Spitball Army

1984 was a landslide victory year for Ronald Reagan.  His Democratic opponent was former Vice-President Walter Mondale.  Reagan’s re-election was practically assured as, under his first term watch, the economy showed definite signs of revival.  It seemed that there was little for the Democrats to do than go through the motions, and pretend that their candidate stood a chance.

As it played out, Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota, and the District of Columbia.  He was helped and hurt, probably in equal measure, by his selection of New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro.  It mobilized many female voters, but repelled many voters with deep-seated sexist views.  That’s the price of progress, I suppose, and no one said that it’d be easy.  Check out this choice quote from the 12 July 1984 issue of the New York Times:

“She’s a woman, she’s ethnic [Italian-American], she’s Catholic,” said one adviser to Mr. Mondale. “We have broken the barrier. She will energize, not just women, but a lot of men who have fallen away from the Democrats.”

One could posit that the Democratic Party was laying ground for the Hillarys and Pelosis and Obamas of the 21st century.  It seems to be working, but not without struggle.

Here are a couple of special interest campaign buttons from the Democratic side.  I am assuming that the green Mondale/Ferraro button is representing the National Organization for Women (NOW).  I’m not certain which branch of the vast Harvard organization printed up the “Harvard for Mondale/Ferraro ’84 for America” button, but the campus did seem to lean Democratic that year.  That is not to say that the Reagan contingent was absent from the campus; there was a surprisingly strong Republican/conservative voice among the student body, much more noticable than in 1980.

And, in this corner, representing the worst-justification-for-voting (read: idealism quotient close or equal to zero) buttons: the “No Reagan” button and the “Anybody But Reagan” button.  The “No Reagan,” or “Ghostbusters,” button was probably purchased or collected from a hawker in Harvard Square.  On the back of it is a sticker that says:

CUSTOM-MADE
Larry Fox
Box M
Valley Stream
NY 11582
(516) 791-7929
BUTTONS  BUMPER STICKERS  DECALS  LABELS