License plate attachment, Robert La Follette, 1924

Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follete, a third-party candidate in the 1924 presidential election, was active in Republican politics for almost 40 years serving Wisconsin as a US representative, governor, and senator. A Republican with strong progressive principles, La Follette sought his party’s presidential nomination in 1912. He won two primaries but when former president Theodore Roosevelt threw his hat in the ring La Follette’s progressive supporters abandoned him. After the Republican nomination went to President William Howard Taft, the progressives formed a new party around Roosevelt and La Follette supported the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. In 1916, La Follette repeated his efforts to gain the Republican nomination. He again won two primaries but lost the nomination to former Supreme Court Justice Charles Hughes.

In 1924, La Follette made one last attempt to win the Republican nomination but his only primary victory was in his home state of Wisconsin. His supporters then formed a new Progressive Party (Roosevelt’s Progressive “Bull Moose” Party had already folded) and nominated La Follette for president. Although he finished third behind President Calvin Coolidge (Republican) and John Davis (Democrat), La Follette received almost 17% of the popular vote nationally and won the thirteen Electoral College votes from Wisconsin.

Metal bumper or license plate attachments, the campaign bumper stickers of their day, were first used during the 1924 election. The size and shape of this La Follette sign suggests it was intended to be attached on top of a license plate.