'Marketing the Presidency' with pins, caps and coins
The collection began with a just few buttons.
It has now grown to more than 20,000.
When Stephen Mihaly was 10, his parents enjoyed going to flea markets and antique shops, which Mihaly didn’t exactly enjoy. His father handed him a few political buttons and encouraged him to find more — which he definitely did.
In the past 50 years, he’s collected those as well as other political Americana pieces.
“I enjoy collecting and talking about it,” says Mihaly of Gibsonia, who will be giving a presentation “Marketing the Presidency” at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Alle-Kiski Valley Heritage Museum in Tarentum. “I enjoy the thrill of the hunt. It’s a fun hobby, one you feel like you are on a continuous hunt for looking for more and more items to add to it. It’s very different than collecting stamps or coins, because there are books which identify stamps and coins so you will know what you have and if you have them all. With political items there is no clue as to how many were made.”
Why does he do it?
The unknown of what’s out there is part of the intrigue for Mihaly, a retired vice president of the H.J. Heinz Co., who will share the story behind his collection and the odd items political candidates used to promote their campaigns at the museum talk.
He is continually looking for items and is often surprised by what he finds, since there really are no guidelines when it comes to how many or which items were used by the candidates.
The connection
Mihaly brings along some items for guests to see. It is not a political-heavy speech. He’s not going to get into a President Trump versus Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton review.
He says the evening will be more about how candidates may have marketed themselves and what unique ideas they came up with to get noticed and gain votes.
The museum is happy to host such an event, says Jim Thomas, president of the Alle-Kiski Valley Historical Society board.
“This should be an interesting and knowledgeable talk,” says Thomas. “Steve has so many items and knows so much about each item he’s collected. These are the types of events where you learn so much, but don’t realize it because it’s such an interesting evening when you have a speaker who has been collecting for 50 years. Just think of all the things he will be able to talk about.”
Presidential preference
Mihaly says President Theodore Roosevelt was the first “rock star” president because he traveled extensively and produced a huge array of items which included plates and cups and a calendar with his picture on it. He produced stove pot covers made of glass with his photo on them so when you looked down, his face was staring at you.
President Richard Nixon had a shower head where water would come out of his mouth while President Ronald Reagan distributed jelly beans at campaign rallies. President Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer who had an array of peanut dolls and key chains and knives for his campaign. Mihaly says each party made their own buttons or ribbons with sayings such as “Tarentum is for Teddy (Theodore Roosevelt)” and “New Kensington Supports Kennedy (John F. Kennedy).”
He says Trump’s most notable piece is the “Make America Great Again” ball cap.
“He still wears that hat at campaign rallies,” Mihaly says of Trump. “You know, that hat’s ‘Made in China.’ ”
JoAnne Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact JoAnne at 724-853-5062 or jharrop@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Jharrop_Trib.
