Re-added a pin to my political button collection today that I haven’t had in around 30 years.. and it’s one of the more challenging of the South Dakota Inaugural set. 82 years ago, Governor Harlan Bushfield was starting his first term of office, and issued this pin, showing him riding into office on an elephant after the two previous administrations under Tom Berry (whose pins pictured him with a Donkey).
From Wikipedia, just a little biographical information on our state’s 16th Governor:
A native of Iowa, Bushfield was raised in Miller, South Dakota. He attended Dakota Wesleyan University, graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, and became an attorney in Miller. A Republican, he served as State’s Attorney of Hand County (1906-1910), and as Miller’s city attorney. After unsuccessful campaigns for South Dakota Attorney General (1913, 1918), and the state Supreme Court (1930), Bushfield became chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party in 1935. He served until 1938, when he received the party’s nomination for governor. Bushfield won the governorship in 1938, and was reelected in 1940.
Read that here. Bushfield’s 1941 pin is a bit more boring and formal, but his first pin is a gem, and in outstanding condition, and a great addition to my collection. (Thanks, Gary)
That leaves me the impossible 1933 Inaugural pin, the almost as challenging 1937 pin, the two Nils Boe 1967 pins (large and small), possibly the 1975 Kneip pins (I think I might have them somewhere), and my 2011 Daugaard pin that I’ve misplaced somewhere.