Let's 'Lect Lum

Brown and white photograph of a man's head and shoulders with brown text around the outer edge on a white background

"Let's 'Lect Lum" was the slogan for a spoof presidential campaign for fictional character Lum Edwards from the radio show Lum and Abner.  The show was conceived by comedy duo Chester Lauck and Norris Goff and ran from 1931 until 1954.  The show followed the misadventures of the title characters as they managed the "Jot 'em Down Store" in the fictional town of Pine Ridge, Arkansas.

During the American presidential election season in 1936, Lauck and Goff wrote a storyline where Lum Edwards decides to run for president under the "Demopublican ticket."  As a promotion for this storyline, they announced on the air that listeners who wrote in would be mailed a campaign button.  Unexpectedly, they received thousands of requests from across the United States.  At the end of the promotion, they had sent out approximately 300,000 buttons.