Whistle-Stop Memorabilia
Memorabilia from presidential and congressional train tours includes advertisements, posters, buttons, whistles, guest and press badges, and other items. Unless otherwise noted, the images below were provided courtesy of John Vargo, a member of the American Political Items Collectors.
If you have campaign train-related items you’d like to share for this page, contact Edward Segal at campaigntrains@gmail.com.
This poster criticizing the 1916 Women’s Campaign Train for Hughes was produced by the Woodrow Wilson Independent League of Washington state. Source: “Women’s Billionaire Train” poster, 1916, The Woodrow Wilson Independent League of Washington, Women’s Bureau, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Papers of Thomas J. Walsh, Boxes 166-176, Democratic Campaigns
This telegram was sent from the campaign headquarters of Woodrow Wilson to apparently alert a newspaper about the arrival of Wilson’s train at a railroad station in DeKalb, Illinois on April 6, 1912. The telegram notes that the train would stop at the depot for fifteen minutes. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
Publicity and marketing were used to encourage people to see whistle-stopping politicians when their campaign trains stopped at local railroad depots. This poster promoted one of the trackside rallies of US Senator Howard Baker (R-Tennessee) during his whistle-stop tour of the Volunteer State in 1972. Baker visited 28 cities over four days as part of his re-election campaign. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
This whistle was handed out as a souvenir to people who came to greet Congressman Mickey Edwards’s 1984 campaign train tour at railroad stations in Oklahoma. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
This name badge was worn by a guest on the 1948 campaign train of Republican vice-presidential nominee Earl Warren. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
This tag was used for passengers on Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie’s train in 1940. There is space to show the passenger’s train and hotel information. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
This whistle was given as a souvenir to people who came to greet Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 campaign train tour. She went on the history-making trip in support of her husband, President Lyndon Baines Johnson. She was the first woman to campaign by train for her spouse. Source: Edward Segal’s collection.
Paper cups with an image of Lady Bird Johnson’s campaign train. Source: David Holcomb’s collection
The front of a never-used train conductor’s cardboard stock hat from Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 campaign train tour. Source: David Holcomb’s collection
This is an example of the postcard that was used by volunteers to send messages from Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 campaign train to promote the election of President Lyndon Johnson. Source: David Holcomb’s collection
The cover of the dinner menu from Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 campaign train. The cover features an illustration showing the route of her whistle-stop tour. Source: David Holcomb’s collection
The dinner menu from Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 campaign train. Note the puns and the political and train-themed references to many items on the menu. Then there are, by today’s standards, the very low prices, Source: David Holcomb’s collection
This is a luggage tag that was used by members of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1936 train tour of the country. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
This badge was handed out to people who went to railroad depots in the South to greet Lady Bird Johnson’s campaign train in 1964. Her train tour helped change the way people see the role of women in political campaigns. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
This button and ribbon were worn by staff members on the campaign train of Wendell Willkie, the 1940 Republican Party’s nominee for president. Source: Edward Segal’s collection
A badge worn by guests on Lyndon Baines Johnson’s 1960 train tour.
The press badge for journalists who traveled on Lyndon Johnson’s 1960 campaign train.
This is an example of the matches that were given to people who welcomed or traveled on Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 whistle-stop campaign train tour of the South on behalf of her husband, President Johnson.
This is a blank copy of the name badges that were worn by guests on Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 campaign train.
This badge was worn by people who traveled on President George H. W. Bush’s campaign train in 1992.
This is the press pass worn by journalists on Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign train tour.
This press badge was worn by a reporter who covered Franklin Roosevelt’s daylong rail tour of Michigan in 1936.
This is a press credential that was worn by reporters who covered the campaign train tour of Earl Warren, the 1948 Republican nominee for vice president.
This ribbon was worn by guests on Thomas Dewey’s campaign train visit to Massachusetts in 1948. Dewey was the Republican nominee for president that year.
Members of the press who traveled on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s campaign train tour in 1932 wore this ribbon.
This ribbon was likely worn by a member of Al Smith’s entourage on his 1928 campaign train. Smith was the Democratic Party nominee for president that year.
This badge was worn by security personnel on President Ronald Reagan’s campaign train tour of Ohio in 1984.
This is the press credential that was worn by journalists who covered President Gerald Ford’s 1976 campaign train tour of Michigan.
This was worn by guests who were on President Gerald Ford’s 1976 campaign train tour of Michigan.
The press credential that was worn by Richard Strout, a reporter with the Christian Science Monitor, who covered President Franklin Roosevelt’s campaign train tour in the days leading up to the election in 1944.
VIPs on the 1956 campaign train of Vice President Richard Nixon wore this badge.
The badge that was worn by the campaign train staff of Thomas Dewey, who was the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 1948.
Journalists who covered Adlai Stevenson’s campaign train tour during his race for the White House were given this button.
This button and ribbon were worn by guests in 1952 on the campaign train of Richard Nixon, who was the Republican Party nominee for vice president.
John Bricker was the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president in 1944.
Members of the press corps who covered the 1936 campaign train tour of Frank Knox, the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president, received this badge from campaign officials.