SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) – Donald trump is the 45th man in American history to assume the highest office in the land and it took a contentious political race to get there. But as history shows, this is nothing new, and a Sarasota man has the evidence to prove it.
Outside David Kotok’s office, the history of American politics is strewn across the walls- with hundreds of political buttons.
“This is from the 1908 Republican convention,” Kotok said, pointing at a button.
Over the past 45 years, he’s amassed a collection of more than a thousand buttons- showing the hopes and dreams of candidates who were victorious, and those who were not.
“Stevenson, Keufaver, 52 and 56…He tried twice,” Kotok pointed out.
It’s interesting to look at these buttons now with the knowledge of how history transpired. Kotok has a large number of anti-Nixon buttons.
“‘There were a series of political buttons about impeach him and look what happened,” he said.
Many of these politicians aged right before our eyes.
“Here’s the Clintons and here’s how young they look [in 1996.] You can see the toll that is taken on government officials over time,” Kotok explained.
But most amazingly, these buttons show just how ugly politics is and always was.
“In our wonderful country, you have freedom of speech, which makes some of these buttons pretty rough stuff,” he said.
Elections are heated. But for more than two centuries, we’ve always had a peaceful transfer of power on Inauguration Day.
“We may have a rough political system but it’s ours and it still allows us to be individuals. There are not many places in the world where you could have these kinds of changes of power and no tanks in the street,” Kotok said.
These buttons prove despite our obvious divisions, we are still united.
“That’s part of our greatness I think,” said Kotok.
