Anti-Roosevelt 1940 Presidential Campaign button
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm) | Diameter: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm)
Creator(s)
- Bastian Bros. Co. (Manufacturer)
Archival History
The political button was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Forrest Robinson Jr.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Forrest James Robinson, Jr.
Scope and Content
Anti-Roosevelt campaign button for the 1940 Presidential Election. Several variations of this button were manufactured with different text size and font styles. Campaign buttons were used to build awareness, and encourage positive word of mouth for the candidates. In the 1940 Presidential election incumbent president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was running against Republican challenger, Wendell Willkie. FDR was running for an unprecedented third term, which was a major factor the Republicans pressed during the campaign. Willkie also challenged FDR’s New Deal policies and his approach to the ongoing World War. After Willkie was defeated by FDR, he became an ally of the President. Willkie called for greater national support for the Lend-Lease Act, embarked on a new campaign to awaken America from its isolationist slumber and urged unlimited aid to Britain in its struggle against Nazi Germany.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Circular, blue-and-white-colored, metal pin back button. The front has a convex surface with a circular white center, overlaid red text, and a blue outer ring with white text and a white star. Small, white logos wrap around the rounded outer edge. The back is silver colored, concave and has a vertical, thin, metal pin with a pointed bottom end.
People
- Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
- Willkie, Wendell L. (Wendell Lewis), 1892-1944.
Subjects
- United States.
- Pin-back buttons.
- Elections.
- Political campaigns.
- Campaign buttons.
- Presidents--Election.
Genre
- Object
- Buttons (Information artifacts)
- Identifying Artifacts