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We interviewed Portland radio host Carl Wolfson this week about his $600,000 button collection—currently on display at Concordia University. these are his favorites out of the over 18,000 buttons he owns.
Best Reason for Not Smoking
A critique of the 1968 American Independent Party ticket of George Wallace and cigar-chomping Air Force Gen. Curtis "Bombs Away" LeMay.
Best "O" Not on a Ducks Helmet
A 1966 item from Oregon Gov. Mark O. Hatfield's bid to join the U.S. Senate.
Best "Big Fat Greek Name"
North Carolina Congressman Nick Galifianakis, uncle of comedian Zach, lost his 1972 Senate race against Jesse Helms.
Best Fro on a Communist Party Button
That of vice presidential candidate Angela Davis, whose Communist Party ticket with Gus Hall got 44,933 votes in 1980.
Best Performance by a Button in a Motion Picture
Robert Redford starred as Bill McKay in the 1972 film The Candidate.
Best Foliage Pun
Frank Moss was elected to the U.S. Senate from Utah in 1958, and served for 18 years. He was the last Democrat to represent Utah in the upper chamber.
Best Memorial to Taking One for the Country
On Feb. 15, 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was in Miami with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. A gunman fired at FDR while he was giving a speech, but hit Cermak, who died March 6.
Best Politician Successfully Sued by Adolf Hitler
Long before Alan Cranston became a U.S. senator from California, he was a reporter for the International News Service. When he discovered that an English-language version of Mein Kampf had been stripped of anti-Semitic content, Cranston published the full version. Hitler sued for copyright violation and won in a Connecticut court.
Best Button to Always Make Me Laugh
WWeek 2015