Illustration of a smiley with squinting eyes on a yellow background

The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.
The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.

In the 1980s, Highlights Magazine, a popular children's periodical, often distributed stickers and other memorabilia such as buttons with subscriptions to their service. This is likely one of those promotional items.

In Internet culture the squinty smiley face is an emoji in the form of the ^^ emoticon. It is also known as the smiling face with the smiling eyes, an emoji that expresses positive feelings and genuine happiness.

Illustration of a smiling face on a yellow background

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Green text over a white stripe with a yellow sun with a smiley face over a green background

The Smiling Sun is the international symbol of the anti-nuclear power movement.  It was designed by anti-nuclear activists, Anne Lund and Soren Lisberg, for Denmark's OOA (Organization for Information on Atomic Energy) in 1975. Smiling Sun buttons were originally passed out at the May 1st celebration in Arhus Denmark, but soon were used by anti-nuclear activists around the world, with the words "Nuclear Power? No Thanks" translated into over 40 languages. This message was designed to be polite and friendly, but firm, and to encourage dialog.  The sun was chosen as a symbol of hope because it sustains life on earth. The button is yellow because shops in Denmark use black letters on a yellow background for their signs, so Lund and Soren felt it was a welcoming color. 

The Federation of the Greens also known as the Greens (Verdi in Italian) is a green political party in Italy. Federazione dei Verdi (FdV) is part of the European Green Party and the Global Greens. It was started in 1990 when the Federation of the Green Lists (LV) and the Rainbow Greens (VA) merged. LV began in 1984 by environmentalists and held an anti-nuclear stance. The symbol for FdV came from LV which was the Smiling Sun.

Blue striped text around the outer edge of an illustration of a blue and white bird over a red and white baseball illustration and a red leaf

The Toronto Blue Jays were founded in 1977 and have been located in Toronto ever since. They are currently the only Major League Baseball (MLB) team to play outside of the United States after the Montreal Expos moved to Washington State. The Blue Jays hold two World Series Championships, 1992 and 1993 respectively, and are the only non-U.S. based team to have won the title. The Blue Jays also boast seven players and two former managers that have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Toronto Blue Jays are one of two corporate-owned teams in the U.S. along with the Atlanta Braves. 

White and red text on a black background

This button is likely a political slogan and worn to support a political campaign of Mayor Richard J. Daley. Daley served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955 until 1976, his death. Daley’s tight control over Chicago politics earned him the nickname as “the last of the big-city bosses.” He has been reelected in 1959, 1963, 1967, 1971, and 1975, serving five full terms and a partial term. It is the longest-serving mayor to date. He mainly focused on municipal services and architectural projects to contribute to the image of Chicago as “the city that works.” His reputation for personal honesty, hard work, and openness to the press is what led the voters of Chicago to bring a tremendous amount of loyalty and reelect him for each term. Before serving as the mayor, Daley also served as a state representative and senator, the state director of revenue, and the clerk of Cook County.

Yellow and blue text on a white background

Wipe Out Waste (WOW) likely refers to the promotion of the reduction of waste through conservation efforts, including reducing, reusing, and recycling. In order to "wipe out waste," items are reused or re-purposed and recycled rather than disposed of in an overall effort to promote an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.

Blue text over silver background

As the five-term Senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater offered one of the leading solutions to the Cold War that was endorsed by Capitol Hill. He argued that the only way to effectively deal with communism was to totally demolish it. In stark contrast to Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright, Goldwater did not find the containment policy to be viable and thought co-existence with communism was unacceptable. He adamantly rejected the “mutual accommodation” strategy peddled by the Democrats and instead, took an all-or-nothing stance.

When Goldwater vied for the presidency in 1964, his strong views on the Cold War bled into his campaign. In fact, “Victory Over Communism” was one of many slogans crafted and advertised by his team. Goldwater, however, was soundly beat by incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson. After his failed campaign, he went on to serve another two decades in the Senate before leaving Congress for good in 1987.

Black and white illustration of a woman's head and shoulders with black text across the bottom

Sojourner Truth, originally named Isabella Baumfree, was born in 1797 and died in 1883 at age 86. She was a prominent African-American abolitionist that also promoted Women’s rights and sought to aid former slaves adjust to a life of freedom. After escaping slavery in 1826, with her infant daughter, Truth changed her name and settled in nearby New Paltz, New York with a family willing to take in her and her daughter. In 1828, Truth took John Dumont, her former master, to court for the custody of her older children that still were the property of Dumont. She won and became the first African-American woman to successfully beat a white man in court over a slave custody case. Truth later went on to advocate for African-American involvement in the Union Army to help the war effort. In 1999, a 12-foot bronze statute was erected in her honor and placed in Battle Creek, Michigan where she is buried. 

Black text and a black and white photograph on a white background

On January 8, 1985, Father Lawrence Martin Jenco, a Catholic Priest and Joliet, Illinois native, was taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon by Islamic radical militants. Jenco had been in Lebanon overseeing Catholic Relief Services when five men subdued and kidnapped him. He was held in a variety of locations for 564 days until he was rescued on July 26, 1986. Jenco was released relatively unharmed after successful negotiating by the Reagan administration to convince the Islamic radicals to release him. 

White text on an outer pink ring and a purple diamond on a white background

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