We had so much success with our first round of “S” unknown buttons that we’re offering a second batch — and these look even tougher.
As our fellow political junkies know, for some time now we’ve been showing photos of unknown buttons, arranged alphabetically by candidate names, for you to help identify. We can’t make heads or tails of these candidates, most of whom we’ve never heard of. And when we see a “Smith for Congress” or a “Jones for Senator” button, how do we know which Smith or which Jones? So we’ve been posting pictures of these buttons, hoping you will have the answer. Often, you have come through, which is most appreciated.
Thus far, we’ve completed the first 17 letters of the alphabet. (Check out our previous “Who Dats”: Unknowns beginning with the Letter A, Letter B, two pages for Letter C (here and here), Letter D, Letter E, Letter F, Letter G, Letter H, Letter I, Letter J, Letter K, Letter L, Letter M, Letter N, Letter O, Letter P, Letter R and the first part of Letter S.) Let the record show we don’t have enough unknown Q candidates to list. We even have one of buttons with pictures only — no names. That’s even harder to decipher.
We now bring you to part two of the Letter S. Any idea on who these S candidates R? Thanks!
Paul Sliter: https://missoulian.com/house-gop-leader-dies-in-suv-crash/article_b01749c1-ccf7-5c11-b92c-e6a1b2b346ca.html
Schmidt, George K. — of Chicago, Cook County, Ill. Republican. Presidential Elector for Illinois, 1920; candidate in primary for mayor of Chicago, Ill., 1931.
Schipman, James R. — of Florence, Florence County, S.C. Mayor of Florence, S.C., 1953-54.
Sonnenschein, Henry — of Chicago, Cook County, Ill. Democrat. Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Illinois, 1936 (alternate), 1940, 1944, 1948. (Also comes up in Google list of Chicago aldermen)
Ted Soboslay—Trumbull County, Ohio, 1990s
Sliter, Paul (c.1969-2001) — of Montana. Born about 1969. Republican. Member of Montana state house of representatives, 1997-2001; died in office 2001. Killed in an automobile accident, when the Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle in which he was a passenger ran off the road and flipped over, near Helena, Lewis and Clark County, Mont., August 15, 2001 (age about 32 years). Shane Hedges, the driver of the car, was charged with drunk driving and negligent homicide.
Shimizu, Tom — Republican. Candidate for U.S. Representative from Utah 2nd District, 1986. Still living as of 1986.
“Shane” Sandridge – Colorado General Assembly (current)
Frank I. Smith- Richmond County, NY (Staten Island) – 1940s
Marsha Smith – not political. National Education Association
Gerald Seyfried – Northampton County, PA – 1980s
Jack Schlosser – Middletown, NY 1964-65
Murray Stahl – Maumee, Ohio – 1950s-1960s?
Otis M. Smith and Paul L. Adams — The Democratic ticket for the Michigan Supreme Court in 1962. Smith won, Adams lost.
Smith, incidentally, was the first African-American to win statewide office in Michigan, having been elected State Auditor in 1958 and 1960, and also the first African-American on the Michigan Supreme Court.
And not far from Michigan, we have Maumee, Ohio, which is a Toledo suburb. Murray Stahl was the unsuccessful GOP nominee for Mayor there in 1989.
Harry Semrow was a longtime Chicago Democratic pol who was elected to the Cook County Board of Appeals in 1970, ’74, ’78, ’82, and ’86. He died in office in 1987.
“Swanson State’s Attorney” – another Cook County item. John Swanson defeated State’s Attorney Robert Crowe in the 1928 Republican primary — known to organized-crime historians as the “Pineapple Primary” because bombs were used against several political figures, including Swanson. Swanson was elected in November, but went down with the GOP ticket in 1932.
“Shimizu crew” – Tom Shimizu was a Salt Lake County commissioner and the 1986 Republican nominee for Congress in Utah 2.
Photo here:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC&dat=19861102&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
“Scalise” — I believe this is Lawrence Scalise, who was the Democratic nominee for attorney general of Iowa in 1962, was elected A.G. on LBJ’s coattails in 1964, and was swept out again in the GOP wave of 1966. I have one of these, which I acquired as part of an assortment of Iowa buttons from the mid-60s.
“Draft Sweitzer for Mayor” — Probably Robert Sweitzer, the longtime Cook County clerk who was Democratic nominee for mayor of Chicago in 1915 and 1919, losing both times to William Hale Thompson.
“Paul Sliter for House District 76” — Paul Sliter was a Montana state rep., elected from House District 76 (Flathead County) in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. In 2001, he was house majority leader. He died in an auto accident in 2001. This indirectly ended the career of Gov. Judy Martz, because one of her aides was driving; the aide was drunk; and Gov. Martz washed the aide’s bloodstained clothing after the accident.
“Re-elect Eph Shapero Co. Legislator” — Republican Ephraim E. “Eph” Shapero was elected a member of the first Onondaga County Legislature in 1967. (Before that, he was a county supervisor.) He was re-elected in 1969, 1971, and 1973 and retired in 1975.
“Stambaugh for Senator” — possibly Lynn Stambaugh, who primaried Sen. Gerald Nye (R-ND) in 1944, then ran as an independent, perhaps contributing to Nye’s general-election defeat.
‘Skinner for Sheriff’ oval: Albert W. Skinner [1893-1975] Republican Monroe Co. NY [Rochester] Sheriff for 12 terms [1938-73] county jail known as ‘Skinner’s Hotel’
the itty-bitty picture pin [2nd from the left in the bottom row of frame two] is Albert K. Spencer, jr. [1865-1930] R-OH 1904,’06 [and possibly more] candidate for treasurer of Cuyahoga Co. [won both years] for which I can supply an image with picture, name and office if necessary.
actually, you already have the pin for Spencer in part 1 of the ‘S’ section [top row of frame 3].