Who Dat? – G

The elections are over.  Winners have been congratulated, losers have been consoled.  It’s time to relax.

WRONG!!  There are all these campaign buttons that need identifying.

Every so often we come across campaign buttons for candidates we’ve never heard of.  How do we identify who they are?  And when we see a “Smith for Congress” or a “Jones for Senator” button, well, how do we know which Smith or which Jones?  That’s where you come in.

We’ve been offering photos of these unknown buttons (arranged alphabetically by candidate names) for you to help identify.  And you’ve done an amazing job.  (Previous “Who Dats”:  Unknowns beginning with the Letter A, Letter B, two pages for Letter C (here and here), Letter D, Letter E and Letter F.

And now we’re back with another selection of campaign items of candidates, this time focusing on the letter “G.”  As in, G Whiz, who the heck ARE these guys??

(Hey, Goldwater collectors: I betcha you never saw that button in the second row before!)

(BTW, that bottom Democratic donkey tab reads “Re-elect ‘Jim’ Graham.”)

Thanks for your help!

Who Dat - G 001

23 thoughts on “Who Dat? – G”

  1. “Go with Glenn” possibly refers to John Glenn, who was elected several times (having lost once in a primary) to the U.S. Senate from Ohio, serving for 24 years.

    Since 144 = 1 gross, “Vote 144” likely references 13-term Congressman H.R. Gross of Iowa, who delighted in introducing House of Representatives bills numbered “H.R. 144”.

    Reply
  2. Douglas, the Glenn button has a Pittsburgh address on the curl, so I’m thinking it’s a Pennsylvania item. Also, I don’t think this is an H.R. Gross button, or a Nelson Gross (N.J. GOP Senate candidate 1970) item either.

    Reply
  3. I suspect the “Go for Gary” button may refer to Raymond Gary, the successful Democratic candidate for governor in Oklahoma in 1954. I was small at the time and do not recall the button but I believe “Go for Gary” was his slogan

    Reply
  4. GROGAN for Congress – Hoboken Mayor Grogan was either a primary candidate or hopeful primary candidate in the 1950’s or 1960’s

    Reply
  5. Hi Ken:

    The “Guerin Lt. Governor” is for John Guerin who was on the 1976 Republican ticket in Rhode Island. He lost to Thomas J. DiLuglio (Democrat).

    Reply
  6. Oren Gray challenged incumbent Rep. Myron George in the Kansas 3 Republican primary in 1956. He lost. (See “Close Battle Waged for Fifth District Congressional Seat,” Lawrence Journal-World, 8/8/56, p. 5. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19560808&id=JgdGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X-oMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6986,2406175 ) He later served as a state representative, 1965-73. https://kslib.info/BusinessDirectoryii.aspx?ysnShowAll=0&lngNewPage=0&txtLetter=&txtZipCode=&txtCity=&txtState=&txtBusinessName=gray+oren&lngBusinessCategoryID=0&txtCustomField1=&txtCustomField2=&txtCustomField3=&txtCustomField4=&txtAreaCode=

    Reply
  7. “Elect Gorman mayor” — It’s impossible to be certain, but Cuyahoga County Commissioner Joseph F. Gorman, a Democrat, ran for mayor of Cleveland in 1935. He finished fourth in the nonpartisan primary, losing to Harold H. Burton, ex-mayor Ray Miller, and incumbent mayor Harry Davis. (See “Davis Beaten in Huge City Vote; Burton, Miller Win Nominations,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/2/35.)

    Reply
  8. “I am a Greenlee man” — Pleas Greenlee, executive secretary to Indiana Gov. Paul McNutt, was a candidate for the Dem gubernatorial nomination at the 1936 state convention. (See Wm. Franklin Radcliff, Sherman Minton: Indiana’s Supreme Cpurt Justice, pp. 36-37, 64-65.) I don’t know if he ever ran for anything else.

    Reply
  9. “Gibson for Governor” — This last one’s a pure guess. Ernest W. Gibson was elected Governor of Vermont in 1946 and 1948, serving until 1950 when Truman appointed him to the Federal bench.

    Reply
  10. “Gunderson for Governor” — Seems likely that it’s Carl Gunderson (R-SD), who was elected governor in 1924, defeated in 1926, and made an unsuccessful comebak try in the 1932 GOP primary.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Item added to cart.
0 items - $0.00