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Jean Hershot's last name was actually Hersholt. A Danish-born actor, Hersholt appeared in a total of 140 films. His most famous film was arguably the 1924 silent epic, Greed, which, in its original form, was nine hours long. Two months of filming took place in California's Death Valley. The heat on location placed many on set, including Hersholt, in the hospital. 

Despite his numerous performances, Hersholt is best remembered for his humanitarian work within the film industry. The actor served an 18-year tenure as president of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, which provided aid to industry members struggling financially. He also helped to establish the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital. As a result of these efforts, in 1956, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences created the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The Award gives an honorary Oscar to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” Hersholt is also remembered for writing an English translation of over 160 fairy tales by Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson. He died of cancer in 1956.

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Jack Perrin was an American actor who began acting in 1915 at age 19. He is best known for appearing in low-budget Western films throughout the 1930s. Though Perrin once seemed to be on the way to stardom, he was held back by various career woes. For example, in 1932, Perrin sued film producer Robert J. Horner who owed Perrin $1475 for the actor's work in five different films. Despite such setbacks, Perrin continued to appear in small film and television roles until he retired in 1961. He died six years later in Los Angeles.

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Actor George J. Lewis was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1903. He attended high school in California, where he was allegedly discovered in a school play by a Hollywood screenwriter. Lewis relocated to Hollywood after he graduated, making his screen debut in the 1923 feature, The Spanish Dancer. After an acclaimed performance as a prizefighter in the 1925 film, His People, Lewis's professional success became less consistent. Personally, however, Lewis experienced a success that is especially rare in Hollywood: his 1928 marriage to Mary Louise Lohman endured until the actor's death in 1995.

Years of career ups and downs led Lewis to leave Hollywood in 1936 for stage acting in New York. When he returned to Hollywood in 1939, Lewis started getting casted in mid-sized character acting roles in television and film westerns. The actor most notably appeared as Zorro's father in the Disney television series, Zorro. Though Lewis reportedly enjoyed these parts, he had trouble attracting different types of roles. He eventually left Hollywood in 1972 to open a real estate business.

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Fred Gilman started his career in Hollywood as a stunt double for the famed western actor, Hoot Gibson. He earned starring roles in a number of Universal's William Wyler-directed two-reel westerns, which were 11-minute silent films. By the 1930s, however, the new popularity of sound films led the studio to focus on other types of projects, halting Gilman's career rise. Gibson kept Gilman employed throughout the 1930s in small parts, but his career quietly faded as an extra and horse trainer. The actor died in 1988.

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Wendell Lewis Willkie (1892-1944), was an American lawyer and the Republican nominee for President of the United States in 1940. Despite receiving the most popular votes for a Republican up to that point, Willkie lost the election to Franklin D. Roosevelt.  A long-time, active Democrat, Willkie joined the Republican party in response to government restrictions on business. Willkie was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador to the Middle East, China, and the Soviet Union under President Roosevelt.

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Wendell Willkie was the Republican presidential candidate who ran against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. His campaign produced millions of buttons in response to items in the news about Roosevelt in an attempt to gain name recognition. 

Willkie was a lawyer from New York, who campaigned on issues such as international relations, which addressed the United States role in World War II.  He lost the election to Roosevelt, who had won 85% of the electoral college.  As a result, Roosevelt would go on to become the first president to be in office three terms, before the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1951, would limit a president's time in office to two terms.

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Colonel John Glenn was an American astronaut who holds the distinction of being part of the first group of astronauts to have been selected by NASA. Announced by NASA on April 9, 1959, Glenn was part of the Mercury Seven, otherwise known as the Original Seven. Those selected were to take part in Project Mercury, an early example of the Space Race and whose goal was to put a man into orbit and return him safely to Earth before the Soviet Union could. Though NASA would fail in taking that distinction due to Soviet astronaut, Yuru Gagarin becoming the first person to journey into outer space and complete orbit, Glenn did became the first American to complete the task.

Conducted on February 20, 1962, the mission, known as Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6), was the third human spaceflight mission by the U.S.. Glenn was the pilot for the mission and successfully performed three orbits around the Earth. Glenn conducted the mission in the spacecraft, Friendship 7 . As a result of the mission, Glenn also became the the fifth person and third American in space. Upon resigning from NASA in 1964, Glenn became a Senator from Ohio and was also inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990.

Read more about the History of NASA buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.

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On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first individuals in history to ever land of the moon. Serving as two of the three member crew of the Apollo 11 spaceflight alongside Michael Collins, who only stayed in orbit around the moon, both Aldrin and Armstrong landed the lunar module, Eagle, on the moons surface. Armstrong holds the distinction of being the first on the moon, uttering the now famous phrase upon walking outside of the capsule  "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Twenty minutes later, Aldrin joined him on the surface and both proceeded to spend around two hours walking on the surface. Broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience, the event became a monumental part of the twentieth century. The mission was a complete success and completed President John F. Kennedy's ambition and goal to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. 

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On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Bull Aldrin, and Michael Collins made history as the crew of the legendary Apollo 11 spaceflight. The missions purpose was to successfully land a person on the moon before the Soviets could and bring them home to Earth without issue. While Michael Collins piloted the command module, Columbia, alone in the moon's orbit, both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have the distinction of being the first and second human beings respectively to ever walk the moon's surface. Broadcast on live television, the Apollo 11 mission remains one of the most defining moments of the twentieth century. Effectively ending the Space Race, Apollo 11 stands as a moment of inspiration. While the concept of space travel had up to that point been considered nothing more than science fiction, Apollo 11 showed that humanities future was not limited to just Earth.​

White text on red panels that surround an illustration of an astronaut's legs walking on the moon 

On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Bull Aldrin, and Michael Collins made history as the crew of the legendary Apollo 11 spaceflight. The missions purpose was to successfully land a person on the moon before the Soviets could and bring them home to Earth without issue. While Michael Collins piloted the command module, Columbia, alone in the moon's orbit, both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have the distinction of being the first and second human beings respectively to ever walk the moon's surface. Broadcast on live television, the Apollo 11 mission remains one of the most defining moments of the twentieth century. Effectively ending the Space Race, Apollo 11 stands as a moment of inspiration. While the concept of space travel had up to that point been considered nothing more than science fiction, Apollo 11 showed that humanities future was not limited to just Earth.