumbler filled with a gold-colored liquid overlaid with the symbol "H2O." As a chemist, I adored the cleverness of that button in promoting the 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater. Voters that year decided instead to go "All the Way with LBJ" as Democrat Lyndon Johnson won handily.
The first button I ever obtained was a George McGovern button displaying a rainbow symbolizing the beauty and promise of a new administration.
On the day of that 1972 election, I proudly wore this button to class at my junior high school. My classmates, aware that opponent and incumbent Richard Nixon was a prohibitive favorite, were merciless in their criticism of my political statement that day.
Undeterred, I went home from school, traced a map showing the outlines of all fifty states, and settled in to watch the election results unfold on television. If McGovern was declared the winner of a state, I planned to color in that state outline with a blue-colored pencil; red pencil would be used for states Nixon won.
By the end of the night, my red pencil was worn to a nub; McGovern won only the state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia as Nixon achieved the widest margin of victory by popular vote in United States history at that time.
My wounded pride would be soothed several years later when the Watergate scandal eventually identified Nixon as guilty of running a politically corrupt campaign. Perhaps the electorate should have sensed Nixon's guilt as that '72 campaign unfolded. Why? One of the more widely issued buttons by Nixon's campaign really did say it all: "Nixon's the One."
Michael Hauser, of Ballwin, is a chemistry professor, who enjoys science, reading and orienteering. He likes to write about daily events and activities, and tries to inject some humor into his writing. He has been married for 18 years and has two teenage daughters.
