Uncle Sam's White Elephant

A red button with a blue rim and white text. In the center is an image of a white elephant with its feet tied up with a ball and chain standing atop a football. 

During the 1968 Presidential Election, Kleenex tissues issued numerous reproductions of popular political buttons from past elections as promotional items in their tissue boxes. The 1904 Presidential election pitted Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt against Democratic nominees Judge Alton B. Parker and his running mate, former West Virginia Senator Henry Davis, who at 80 was the oldest candidate ever nominated for national office.  Roosevelt defeated Parker in a landslide victory with two-thirds of the electoral votes.

An elephant has been the symbol of the Republican Party since 1874 when political cartoonist Thomas Nast depicted an elephant to represent the Republican vote in Harper's Weekly.  A white elephant symbolizes something that is more of a burden to its owner than it is worth.  The elephant appears shackled by “protection” and a ball and chain of “trusts” representing the GOP claim that their protectionist policies were prosperous for the country.  Parker and Davis’ platform pushed to end Roosevelt’s contracts with companies violating antitrust laws.