Photograph of the United States Capitol Building with inset portrait photographs of Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush.  A wavy section along the bottom of the button is divided into red, white and blue stripes.  White and blue text.

Since 1937, the inauguration for the President of the United States has taken place on January 20th. For Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985, the 20th fell on a Sunday. Electing to wait until the following day to hold the public ceremony, a private ceremony was held to officially begin Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush's second tenure in office. On the following day, the public ceremony was held at the United States Capitol Building. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the presidential oath to Reagan while Associate Justice Potter Stewart administered Bush's oath of office. Due to the cold weather at the time, the inauguration cancelled many of its outdoors events, including the customary parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Photograph of Lyndon B. Johnson on a white background with red text curving around edge of button.  Right portion of button is blue with white text.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was sworn in as president following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November of 1963. Johnson immediately focused on his campaign to create a "Great Society" and fought for social programs and legislation including Medicare, public broadcasting, and Head Start as well as the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. This time in history has been portrayed in both a play and movie. The play, All the Way, written by Robert Schenkkan and premiered in 2012, takes its title from LBJ's 1964 campaign slogan, "All the Way with LBJ." The story follows President Johnson as he tries to gain allies within the civil rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and get the US Congress to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 2016 movie by the same name follows the 2012 play's plot and stars Bryan Cranston as LBJ and Anthony Mackie as MLK.

White text on a black background.

George W. Bush was the 43rd president of the United States, serving as a Republican from 2001 to 2009. During his time in office, America experienced the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2008 financial crisis. Many of his responses to these events were widely criticized. Alongside this criticism was a proliferation of anti-Bush novelty items – bumper stickers, coffee mugs, buttons, etc. – that made use of the wordplay of Bush’s name and the derogatory phrase “bullshit”. Some have cited the first use of the BU**SH** wordplay to have been on posters at Bush’s inauguration.

Black text on a yellow background.

Harold Stassen was the Republican nominee for the 1948 Presidential elections and when he lost the election, he ran another eight times, earning the name of a perennial candidate. In 1956, Stassen did not run for president, but did serve as the Security Administration Director during Eisenhower’s presidency. During this time, he strongly encouraged Eisenhower to get rid of Richard Nixon at the Republican convention. This in turn lost him favor with many American’s and anti-Stassen supporters began sporting these buttons to show their disfavor towards Stassen.

Parallel red and blue stripes in center of button with blue text between them on a white background.

Born on February 18, 1892, Wendell Willkie was an American lawyer and corporate executive who is perhaps best known for being the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Campaigning against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Willkie actively campaigned against Roosevelt's New Deal policy as well as for a more active role for the United States in World War II. On election day, President Roosevelt received twenty-seven million votes to Willkie's twenty-two million, and also held a substantial lead in the Electoral College with four hundred and forty-nine to Willkie's eighty-two.

Despite his loss, Willkie, to the surprise of many in his party, became an unlikely ally to the President. Between 1941 and 1943, Willkie embarked on numerous trips abroad, acting as the President's informal envoy. Willkie actively pushed for the United States to provide unlimited aid to Britain in their struggle against Nazi Germany. After returning to campaign once more for President in 1944, Willkie suffered a series of heart attacks, forcing him to leave the campaign. Willkie finally succumbed to a heart attack and died in 1944 at the age of fifty-two. Willkie is remembered and hailed for providing President Roosevelt with political assistance that proved vital to helping America's allies during World War II. 

Illustration of Uncle Sam gesturing to inset portrait photographs of George and Barbara Bush on an illustrated background of the American flag in red, blue, gold and silver.

The 1992 National Convention of the Republican Party was held in Houson Texas from August 17-20, 1992. Over the weekend, the Republican Party officially nominated incumbent president George H.W. Bush and incumbent vice president Dan Quayle for the November presidential election. This marked Bush's fourth consecutive presidential ticket, although he would go on to lose the election to Democratic nominees Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Bush's wife, Barbara, and his family accompanied him to the convention, making several public appearances. 

Image of Jimmy Carter with white text in the red outer edge on top and blue edge on the bottom, and black text in the white edges in the middle 

The 1980 National Convention for the U.S. Democratic Party was held from August 11 to August 14. Seeking a second term in office, President Jimmy Carter was once more the official Democratic nominee while Carter's Vice President, Walter Mondale, also received his nomination to continue on in his position. Though Carter did win the nomination, his success getting there was often left in doubt. Though Carter was the incumbent president, his term was beleaguered by numerous issues, including a poor national economy as well as an unresolved hostage situation in Iran. Carter's chief rival for the nomination was Massachusetts Senator, Ted Kennedy. Brother to former President, John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy was seen by many as a natural leader for the future of the Democratic Party. Regardless, Kennedy was unsuccessful in his attempts and Carter managed to achieve the nomination. However, Carter would go on to lose the election to the Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan.

Blue text on a white background with inset portrait photograph of Jimmy Carter bordered by red fleur-de-lis.  Illustration of unrolled blue scroll with white text along bottom of button.  White text on blue outer border.

Voters elected Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, as the 39th president of the United States in 1976 over Republican candidate Gerald Ford. Carter was the Democratic nominee for president in 1980 as well. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was Carter’s main rival at the 1980 Democratic National Convention. Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin also competed for the nomination. Carter received 64.04 percent of the votes compared to Kennedy’s 34.72 percent and Proxmire’s 0.3 percent. Carter lost the 1980 election to former California Governor Ronald Reagan and his running mate George H.W. Bush. After losing the election, Carter returned to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, and his peanut farm.

Photograph of George H.W. Bush with text appearing to his right.

For the 1988 United States presidential election, incumbent Vice President, George H.W. Bush served as the Republican nominee in the race. Choosing Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate, Bush faced off against the Democrats nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. Capitalizing on Reagan's popularity as well as benefiting from a Dukakis's campaign that suffered many miscues, Bush would go on to win in a landslide victory. Securing 426 electoral votes versus Dukakis's 111, no candidate since has managed to equal or surpass Bush's number of electoral votes nor his popular vote percentage of 53.4%

Portrait photograph of Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
 

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States. He was president for two consecutive terms from 1981-1989. Before becoming President, Ronald Reagan was an actor and later became governor of California,1967-75,  before throwing his hat into the Presidential ring. He married Nancy Davis, who was also an actress and a dancer in 1952.

Mrs. Reagan was known to be outspoken, and was well known for her Just say No to Drugs campaign.  They were married for 52 years until his death in 2004. Nancy Reagan hosted 56 state dinners during her husband's presidency.