Frederick Steiwer Convention Badge 1936

The badge worn by U.S. Senator Frederick Steiwer at the 1936 Republican National Convention has been located and returned to an Oregon collection. The badge is in wonderful condition for being 85 years old. 

Stewier was twice elected to the Senate from Oregon. The first time was in 1926, when he defeated incumbent Republican Robert Stanfield in the GOP primary and then Democrat Bert Haney in the general election. He then won re-election in 1932, one of the few Republican incumbents to hold on to his seat. Democrats won 28 of the 34 seats up in the Senate that year and it was one of only five times in history that more than 10 seats changed hands in one election. 

Steiwer was twice a contender for the Republican presidential nomination. He ran mostly at the conventions of 1928 and 1936. Both times, he failed to secure the nomination. Idaho and progressive Republican Senator William Borah won the Oregon primary in 1936. This was at the time when the presidential primaries were mostly advisory and if they did allocate delegates, there were too few to make a difference at the conventions. Most delegations were determined by party caucuses and conventions, not directly by the voters of the party. 

Stewier gave a blistering speech against FDR and the New Deal. Here is the headline from The Palisade Tribune covering the speech. 

He spoke about how early on, to combat the Great Depression, even Republicans like himself put aside their differences and supported many of the 'temporary' New Deal programs. "The suffering caused by depression affected all in authority regardless of party. I threw aside partisan consideration and voted for some of the temporary measures to meet the emergency." The speech avoided more direct and controversial matters of the convention like platform and candidates. Instead, Steiwer kept his remarks on Roosevelt and admonishing the New Deal. 

Unfortunately for Steiwer, his speech, the convention, and their candidate were not enough to win the White House or Congress. Roosevelt won re-election to a second term carrying 46 of 48 states and winning 61% of the vote. The Landon-Knox ticket did improve on the Hoover-Curtis ticket of 1932 in terms of counties carried during the election. Landon carried 461 counties while Hoover had only carried 374. 

Do you have any items from the 1936 RNC or from the campaigns of Steiwer? Send us some pics and we will include them. 

This badge was in the Gary Burhop Collection of convention-related badges. He likely picked this up in the 1980s or 1990s when he was still collecting. It recently came up on the market and was purchased by an Oregon collector.