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Illinois man has kept Richard Nixon's unfinished sandwich for 60 years

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Sept. 22 (UPI) -- An Illinois man is celebrating the 60th birthday of an unusual keepsake -- a sandwich that he has kept frozen ever since it was half-eaten by Richard Nixon in 1960.

Steve Jenne of Sullivan said he was a Boy Scout when Nixon visited the town of Sullivan during a Sept. 22, 1960, campaign stop. The future president attended a cookout and ate half of a buffalo chicken sandwich, which Jenne then took home to keep in his freezer.

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"I looked around and thought, 'If no one else was going to take it, I am going to take it,'" Jenne told the Herald-Review newspaper.

The sandwich brought Jenne notoriety over the years, most notably a 1988 guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Jenne said the appearance yielded him a half-eaten snack from Carson, as well as a paper plate signed by Steve Martin, who quipped that he had earlier used the plate to eat some chicken salad. Jenne said his collection now also includes unfinished foods from entertainers Tiny Tim and Henny Youngman.

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Jenne said the Nixon sandwich remains the crown jewel of his collection.

"As long as I am living, that sandwich will be stored in my freezer in a container that is labeled, 'Save, don't throw away,'" Jenne said.

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