Lapel pins have come to be associated with everything from the US Secret Service to Chairman Mao, even the odd charity day can have a pin nowadays. But this wasn’t how they started out, in fact the first point in history we see them is during the Civil War when pins were given to troops on both sides in an attempt to bond units together and also to serve as an aid to recognition. How much they aided in recognition is certainly to be debated, especially as by the time anyone was close enough to read the pin it would be a lot more efficient just to ask them which unit they were with! Regardless though the use of lapel pins was one of many lasting effects of the war and since this first appearance the use of pins has only become stronger and stronger.

Indeed we can pick up the time line of the pins in both the First and Second World Wars where their use shifted from recognition in the sense of identity to recognition in the sense of taking note of distinguishing service of troops. To this day lapel pins still fulfil this role but what has really made them somewhat of an American symbol is their crossing over into the civilian world.

A quite obvious source of this cross over are police and fire departments who took the use of the military pin to identify other members of the division or brigade and to recognize good service and attached them to their professions. From there the move to college students and then high schools is relatively obvious and once the use of pins became popular more and more groups saw them as a way to share their message and also allow people to display publicly their belief in a cause or belonging to a group. In and of itself the emergence of the lapel pin is quite remarkable, and today it’s hard to imagine a line up of men in suits without a few of them sporting one, but what is more fascinating than simply the emergence of the lapel pin is the prominence and importance that has become attached to one particular pin– that of the stars and stripes.

Indeed the importance of wearing the pin in modern society is such that President Obama came under such pressure during campaigning for not wearing a lapel pin that he now wears one every single day. Moreover, the surge in pin sales following 9/11 and the Gulf War cement the importance of the lapel pin in American society. However, on the other hand the popularity of the stars and stripes pin is completely understandable. The reverence shown by every American to the flag coupled with an attachment to lapel pins means that the merging of the two was to be expected.

So, there we have it, starting out as forms of identification, moving through to awards and now symbols of patriotism and charity, lapel pins form a central part of America and one which doesn’t look like fading any time soon. The symbolism of the lapel pin is what makes the pin.

To find out more about creating your own lapel pins you can visit my hub on Custom Lapel Pins.