People's Party Candidate for President, EUGENE V. DEBS

Ribbon promoting Eugene Debs for president (hopeful candidate of the People's Party), 1896. 2 1/8 x 5 1/4". There is a stain on Deb's collar and some light discoloration near the top of the ribbon. Easily the earliest known Debs presidential campaign item - he ultimately endorsed and campaigned for William Jennings Bryan in 1896, (who was endorsed by the People's Party), and would be the standard bearer of the Socialist Party in 1900. Debs had written an article in the Locomotive Firemen's Magazine in 1891 while serving as the secretary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, in which he praised the newly formed People's Party as "...a party...which will discard and anathematize class legislation and inaugurate a reign of justice." The inscription under Debs portrait "From prison cell to the White House" refers to his being jailed following the 1894 Pullman strike. This may be the only known example of this exceedingly rare ribbon.