Percy for Senator

Top of the button has a small red portion over a stripe of white and a strip of blue, below this is blue and red text on a white background.

This button comes from Charles H. Percy’s first Senatorial campaign in 1966. Percy, originally a businessman from Chicago, was elected as Governor of Illinois in 1964 with encouragement from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1966 Percy ran against Democrat Paul Douglas, and won with more than half of the votes. As a Senator, Percy opposed the Vietnam War and was chairman of the Alliance to Save Energy. Percy remained as an Illinois Senator until 1985, when he was defeated by Paul Simon, and afterwards spearheaded the movement that ended Chicago’s history of nominating federal judges from a list chosen by local politicians. Though Percy was mentioned as a presidential candidate in the late 1980s, he never officially ran, but remained active in politics until his death in 2011.

Charles H. Percy. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Percy.