Politician from the Prairie: Harlan Bushfield of South Dakota By Ray Hill Harlan John Bushfield served only a single term in the United States Senate, but he made quite an impression on his home state of South Dakota in a relatively short period of time. Bushfield rose from a printer’s devil to serve as his […]
New pin for my collection – 1939 Harlan Bushfield inaugural pin.
Re-added a pin to my political button collection today that I haven’t had in around 30 years.. and it’s one of the more challenging of the South Dakota Inaugural set. 82 years ago, Governor Harlan Bushfield was starting his first term of office, and issued this pin, showing him riding into office on an elephant after the two previous administrations under Tom Berry (whose pins pictured him with a Donkey).
From Wikipedia, just a little biographical information on our state’s 16th Governor:
A native of Iowa, Bushfield was raised in Miller, South Dakota. He attended Dakota Wesleyan University, graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, and became an attorney in Miller. A Republican, he served as State’s Attorney of Hand County (1906-1910), and as Miller’s city attorney. After unsuccessful campaigns for South Dakota Attorney General (1913, 1918), and the state Supreme Court (1930),