Pinback button promoting Franklin Roosevelt for president and John Garner for vice president, 1936.
House Speaker John Nance Garner had been one of Franklin Roosevelt's chief rivals for the Democratic nomination in 1932. On the eve of the convention, Garner cut a deal with the frontrunner, and agreed to take second-billing on the ticket. The subordinate role, however, did not agree with the irracible Texan, who famously quipped that the vice presidency was "not worth a bucket of warm piss." Increasingly at odds with Roosevelt during the second term they won in 1936, Garner announced his intention to run in 1940.
Though Roosevelt never formally announced his candidacy, he made it known that he would seek a third term. Voters were thus presented with the odd spectacle of a sitting vice president trying to unseat the president under whom he served. Soundly defeated, Garner served out his term and retired from public life.
This colorful pinback circulated for the Roosevelt-Garner reelection campaign in 1936, and is the most affordable jugate design.
