Photograph of Wendell Willkie on a black background with black text inside an illustrated nametag.

In the 1940 U.S. Presidential Election, Wendell Willkie ran for office under the Republican banner, promoting interventionist policies to align the United States more closely with Great Britain and the allied cause in World War Two. He began his career as an attorney but eventually rose from legal counsel to corporate president of the Commonwealth & Southern corporation. Despite losing to President Roosevelt, Willkie regularly assisted the President in strengthening ties with Britain with informal trips to London. 

Red text on a white background.

William Upham was a Massachusetts native who tragically spent many years of his enlistment in the Civil War as a prisoner of war. After the war ended, Upham became a graduate of West Point and pursued many business ventures. This all changed in 1887, when the town of Marshfield burnt to the ground. Utilizing his resources, Upham helped to rebuild the town.

After this experience and the trust that he gained from the citizens, Upham switched careers and became a politician. He started at the local level, at first becoming an alderman then a mayor. Upham kept climbing the political ranks until he became Governor of Massachusetts in 1894 on the Republican ticket. He did not seek re-election in 1896 and quietly retired back to Marshfield, then Florida.

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Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson ran for president for the second time in 1988. Jackson sought the Democratic nomination, running against other notable candidates like Joe Biden and Al Gore. Jackson’s candidacy was criticized as a long shot from the beginning, but Jackson would run a fairly successful campaign, outperforming every candidate besides the eventual nominee, Michael Dukakis. Jackson’s successes were built on what he called a “Rainbow Coalition”, a collection of voters including people of color, LGBTQIA+ persons, the working class, and white progressives. Jackson sought to bring these groups together with policies like the support of universal healthcare, free community college, and the repeal of Reagan era tax cuts on the wealthy.  On June 7th, some of the last primaries would be held in California, Montana, New Jersey, and New Mexico. 

Although ultimately unsuccessful, Jesse Jackson’s Presidential campaign would leave a lasting legacy in America. At the time of his campaign, Jesse Jackson was the most successful African-American candidate for President, receiving nearly seven million votes. Many see Jackson’s campaign as paving the way for future President Barack Obama’s candidacy, and today many progressives look to Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition as a model for their own campaign.

Photograph of a brown dog on a grey background with black text.

Victory was President Ronald Reagan's golden retriever. Then a 5-week-old puppy, Victory was presented to Reagan on March 26, 1980 at a campaign stop in Milwaukee. Victory's name was meant as a bid of good luck to Reagan, who at the time was still campaigning for his first presidential term.  

After Reagan did win the election in November 1980, Victory did not move to the White House. Instead, Victory remained at the Reagan's ranch, Rancho del Cielo, in California along with the Reagan's other dogs and their horses.

Inset photographs of Al Gore, Joesph Lieberman and David Weprin on a blue background with white text.

In 2000, residents of Queens, New York voted for candidates Albert "Al" Arnold Gore for President of the United States and Joseph "Jo" Isadore Lieberman for Vice President of the United States. Gore and Lieberman lost the election to George W. Bush and Richard "Dick" Cheney by 5 electoral votes. Concurrently David Weprin was elected to the New York City Council, where he served until 2009.

Illustration of the flags of the United States and Greece above a rooster.  Blue and brown text on a white background.

Michael Dukakis was the 65th governor of Massachusetts and ran with the democratic party in the 1988 presidential election against George W. Bush. Dukakis was the second Greek-American governor in U.S. history and used the national flag of both the United States and Greece in his campaigning. A bantam chicken is also used as a campaign symbol perhaps as a metaphor for being desirable or especially fierce. The bantam is a small breed of chicken or duck that can also refer to dwarfism. The bantam can be considered a specialty breed and there are several varieties of bantam chicken in Greece that are commonly regarded as fighting chickens.

Illustration of an English Springer Spaniel in front of a white background with text on top and bottom.

Mildred "Millie" Kerr Bush was the family dog of President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush. Named after the families long-time friend, Mildred Kerr. Millie, an English Springer Spaniel, was born on January 12 1985 and lived to be twelve years old. Upon her death, a dog park in Houston, Texas was named in her honor. During her life, Millie was famously mentioned in a political speech by President George H.W. Bush where he used the dog to attack his opponents, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. The President stated:

“My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos.”​

In addition, Millie also came into the spotlight through her own books. The first is titled Good Dog, Millie: A Day in the Life of America's Most Famous Canine, and another where she is credited as the author, titled Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush, which focuses on her life in the White House. Millie also made appearances in television programs such as The Simpsons and Murphy Brown.

Red colored illustration of graduation mortarboard above red text.

Jesse Jackson ran as a candidate of the Democratic Party in 1984 and was the first African-American male to do so. He lost the nomination to former Vice President Walter F. Mondale and finished third in the tally, receiving over 18 percent of the votes and surprising pundits nationwide.  

Jackson was born Jesse Louis Burns in Greenville, SC in 1941. He was adopted by his mother's husband when he was one-year-old and took his step-father's surname. Jackson graduated from a historically black university, North Carolina A&T, in 1964 and attended Chicago Theological Seminary. Rather than completing his degree there, he chose to work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). SCLC was the civil rights organization led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1966, King personally selected Jackson to head the organization's Chicago branch. After a falling out with SCLC administration, Jackson created People United to Save Humanity (PUSH). PUSH focused on political activism and aimed to place political pressure on elected officials regarding civil rights issues. Jackson resigned as president of PUSH in 1984 in order to focus on his presidential campaign. During the campaign, Jackson formed the National Rainbow Coalition, which merged with PUSH in 1996.

Photographs of Bill Clinton and Al Gore with white text on a red background.

In 1992, Democratic candidate Bill Clinton ran for the U.S. presidency against Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush. Clinton, who was at that time the governor of Arkansas, was not seen as a strong opponent and people cast doubt that the Democratic Party would choose him as their nominee. When he was nominated, Clinton decided on Al Gore as his running mate and became popular among young voters.

Clinton ended up winning the election, but a dark shadow was cast over his first term when Paula Jones—an Arkansas state employee–leveled an allegation of sexual misconduct against Clinton. Though the suit filed by Jones was eventually settled out of court, it left a permanent stain on Clinton’s reputation. In the subsequent presidential election, political opponents leveraged Clinton’s past to undermine his reelection efforts. Some deemed the Democrat to be unsuitable for the presidency given the sexual allegations made against him. Clinton, however, ended up winning the 1996 election. His second term, like the first, was met with fresh scandals including his sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Side by side photographs of Ronald Reagan and Richard Schweiker on a white background.  White text on half-red half-blue outer border of button.

In 1976 Ronald Reagan and Richard Schweiker ran for the Presidential and Vice Presidential Republican Party nominations respectively. Before the opening of the Republican National Convention, Reagan named Richard Schweiker as his candidate for Vice President in an attempt to attract liberals and centrists. When Reagan named Schweiker as his running mate it came as a surprise to Schweiker as the two did not known each other personally. Many conservatives were upset with Reagan’s choice of the liberal Schweiker and only a few moderate delegates switched to Reagan. Reagan and Schweiker lost the Presidential and Vice Presidential nominations to Gerald Ford and Bob Dole.