Just Oregon Buttons

A few months ago I scanned all the random Oregon themed pins I have picked up over the years while collecting political memorabilia. I'm often surprised at how much of a collection you can create just by random chance. I have not gone out of my way to pick any of these items up, they just came with political buttons I had purchased over the years. Sometimes you buy a bag or jar of buttons just to get that ONE pin.

Enjoy!

Vintage Wyden Lawn Sign

I normally try to avoid lawn signs. They are bulky, many don't display well, and they take up a lot of limited storage space. Still, on occasion, someone will mention to me 'hey Carl, I've got this old sign do you want it?' and I will usually say yes just to see the sign.

Most of us know lawn signs as either these hard rigid plastic things that just have the name of the candidate on them. Or they are disposable plastic bag signs that you can toss in the recycle after the campaign. Lawn signs use to be a big deal. They were made locally out wood, particle wood or other tough materials. Often, they were hand painted. When a friend asked me if I wanted an old Ron Wyden lawn sign, I wasn't sure what I was getting. I was glad I said YES!

Oregon JFK Items

Let's take a look at some Oregon 1960 JFK related items! These items mostly come from the collection of John Gearhart, John Silvertooth, and Carl Fisher. Many of these items were not featured in the Oregon Historical Society High Hopes exhibit.

First some JFK Oregon pins. There are at least three known pins. Two show up fairly frequently online and in collections of JFK and Oregon items. These two pins were featured in the High Hopes exhibit.

The third Blue-White-Black Kennedy shows up rarely. This is the only one I have ever seen.

Here is a great Kennedy newspaper sent during the 1960 Oregon Primary. I had been trying to purchase one for most of this year, and finally was able to get one.

JFK at 100: High Hopes

This weekend I had the chance to finally go down to the Oregon Historical Society and visit High Hopes: The Journey of John F. Kennedy. We are over half way through the JFK centennial year. While it is highly unlikely JFK would have lived to be 100 had his life never been taken so early, it is sometimes interesting to think what his life and ours would have been like had he lived.

Would he have beaten Barry Goldwater to serve a 2nd term? What would have he occupied himself with during his post-presidency? Would he have lived into the 1980s or early 1990s? Could you imagine JFK doing the talk show circuit that the 24 hour a day news service gave us? All that is fun to think about. Let's get back to the exhibit down at OHS.