Largest 'I Like Ike' Button unveiled

People stood alongside the curb of N. Spruce Street across from the Little Ike Park parking lot waiting in anticipation for the unveiling of the World’s Largest I Like Ike Button. Unveiled June 21, the button sat at six feet in diameter on the grass strip between the parking lot and Spruce Street.

“I was born and raised in Abilene,” said the button’s creator, Jason Lahr. “Anything I can do to help the community, I just absolutely love. This was just so much fun.”

Lahr of Fluters Creek Metalworks said he did not want just a flat curl with the logo. The metal structure is concave on the sides, has a pin clasp on the back and other features to make it look like a large-scale button.

Lahr said he began crafting the button in April, and worked on it in bursts of time.

Julie Roller Weeks, director of the Abilene Convention and Visitor Bureau, said the location of the button was chosen to somewhat mirror how Washington D.C. honored Ike in their memorial.

“If you look at the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington DC, it starts with young Eisenhower, Little Ike, and then it ends with President Eisenhower,” Weeks said. “So if you think about this area and the city’s master plan to develop this area to more of a gathering space, it can really mirror that same memorial.”

The Abilene Convention and Visitor Bureau funded the project. They are currently selling coins fashioned to look like the Ike button to help fund the project. To buy a coin, go to www.WorldsLargestIkeButton.com.

“But this project isn’t just about honoring Ike,” said Weeks in her remarks during the button’s unveiling. “It’s about creating a marketing buzz that makes people want to visit or return to Abilene. It’s about keeping Abilene in the news as a community that continues to do things that make people smile. This project gives visitors to the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum another ‘Ike-themed’ attraction to visit and drives traffic downtown. Like the World’s Largest Belt Buckle, this project will be the focal point of photos, social media posts, blogs and stories for years to come.”

According to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the “I Like Ike” campaign was inspired by the nickname for Eisenhower, who at the time was a five-star general renowned for his military leadership and presidency during World War II. After the war, both Republicans and Democrats wanted Eisenhower to be their candidate for the presidency. The campaign slogan helped propel him to win the presidential elections in 1952 and 1956.