![]() ![]() "You're taking stuff that could've been thrown out at one point and you're putting something together. You're preserving it for future generations. "You're putting something together," Kitchen said. Kitchen said his life wouldn't be the same without the friends and memories he's made through collecting. "There have been divisive campaigns in the past and the American people have worked past those, and hopefully they can do that again." "Both parties have gone in polar directions and there's no middle ground anymore," Kitchen said. More recently, he recalls John McCain's "gracious" concession to president-to-be Obama in 2008 and how McCain stood up for his opponent when Republican supporters questioned Obama's background. He recalls the famous Kennedy quote from his 1961 inaugural address: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." That's one reason Kitchen says he feels so nostalgic about the past. Over the years, finding items that spanned across many campaigns, Kitchen has seen bitter rivalry divide the nation time and time again, but he said he hasn't witnessed anything like the polarization of party politics today. Roosevelt's images on it from when they were running mates vying for the Democratic nomination for president in 1920. Kitchen is currently looking for items from Kennedy's primary campaign in Wisconsin in 1960 and for a rare button that has James Cox and Franklin D. If there's one place he would consider passing it onto, it's the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.Īnd even though Kitchen is now working on winding down his collection, he's always on the hunt. He's received a ton of offers for that rarity, but Kitchen said he isn't budging one bit. There's no other item like that that he knows of in the country, Kitchen said. His most prized possession is a poster of Kennedy from when first ran for Congress in 1946. That's probably why he's got a soft spot for the 35th president, whose presidency was cut short in 1963 when he was assassinated. Kitchen started his collection in the early 1960s at the height of the Kennedy years. When Kitchen does sell items in his collection, he said Barack Obama and Reagan items are the most in demand. "(It's got to go) to a person that appreciates it and will take good care of it and then will pass it on to someone else." ![]() "Someone could be like, 'I'll give you $100,000 for that item,' but there's no fun in that," Kitchen said. 1 for Kitchen, if he sells, is that it's got to go to a home that will value them. If a museum expresses interest but it's going to be kept in storage, hard pass, he said. If they're just going to sit in someone's basement, that's a no go. Even when some buyers might come knocking on his door with a checkbook, Kitchen said he is cautious about where his items will go. While collecting can be a lucrative hobby for some, for Kitchen, it's about appreciating American history. He suspects that could be because the younger generation came of age at a time when politics became increasingly divisive or they can't reminisce about many political figures like the people who grew up in with presidents such as Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan. They don't remember the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon's resignation like the people who read the news headlines every day when it was happening, or the intensity of the Vietnam era waiting to see if your brother or husband or friend would be drafted. "Younger people just look at it and they don't know who some of these people are," Kitchen said. Kitchen wishes more young people would stop by and see his collection when he displays them at events. The crowd who expresses the most interest tend to be older. RELATED: Have you heard your religious leader talk about politics lately? You're not the only one RELATED: Switching political parties is a rising trend, but it also can come at a steep personal cost View Gallery: Tom Kitchen political collection feature gallery
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