McCall March Madness!

 

McCall March Madness starts Monday, March 4th!  To celebrate Oregon's Tom McCall we will be giving away one Tom McCall item every Monday in March! It might be a bumper sticker, book, photo or other Tom McCall related item. All you have to do is subscribe to our email list and answer the Tom McCall Trivia question when it is sent out that Monday. A random winner will be selected from the folks that answered the question correctly.

This contest is thanks to the generosity of the Oregon American Political Item Collectors and friends. To subscribe to our email list simply fill out the form that reads "Subscribe to our mailing list" and be sure to look for an email on Monday with the trivia question.

WAGONER Who?

Ever come across a button that you have no clue about? For many years I had no idea who Wagoner was. I knew it was an Oregon pin, only because several respected Oregon collectors had it in their collections. I finally found one at the Salem Armory several years ago. I recently found another one this last weekend at a shop in Oregon City. I decided it was time to find answers to who was Wagoner. A few years ago, this wouldn't have been possible. As more and more historical databases and records become available online, more information becomes avaliable to researchers. This time, it was a quick search result of the 1938 Election and Wagoner brought me a quick result. 

The old Oregon index made by the Oregon APIC Chapter in the 1980s noted the name of Clarence R. Wagoner. The first hit was in the online database called Our Campaigns. This is where I found that Wagoner had run in the crowded 1938 Oregon Republican Primary for Governor.

Eventual winner Charles Sprague won the crowded race with 48% of the vote and Wagoner came in a distant third earning 9% of the vote. While this was important to establish the legitimacy of the button, it didn't help me figure out who Wagoner was or what he stood for.

The Hobby: What Type of Collection Do You Have?

Early APIC Collector Joe Fuld with his collection

Over the last few years, I have seen more and more collections of political items from a myriad of different people and backgrounds. Everyone is proud of their collection and they should be. It doesn't matter if you have a collection of a dozen items or thousands of items. It doesn't matter if your collection is mostly of free items or if you have to store your collection in a safe deposit box at the bank. Some collections fit into a dresser drawer, some take up a wall in the den and others fill up storage units! So long as it follows the first maxim of our hobby (collect what you like) your collection can be whatever size you desire. Still, throughout all these years now of collecting political items, I have discovered a few commonalities to the types of collections that exist.

George HW Bush Medford Button

In the heat of the 1992 campaign President George H.W. Bush made one of only three trips to Oregon during his term in the White House. He spoke at a lumber mill to workers from Southern Oregon and California. This was during the height of the 'spotted owl vs workers' debate and the 1992 presidential campaign in Oregon lay open the clear divisions between the urban and rural divide.

Here is some video coverage of the event. Watch NEWS CAST

This trip produced one button.

George HW Bush Letterhead from 1980

The next item this week we are going to present from the campaigns of George Herbert Walker Bush is a sample of letterhead from his 1980 Oregon Primary campaign. I was able to pick this sample up from eBay a couple years ago from a local seller in West Linn, Oregon. The lot came with a sample of the letterhead, envelope and campaign brochure.

Oregon items of George H.W. Bush

There are sure to be lots of tributes and objective analyses  over the next several weeks to the life and legacy of George Herbert Walker Bush. In this post, we will  start to take a look at some of the campaign items originating from Oregon that you can find out there.

George Bush ran three campaigns here in Oregon for President (1980, 1988, and 1992), he was also on the ballot for Vice President in 1980 and 1984. We'll focus on items from his presidential campaigns first then round out with some select Reagan-Bush items from 1980 and 1984.

Richard Neuberger Bumper Sticker

Picked up this bumper sticker from the successful 1954 campaign of Richard Neuberger. He was the first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Oregon since 1914. He won by a little over 2,000 votes out of half a million cast in the election.

He served along side Wayne Morse, and their famous feud is well documented. A noted journalist of America, the Pacific Northwest and politics. Nueberger was a natural storyteller. He wrote many articles for dozens of publications during his life. Some were even collected into books. I have not had great luck finding Neuberger for Senate items over the years. This was the first thing on Ebay I think I have ever purchased for Neuberger.

Most of the time you can find the Conservationists for Neuberger items. There is a seed pack that was designed for sportsman to disperse in the wild to make up for the grass they trample on while hunting. The other item that has been seen frequently in collections is the Conservationists for Neuberger tab. Blogger Andy Kerr has written a little bit about Neuberger's conservation work at his blog.