KENNEDY BIG FOUR HOLY GRAIL 1960 CAMPAIGN BUTTON SET BY FRANK ALLEN SPECIALTIES LOTS # 384-387 Frank Allen , owner of Frank Allen Specialties in New York City , was a friend of the Kennedy family and in 1960 he set about finding ways to help the campaign of John F . Kennedy , deciding on producing pinback button designs that were ultimately some of the best for any JFK 1960 campaign buttons . A run of samples was produced , and the mythology begins- the handed down story , linked to Dave Powers , JFK ’ s confidant starting in his 1946 Congressional campaign , goes that Allen carried some along on a trip to Hyannis where the notoriously hot-tempered Joseph Kennedy Sr . became infuriated with the designs shouting “ My son is going to be the next President of the United States you can ’ t use ugly pictures like this !” He also reportedly took issue with the use of Jack in the slogan “ Democracy For Jack Kennedy ” stating , “ Nobody calls the next President Jack except his family !” Whatever the reality the buttons were never produced in quantities more than the sample run of 36 and only a few have survived to this day . They have become the holy grail for Kennedy button collectors and rank among the most sought-after artifacts within the organized hobby of campaign button collecting . To our knowledge only two sets have ever been completed and a group of all four has never been offered at the same time , making our current offerings a potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire this coveted set in one fell swoop .
-1-