Hot button topic

Some people interested in history might visit Civil War battlefields, read books or trace genealogy.

Aurora resident Duane Ross collects buttons.

Political buttons, that is - buttons that proclaim "I Like Ike," "No Blood for Oil," "Together We Stand" and John McCain, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president.

His collection is a virtual smorgasbord of candidates and causes that have attracted, repelled and consumed Americans from the late 1800s to today.

"I just enjoy the history of everything," he said.

Ross knows his hobby might seem quaint but, in his defense, he didn't set out to be a political collector. He started almost accidentally in the 1960s.

"The late 1960s were so full of life and energy that I would see people selling anti-war pins or civil rights pins or ecology pins," he said.

Ross would buy the pins and put them in a coffee can. Then the 1968 election came and, with candidates such as Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace and Richard Nixon running for president, who could resist collecting more buttons?

Ross soon had to take his buttons out of the coffee can, sort them and assemble them on plastic sheets. But with another presidential election every four years and people turning out buttons whenever a major national event occurs, he couldn't quit.

"It's endless," he said. "It's a contagious hobby. You run into other collectors and you start trading. You start buying."

Ross, past president of the Chicago-area chapter of American Political Item Collectors, estimates he has several thousand items in his collection. The majority are political pins, but he also has letters, photographs and some three-dimensional objects.

Unlike some collectors, Ross said he doesn't specialize and his interests are eclectic.

"I don't just collect people I like or things I support, but I try to collect what's out there so I can tell the complete story," he said.

Maybe out of concern for political correctness, people don't wear pins for the candidates they support so much any more, but campaigns still produce political buttons and sell them as a fundraising tool. Many of the people who buy them are collectors like himself, Ross said.

"Ever two to four years, your hobby is regenerated without you doing a thing," he said.

Modern political buttons came into being with the invention of the celluloid pin. They were first used in the 1896 election when Republican William McKinley defeated famed Democratic orator William Jennings Bryan for president.

McKinley gained a second term in 1900 with young Theodore Roosevelt as his running mate. One of Ross' prized buttons is a jugate displaying McKinley and Roosevelt together.

"A lot of collectors like to have a jugate for each election," he said.

Slogan pins created by Republican Wendell Willkie for his 1940 run against Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed "No Third Term" and "No More Fireside Chats" in an unsuccessful effort to turn the popular incumbent out of office.

The first election Ross personally remembers is Thomas Dewey's 1948 campaign against President Harry Truman when the beleaguered Truman pulled victory from the jaws of defeat to the surprise of nearly everyone. Ross was a young boy in Owosso, Mich., when his father took him to see Dewey when the candidate came to town.

Ross said he doesn't have favorite buttons, although he has a lot of them he likes, such as those from the 1960 election when John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon for president.

Cause pins are an area of special interest for him. When the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred, he picked buttons showing the Big Apple, the Twin Towers and proclaiming "God Bless America/Together We Stand."

"When an event happens, people spontaneously often put out buttons," he said.

Ross hopes this year's presidential election, with the enthusiasm it has generated among younger voters, also will spark a new interest in political collecting.

"What I'm finding is most collectors are middle-aged and beyond," he said. "I'm hoping this campaign will bring some younger faces into our hobby."

Rare political buttons can bring prices in the tens of thousands, but many like those Ross collects are relatively easily obtainable at stores, flea markets and political collector shows.

"It's possible for people to get into this hobby at a low level," he said.

The local chapter of American Political Item Collectors meets four times a year at College of DuPage. The next meeting will be from noon to 3 p.m. Sept. 21 in the student cafeteria of the Student Resource Center on the Glen Ellyn campus.

Ross, a retired COD faculty member who still teaches some classes in the humanities, has introduced others to the political collecting hobby.

Dan Pennington, owner of Me & Dad's Toys and Collectibles in Geneva, said he shared Ross' love of sports memorabilia, then Ross got him hooked on political items as well. He sells political buttons in the shop.

"He's very knowledgeable. He was very helpful in helping me start collecting," Pennington said. "It's a very American thing."

Ross, a member of the Aurora Historical Society, said he and some of his fellow collectors will have a display at the Aurora museum during October, November and December.

And no doubt he will be watching the outcome of the 2008 presidential election with keen interest.

"I have a deep interest in politics. My wife and I watch political shows on television most every day," he said.

To contact American Political Items Collectors' Chicago-area chapter, call Bob Rouse (847) 823-8724.

Do you know someone with an unusual job or hobby? Let us know at sdibble@dailyherald.com, (630) 955-3532 or 4300 Commerce Court, Lisle, 60532.