By Teagan Weindel, Putnam County Historian’s Office Intern
As we get closer to Tuesday, Nov. 5, it’s likely you will observe an increase in political paraphernalia to promote different candidates running in the upcoming presidential election. I’m talking T-shirts, hats, lawn signs, flags, tote bags, sweatshirts, bumper stickers, mugs, can coolers, phone cases, pool floats, stickers, onesies, and even cigars.
Physically wearing your political opinion is not something new. In fact, it go
es back to the days of first President George Washington, whose supporters would wear pins with his initials. In the past, you did not need to buy out a whole retail store to show your political pride because a pin said it all.
In processing a political pin collection at the Putnam County Historian’s Office this summer, I have come to appreciate the simple yet powerful voice of expression and opinion a political pin used to give its wearer.
Political pins have played a prominent role in our country’s political atmosphere, through catchy slogans, images, and fun colors. Printing images on political pins is something that dates back to Abraham Lincoln’s days in office, when his supporters repped ferrotype images of him. In the past, you could wear a political pin to associate yourself with a party, candidate, and/or policy.
Political pins were popular because they were easy to produce, possible to make at home, and a discreet yet creative way for anyone to engage in the political climate.
To my generation, political pins are fun knickknacks that our grandparents have kept or a cool collectible we bought from a local flea market, but to the generations before us they were an emblem of politics, perspective, and passion.
Last year, the children of David Bruen, Putnam’s first county executive, donated his impressive political pin collection to the historian’s office. This grouping features pins of presidential candidates such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Additionally, his pins tell the stories of congressional, state, and local elections. Hamilton Fish (Philipstown), Bella Abzug, and Richard Ottinger are among the politicians in the collection who ran for Congress or Senate.
As for governor and lieutenant governor of New York, included are campaign pins of Nelson Rockefeller, Frank D. O’Connor, Hugh Carey, and Mary Anne Krupsak (the first woman to be lieutenant governor of New York), and even one for Ed Koch, mayor of New York City, from his failed 1982 gubernatorial bid against Mario Cuomo.
Finally, political pins from local elections include Ray Weizeneker (Putnam County sheriff), Anthony J. Peloso (county clerk) and, of course, Bruen.
The collection includes many different sizes and colors, along with a variety of materials including holographic buttons, welcome ribbons, and a JFK tie clip.
So, the next time you see a political pin, consider its history, the voice it gave to the average civilian, and how it blazed the path for the assortment of wearable, carriable, and collectable political items we have today.
Teagan Weindel of Carmel is wrapping up her third summer as an intern for the Putnam County Historian’s Office through the Putnam Invests in Leaders of Tomorrow program. She is currently a sophomore at the University of Denver studying public policy and international studies, with a minor in leadership studies.
Editor’s note: Thanks to Teagan and the historian’s office for sending in this piece! Longtime Publisher of the Putnam County Times/Press Don Hall used to wear an “I Like Ike” (Eisenhower) pin on his tie – along with an American flag pin – for as long as I knew him, which was from age 80 until his passing at age 92.
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