Novelty, Warren G. Harding, 1920

This mechanical brass novelty could have been used as a charm on a watch chain. Retailers displayed a card like this to promote individual sales. The figure is labeled for Warren G. Harding, the 1920 Republican presidential nominee. Pressure on the figure’s shoe causes a devil-like tail and an arm with a nose-thumbing gesture to pop out. This design had previously been manufactured to represent other candidates including Republican James Garfield and Democrat Grover Cleveland. Harding easily won the 1920 election defeating Democrat James Cox and Socialist Eugene V. Debs who was running for the fifth and last time. Even though Debs was in prison during this campaign (having been found guilty of sedition during World War I), he received almost 914,000 votes, the most ever recorded for a Socialist on the national ballot.