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The Michigan State athletic teams all share the name of Spartan and their mascot and logo resemble the ancient Greek warriors of Sparta. This was not always the case, and the term was first used in 1926 as applied to their baseball team. In 1925, Michigan Agricultural College became Michigan State College. Under their old school name, teams were referred to as the Aggies, short for Agriculturals. Since Michigan State was no longer an agricultural school, they needed to change the name of their sports teams.

A contest took place where students could vote for and choose the new nickname of the teams. They eventually chose to rename the teams, "The Michigan Staters." George Alderton, a journalist at the Lansing Journal who covered the teams, thought the name was too cumbersome and did not approve. He searched through the other student recommendations and spotted the term, "Spartans." Alderton bypassed the contest and chose Spartans as the new nickname that is used today.

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Danny K. Davis is a politician from Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of the Chicago City Council from 1979-1990. In 1991, he ran for Mayor of Chicago, but lost in the primaries to incumbent Chicago Mayor, Richard M. Daley. He was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners from 1990-1996. In 1996, he ran for and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives 7th District, which constitutes downtown Chicago and outer neighborhoods. He has since defended his seat 13 times and is still in office. In 2011, he mounted another campaign for mayor of Chicago, but withdrew before the election.

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Wendell Willkie, a Republican, produced memorabilia for every million he raised for his presidential campaign in 1940. He was not liked by the big figures in the Republican party due to his views being in line with his opponent at the time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Willkie supported minimum wage, unemployment insurance, a limit on workers’ hours, and did not agree with the isolationist views of the more prominent party members. This sat well with moderate Republicans. He was seen as a “dark horse” becoming prominent with Democrats and Republicans with no prior notice to running. He also supported the civil rights movement and was opposed to racism. Willkie believed in bipartisanship for the betterment of the country. He lost the election in 1940; 449 to 82.

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The 1940 presidential election saw a shocking Republican nomination when Wendell Willkie was chosen to lead the ticket. Willkie was an American lawyer and corporate executive and largely not a political figure. To counteract this lack of political experience, his running mate was Charles McNary, who had been a senator of Oregon for 23 years and was highly experienced. 

Willkie gained momentum late into the process and passed expected winners, William Taft and Thomas Dewey. Both Taft and Dewey were staunchly isolationist and wanted to avoid getting involved in World War II. Republicans at the time wanted to help their allies, which Willkie was in favor of. Willkie lost the election in a landslide, losing to popular incumbent Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt was running an unprecedented third term, and his soaring popularity showed up during the election leading to his massive victory.

Photograph of Trump behind a wall with lightning bolts. Blue and red text on white background above photo with small black text on photo of wall.

The border wall separating key points between Mexico and the United States is one of the key campaign promises that helped Donald Trump secure the presidency. At many rallies, the crowd would enthusiastically chant, “build the wall,” to show support for the initiative. Designed to curb the flow of illegal immigration, the idea of the wall was not well-received by much of the American public and the dissent was largely non-partisan, although it has been framed to be a partisan issue in recent years. Many would lose land that had been in families for generations along the border in order to construct a wall and the cost of animals and wildlife being unable to cross the border at intervals would create a large environmental impact. Others believed that the wall would not prevent any drug traffic from coming across the border, but would prevent migrant workers from being able to take seasonal jobs. Whether or not building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is effective in reducing drug traffic is yet to be seen. Once in office, the Trump administration had issues funding to replace parts of the existing wall and add more walls across the border.

The response to the border wall is mixed, many Democrats arguing the wall is meant to keep certain races out of the United States. In response to the idea of a border wall to keep things out of the United States, people have jokingly asked that a wall be built around Trump to keep his ideas out of the United States.

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President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore’s re-election campaign in 1996 emphasized the importance of education. This caught the attention of teachers. In the midst of a technological boom, Clinton and Gore felt it was vital to expand their efforts of supporting the public education system and teachers to set them up for success. The campaign promised to support teacher’s education, redesign failing systems, ensure tax dollars are going to public schools, support students with disabilities, and bring technology into the classrooms. Even further, they promised to support higher education to provide Americans with the opportunity to take part, and expand work study options.

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JFK: Superman Comes to the Supermarket was written by Norman Mailer and first published in 1960 by Esquire magazine. The rights to publish the material were eventually picked up by Taschen publishing. The content was eventually re-released in book format, and it covers the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. The book is unique in that it is a photo book that covers the campaign from beginning to end. The reader can experience the surge of momentum that Kennedy brought as they advance in pages. This eventually culminates in his election victory, with Mailer covering every step in between.

Taschen publishing was founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen and originally only published comic books. The company later evolved to publish other art books, hence the acquisition of Mailer’s photo book. The company is still managed by Benedikt, who now co-manages with her daughter, Marlene Taschen.

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Henry T. Synek was a Chicago-based attorney who ran for Illinois State Senate in 1970. Synek won the democratic nomination in March of 1970 and ran against incumbent Republican W. Russell Arrington in the general election in November. Arrington had held the seat for five terms since a special election in 1954. Arrington took 60% of the vote to Synek’s 40%. This would be Synek’s only campaign in politics. 

In 1971, Synek represented five plaintiffs in a legal case against the deceased Illinois politician Paul Powell’s estate. Powell was Illinois Secretary of State and despite earning a salary of $30,000 was found to have acquired over $2 million unaccounted for upon his death. Synek, on behalf of his clients, sued to have the money put under the charge of a court ordered trustee.  Eventually, it was discovered that Powell had received nearly $4.6 million in bribes for giving government contracts to political associates. Several contractors were later jailed for their roles in the bribery.

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Democratic candidates Adlai Stevenson II and running mate Estes Kefauver campaigned in the 1956 presidential election. Stevenson was the former Illinois State Governor from 1949-1953. He ran for office in both the 1952 and 1956 elections and lost both times to Dwight D. Eisenhower and his running mate Richard Nixon. He attempted to gain the democratic nomination again in 1960, but lost the nomination to John F. Kennedy.

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