Donald Trump THEN and NOW

All ostriches and every human being in the world know that Donald J. Trump was elected in the fourth quarter of 2016 as the forty-fifth POTUS. However,  its likely that only elderly board game consumers and intense followers of the toy and game industry know that Trump licensed his likeness on two board games. Both were marketed by Hasbro game divisions,; Milton Bradley in the late 80s and Parker Brothers in the early 2000s.

By the most important measure of a game's success, SALES at retail, DJT's appearance on the Milton Bradley initial version could not elevate consumers interest above, "just OK". And compared to a measure of marketplace longevity against such classics as Life, Monopoly, Scrabble, CandyLand, etc., Trump The Game was  a yaw!

A hardened sales rep, who at the time was not meeting management sales quotas for the game was heard to say, "It would be great if Trump was better known west of the Hudson River!" My, my, how times have changed! NOW Trump is well known far, far beyond the Hudson to all rivers in the USA. In fact, by any measure, Trump is a global celebrity!

Through the courtesy of the Springfield, MA Republican newspaper that covered Trump's only visit to the Pioneer Valley ever, on May 4, 1989, the following photos show DJT at his initial launch into the game world.  I remember the hub-bub on that day in East Longmeadow, MA where the game was manufactured. The future POTUS THEN made an auspicious appearance when he dropped from the skies in his personal chopper. No one would ever have envisioned THEN that NOW he would be dropping from the skies in Air Force One!

Donald's Chopper is The Only Aircraft to Ever Land on Company Grounds

Donald Disembarks With Coiffure Disheveled by Chopper Blades

Adoring Milton BradleyEmployees Gather to Create a Huge Welcoming Crowd

President of Milton Bradley Co., and Future President of USA, Donald J. Trump

Trump Poses with Stacks of Newly Minted Games Ready for Shipment

Trump Gives a Pitch on How his Game Will be the Next Monopoly

Milton Bradley's Footprint

Milton Bradley, the man,  lived a long life in Springfield, MA. Today, if you had need to locate to that city and were in search of a downtown apartment, you might choose Stockbridge Court. By watching the rental facility's promo video, you would learn that the "distinctive apartments" were once a thriving industrial complex and the headquarters for the Milton Bradley Company. Such is the change of urban land use from a place producing board games, art materials (including the famous "No Roll Crayon) school furniture, and guillotine-like paper trimmers to the distinctive Stockbridge apartments in the heart of downtown Springfield. Indeed, the MB has had a long and storied place in western MA.

When I joined Milton Bradley in 1969, the company had already moved much of its manufacturing from what was known as Park Street (aka Stockbridge Court) to neighboring, suburban East Longmeadow. No longer hampered by "loft logistics" for work in process, production was done in a 1.1 million sq.ft. highly efficient and profitably run facility with a great mixture of several thousand humans and state-of-the-art machines. In the 70s, then CEO James J. Shea Jr. took great pride in running "a fully integrated manufacturing operation where product components came in Door 1 as raw materials and would go out Door 44 as finished goods packed in standardized shipping cartons". Along the way from start to finish, all those games were printed, mounted, die-cut, molded, assembled, inspected, and packed off within timed standards. Game components changed with the coming of Simon and other magical electronic games which diluted the "made in America" imprint to in some cases "packaged in America"-- with components from some distant sources in Singapore, Taiwan, or China.

The footprint of Milton Bradley Company" presence certainly remains in western Massachusetts today though some merely in bricks and mortar. In addition to the Stockbridge apartments, another tenant does business on the 26th floor of Baystate Tower (now known as Tower Square) which was  the location of MB corporate office in the 70s. Later, those corporate offices were moved from the "tower"to a dedicated ground level building ultimately transitioned into an elementary school after Hasbro acquired Milton Bradley in 1985.

And what about that sprawling 1.1 million sq.ft. fully integrated manufacturing wonder today? Yes, it is still on the corner of Shaker and Denslow Rds. employing hundreds in East Longmeadow. If you ever happen to journey to Springfield, MA, perhaps to see the Basketball Hall of Fame, you might include a ten mile trip from the Hall for a drive-by view of the wondrous facility. The size of the plant might give hint to why James J. Shea Jr in days past gave an executive order to "make those games in America"! Will those days ever return? Perhaps. There's that old adage: "where there's a will, there's a way".