By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
On Nov. 22, it will be 57 years since President John F. Kennedy, known as ‘Jack’ to many, was assassinated. He was just 46 years old, in his first term as president, and gearing up for his reelection campaign for the 1964 election.
In Detroit, Michigan, they began making campaign buttons with the slogan ‘Kool Kats for Kennedy’. Ortonville resident Ken Bush, 82, is the proud owner of one of those buttons.
“I think I got it at an antiques and collectibles show,” said Bush. “It’s pretty rare, I’ve never seen another one.”
The button was union made, with a symbol around the edge signifying such.

While there is no comparison for the worth of the button, Bush estimates it would go for between $500-$1000 in an auction.
“They start printing them (campaign buttons) several months ahead of time, but after what happened, they probably destroyed them, or this one might have been a test printing,” said Bush, who has a collection of several hundred political campaign buttons. “I know some big time collectors with million dollar collections all over the country, and they’ve never seen one.”
Bush, a member of the American Political Items Collectors, has been collecting buttons for years, beginning with a political campaign when he started picking up buttons because he thought they were cool, and started collecting them every year.
“I have some really great third party stuff,” he said. “I can’t say I have a favorite, I like them all.”
Kennedy was the first Catholic president, was the only president to have received a Purple Heart, the only president awarded a Pulitzer, and was the youngest president elected to office, being only 43 years old when he was elected in 1960. According to books written by past secret service agent Clint Hill, who was assigned to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and served through five presidencies, JFK was known for being personable.
“President Kennedy knew every agent by name,” Hill said in an interview in 2010. “President Johnson knew many of us, but not as many as President Kennedy, probably.”