6. Lighting up the Campaign Trail
Of course, a box of bubblegum cigars is a far cry from the standard buttons, badges, bumper stickers and flags, but a different craze lit up the presidential elections in the late nineteenth century, paper lanterns. Back in those days, it was popular for the supporters of particular candidates to hold torch-lit processions, this would involve an assortment of paper lanterns being lit and released with the name of the candidate on them.
As amazing as that might have looked, with the sky lit up with glowing lanterns, what is more, amazing is that, more than a century later, a few of these extremely delicate paper lanterns have remarkably survived.
