Fair Pushes Buttons of Political Junkies

Visitors to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace on Saturday were treated to an unusual sight in these parts: a white meerschaum pipe shaped into the likeness of President John F. Kennedy.

There was also a Ronald Reagan/George Bush pocket knife, Michael S. Dukakis T-shirt, Benjamin Harrison torch, John F. Kennedy board game and toy rocking chair, Franklin D. Roosevelt bicycle reflector and Richard Nixon ballpoint pens and sunglasses.

Not to mention thousands of campaign buttons, posters and (more recently) bumper stickers from the successful and unsuccessful campaigns of almost every presidential hopeful ranging from Grover Cleveland to H. Ross Perot.

The event was the library’s first Political Memorabilia Collectors Faire, a chance for lovers of historical political paraphernalia to get together to buy, trade, sell, share, or in some cases just plain brag.

“It gives you a chance to show everyone what you have,” said Chris Crain, 42, a resident of San Juan Capistrano who began collecting Nixon potpourri in 1968 and now has one of the largest collections around.

Said Bonnie Gardner, 61, who owns more than 2,000 bits of political memorabilia mostly related to the various campaigns of John, Robert and Edward Kennedy: “This is U.S. history in a different form. I tell people that I’ve learned more about history this way than I ever did in college.”

The inspiration for the fair--which organizers believe is the first of its kind ever sponsored by a presidential museum and which they hope to make an annual event--was sparked by public demand, according to Kevin Cartwright, the library’s assistant director.

“When we first opened our gift shop we didn’t have political memorabilia and there was an overwhelming demand from the public to sell it,” he said.

Neal Machander, the Santa Ana-based president of American Political Items Collectors, a national association of hobbyists which co-sponsored the fair, estimates there are about 100,000 collectors of political memorabilia nationwide and as many as 15,000--most of them still “in the closet”--in Southern California. The hobby is growing rapidly, he said, because of increasing “concerns for the past and preserving its intangible heritage.”

Said Cartwright: “This is the age of information politics. People are acutely aware of political issues and want to own a little piece of political history; it’s an affordable hobby for the whole family.”

That wasn’t evident from all of the price tags, however. One of the most valuable pieces on display wasn’t even for sale: a colorful pin from the 1904 campaign of Teddy Roosevelt depicting Uncle Sam (under Roosevelt’s steady gaze) removing fence posts marked “prejudice, lawlessness and injustice” said to be worth $15,000 to $30,000.

Among the high-price items, however, were the usual array of the more mundane buttons and posters priced from a few cents to $10 apiece.

Which is what prompted Chris Upton, a Los Angeles attorney who has been secretly collecting since college, to purchase a Jimmy Carter button for 25 cents. “It’s one that I don’t have,” explained Upton, 48.

Her opinion of the event, which continues Sunday from 11 to 5? “My God,” she said, “I didn’t know that there were so many other people who actually do this as a hobby.”