Black text on yellow background, black on upper and lower third of button.

Donald Rumsfeld was elected to congress in 1962 at age 30. Born in Evanston Illinois,  he represented the 13th district for Illinois in the United States House of Representatives. He was re-elected in '64, '66, and '68.

Michael Jordan sitting on a basketball, yellow textured coloring in background with "It'll Be Sweet 2 Repeat" on the right side.

This button was given out by Chicagoland McDonalds' in support of the Chicago Bulls winning the championship for a second year. In the 1990s, the Bulls won 6 championships.

Image of a white sock with wings with red letters outlined in white and blue going across it and white letters above on a blue background

The 1959 World Series featured the Chicago White Sox versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. Known as the “Go-Go Sox”, they were last in the American League in home runs but led in stolen bases, fielding percentage, and the lowest team ERA. This series marked the first games ever played on the west coast, first game to exceed 90,000 in attendance and more than 400,000 fans. This was also the first game where neither team’s pitcher pitched a complete game. The Sox lost to the Dodgers in a 4-2 game series.

White text on red background with white signature and text on blue lower third.

Edward Kelly  was Mayor during 1933 World's Fair. He oversaw the construction of Soldier Field and banned Nelson Algren's book Never Come Morning from the Chicago Public Library. He was the first of five mayors from the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago (including the Daleys). He was known for machine politics and corruption.

Blue text with white background and red arrow pointing upward.

This button references the famous quote, "And now it's on to Chicago and lets win there" from Robert Kennedy's victory speech after winning the California primary and moments before his assassination at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The button was made for a group of Gene McCarthy campaign staffers who were working to get Bob Kennedy’s supporters to support McCarthy after Kennedy’s assassination.

Blue background with white text. Yellow rays on upper half. Union bug at bottom.

This is a Harold Washington button in Spanish. Harold Washington was the first African-American mayor of Chicago from 1983-1987. It was a very close race: Washington had 37% of the vote, Jane Byrne had 33%, and future mayor Richard M. Daley had 30%. When Harold Washington won the election in 1983 he had gained 83% of the Hispanic vote. He died while working in his office and left quite a legacy around Chicago, including the main Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington University, Harold Washington Park and the Harold Washington Cultural Center. Prior to becoming mayor, he served in the Illinois Legislature as a state senator and state representative.   He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-1983.   

Black text with blue background and white curl. Sears Tower is in the center surrounded by other buildings. The words "Sears" and "Tower" are placed vertically on each side of the Sears Tower image. Text arched over top of button reads "World's Tallest Building Chicago, Illinois."

The Sears Tower was the world's tallest building at the time of its completion in 1973. It supassed the World Trade Center towers in New York and held the title for nearly 25 years.  It is now the tallest buiding in the US and the 5th tallest freestanding structure in the world. On July 16, 2009,  it was officially named the Willis Tower after London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings.

Bozo the clown underneath a circle / slash sign.

"No Bozos" is a phrase used express the seriousness of a matter at hand, meaning no clowning around or no kidding or to mean no stupid or rude people.

Mayor Jane Byrne campaign button. White underlined text on green background.

Jane Byrne was the first female mayor of Chicago serving from 1979 to 1983. Her policies ranged from limiting possession of handguns, hiring African-American cabinet members, to revitalizing Navy Pier. Sympathetic to the plight of the inner city, Byrne decided to move into the housing project Cabrini-Green, along with her husband. Her plan was to bring attention to the crime rate there, after 37 shootings resulted in 11 deaths in just three months at the beginning of 1981. However, Mayor Byrne remained only for three weeks causing many to see it as simply a publicity stunt.

The most interesting event in her term as Mayor happened on November 11, 1981. A man named Dan Goodwin climbed the John Hancock Building, dressed as Spider-Man, getting as high as the 38th floor before authorities became involved. When the Chicago Fire Department planned to hose Goodwin off of the side of the building while also breaking glass along his path to keep him in one spot, Mayor Byrne interceded on his behalf. She allowed him to continue without hosing him and he successfully made the climb to the top of the building. 

Button is a white baseball with black text, a red pennant with white text, and a player's head with cap.

The Chicago White Sox won the American League pennant but lost to the the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to two in the 1959 World Series.