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. 

Send Carl to Philly: The Buttons & Experience of one Delegate

In the summer of 2016 I boarded a plane for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For political junkies, a national political convention of any party is an experience to be remembered. I will have the buttons and photos to help my ailing memory one day as I reach my mid thirties. In writing this, I wanted to share my campaign experiences and political items I picked up along the way with my fellow APIC members.


I started my campaign about a month before Oregon’s congressional district nominating conventions began. In order to participate in these conventions you must declare a candidate caucus and register for the convention. This was after the Oregon Presidential Primary. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and celebrity Donald Trump won their respective primaries in Oregon. Knowing that competition in the First Congressional District would be fierce for Bernie Sanders delegate slots, I decided to file for a Hillary Clinton delegate position.

Charles McNary Notification Celebration

In Spring/Summer 1994 edition of The Keynoter, William Alley gives us a great background on the selection of longtime Republican Senator Charles McNary as the running mate of 1940 Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie. McNary was the last Oregonian to be nominated by a major party ticket for President or Vice President. We have written here in the past about a number of major and minor party nominees for Vice President Oregon has produced over the years. We are now at the 80th anniversary of the notification ceremony of Charles McNary on his selection as the 1940 vice presidential nominee. Democratic nominee Henry Wallace was also to have a notification event in Des Moines, Iowa during the same few weeks. Hopefully there is some Iowa and Wallace fan that can write that article.

First, it is important to know what a notification ceremony is, as political parties no longer hold such events. The closest thing that might come to a notification event in modern times is the press conference where a nominee will announce their selection of the vice presidential nominee.What is a committee of notification?  According to An Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics written by noted Berkeley Professor of Political Science Perley Orman Ray in 1912.

With the naming of a candidate for vice president, it only remains for the convention to authorize the appointment of a committee consisting of one from each State, formally to notify the presidential candidate of his nomination and a similar committee to notify the vice-presidential candidate. The business of the convention then being at an end, it adjourns sine die. These committees on notification subsequently visits the nominee at his home, or meet him at some appointed place. The chairman, or some other previously selected member, makes a formal speech notifying the candidate the action of the convention. Thereupon the candidate delivers his "speech of acceptance"           (p.164-165)

Modern conventions have no notification committees that travel out to nominees homes to hear of their acceptance. Now this all takes place at the highly choreographed political conventions we are accustomed to experiencing today. The 1940s were still the infancy of television. Most families did not see televisions enter their homes until after WWII in the 1950s. The political campaigns of the 1940, '44, and '48 were the last to be done before the majority of Americans owned televisions. Conventions were still affairs for the newspaper and radio services.

Modern day conventions wrap the whole process in a bow for the media. Instead of nominees being selected and ending the convention to travel to them to hear if they accept, the nominees now accept nomination before the actual convention. Nearly all nominees for vice president are known well in advance of the convention. The final night of the convention culminates with the presidential nominee and vice presidential nominee awash in a sea of delegates, balloons and bands. This was not the case in 1940, when Charles McNary accepted his nomination.

Who Was Delegate Jim Harrison?

In my collecting adventures recently I came across this John F. Kennedy 1960 delegate badge owned and worn by Jim Harrison. It didn't take me long to find out more information on Harrison.

Lueddemann RNC Badge

Looking for help from the community on ID'ing G. Lueddemann. He apparently attended the the 1964 Republican National Convention that nominated Senator Barry Goldwater. Was he a delegate? Alternate? Staff? Press? Very curious to find out more information.

Was this person a Goldwater delegate or a delegate pledge to Nelson Rockefeller the winner of the 1964 Oregon Primary?  Goldwater tied for third place in the primary with Richard Nixon who was not an active candidate. Will have to wait for more information.

The Nixon-Hatfield Ticket

Possible 1968 GOP ticket buttons

Richard Nixon. Everyone knows the good, the bad and the ugly about him and his administration and how that is related to Watergate. Most Oregonians though are unaware that for a few days leading up to the 1968 Republican National Convention Nixon and top aides actually placed Oregon Senator Mark Hatifeld on a short list of eight people to be considered for the nomination of Vice President on the Republican ticket.

In the weeks and sometimes months before a political convention you can find some of the best 'fantasy ticket' items produced. A fantasy ticket or hypothetical ticket item is a political item bearing a ticket of a possible or favored party ticket prior to the selection of nominees from that party. Some fantasy tickets are highly plausible others are mostly just dream tickets. In 2004 a dream ticket of many was a Kerry-McCain ticket. McCain and Kerry were fellow Vietnam veterans and U.S. Senators that had been friends for many years. McCain teased the media for a few days saying he would seriously think about it if an offer was made from the Democratic Party. Of course, no offer ever did come from the party.

Reagan Campaigns in Oregon Birthday Edition

Former President Ronald Reagan turns 103 this year. 2014 marks the tenth year from his passing. He was the first U.S. President to pass away in the 21st century and it happened right during a presidential election. President Bush was overseas in Paris at the time and Democratic nominee John Kerry suspended his campaign until after the funeral. It was the first state funeral I had ever had the chance to see as it was happening. President Nixon was the last President to pass away during my lifetime and had refused a state funeral.

OR Reagan pin

My Reagan collection is very small, maybe not even 100 items. Reagan does manage to fit into several of my collecting interests. His gubernatorial items are always nice, as they fit into my celebrity political collection and then of course his Oregon items. Reagan was also the first President to visit a Star Trek set so that fits down into my Star Trek collection. Today we're going to focus on his Oregon campaign relics. APIC member Winston Blair I think has one of the most well documented modern Ronald Reagan collections.

It may be surprising to many that the same Oregon that voted twice for Barack Obama; for John Kerry; for Al Gore; twice for Bill Clinton and even gave 7 electoral votes for Micheal Dukakis also twice picked Ronald Reagan for President. It's been 28 years since Reagan won Oregon. He was the last national Republican to do so. George W. Bush has come the closest to carrying Oregon. He was 6700 some odd votes shy of beating Al Gore in 2000.

1982 Oregon RNC Ribbon

This great ribbon was recently offered up on ebay from a seller in Iowa. It is from the 1892 Republican National Convention held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and given out to Oregon delegates.