Don't Settle for Peanuts

Illustration of a republican shrouded elephant strangling a peanut with a mouth and large teeth. White lettering with a red background edge on top, white lettering with blue background on bottom and white overall background.

This button is from the 1976 presidential election in which incumbent president Gerald Ford ran against Jimmy Carter. Ford had come to the presidency after Nixon’s resignation following the Watergate Scandal in 1974 and had pardoned Nixon as one of his first acts as President. Against him was Democrat Jimmy Carter, a relatively unknown former peanut farmer from Georgia, whom this button refers to. During the election Carter’s lack of involvement with Ford’s controversial pardon of Nixon helped him in the polls, and he was elected president by a very thin margin, winning 50% of the vote to Ford’s 48%.

United States Presidential Election, 1976. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1976.