The Florida Historic Capitol Museum celebrates this campaign season with a new temporary exhibit, Vote for Me! Historic Campaigning in Florida.
Take a trip down memory lane with this review of Florida’s political campaigns of the past. Whether you are running for office and need some historic inspiration, or simply want to revisit how campaigns have (and have not) changed through the years, the exhibit shares a close-up look at the journey to public office for every candidate and voter.
More than 160 historic artifacts, photos, and video clips remind visitors that every vote matters, especially a Vote for Me!
THE BUMPER STICKER
Campaign advertisements on vehicles are often used to publicize a candidate’s name. During the early part of the twentieth century, homemade advertisements were attached to wagons and cars by wire or rope. The adhesive bumper “strip” emerged in 1946 when Forrest P. Gill of Kansas City, Missouri, combined two WWII technologies—adhesive-backed paper and fluorescent paint—to create a sticker that outlasted homemade signs. The presidential election of 1952 between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson II was the first presidential election involving “bumper strips” promoting a candidate to establish name recognition. The sticky back and colorful designs have inspired many more uses for this essential campaign item.
—Images courtesy of Orange County Regional History Center; The Grove Museum, Tallahassee; and John Clark, Tallahassee
REBUS: A WORD OR SYLLABLE REPRESENTED BY A PICTURE OF AN OBJECT
Top:
Gwen Cherry button, 1972
Used for her re-election campaign to the Florida House of Representatives
—Courtesy of the family of Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry
Used for his campaign for Florida Governor
—Courtesy of John Clark, Tallahassee
FIRESTONE FOR SECRETARY OF STATE BLIMP, 1978
New members to the “Firestone 15 Club” received a kit that included this inflatable blimp, a bumper sticker, and a metal campaign tab that included George Firestone’s campaign slogan “It’s a good year for Firestone.”
—Courtesy of John Clark, Tallahassee
DOYLE CARLTON, JR. SLIDE, 1960
This glass slide was used in cinema as a pre-movie advertisement for Carlton’s gubernatorial campaign.
—Courtesy of John Clark, Tallahassee
The Florida Historic Capitol Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the following sponsors to make this exhibit possible.
