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The Socialist Party of America's candidates in the 1940 presidential election were Norman Thomas (president) and Maynard Krueger (vice president). It was the fourth of six consecutive presidential campaigns for Thomas, a Presbyterian minister and pacifist. Krueger, a 34-year-old economics professor at the University of Chicago, was initially considered too young to run for the position, but he successfully pointed out that he would reach constitutional age by Inauguration Day. 

The Socialist Party of America was formed in 1901 as a merger between the Social Democratic Party of America and the Socialist Labor Party. The party initially drew support from trade unionists, social reformers, populist farmers, immigrants and was staunchly opposed to America's involvement in World War I. The Thomas/Krueger ticket won only 0.2% of the votes in the 1940 election, and the party stopped running presidential candidates entirely after 1956. The Socialist Party of America was dissolved in 1972, and internal factions went on to form three separate parties: Social Democrats USA, Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and Socialist Party USA. 

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This is a campaign button encouraging United States voters to vote for members of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is a major political party founded in 1828 and members of the party are primarily progressive and centrist, advocating for social and economic equality. 

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Morris King “Mo” Udall was an American politician who ran for President in 1976 but lost to Jimmy Carter. Udall served as Chair of the House Interior Committee from 1977 to 1991 and as an Arizona Congressman from 1961 to 1991. 

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The People for Ford (PFF) was a volunteer initiative for the President Ford Committee developed to target special voter groups where similar For Ford slogans were also created for Hungarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and others for direct efforts in gaining support from these groups. The PFF also targeted women, farmers, senior citizens and professional groups.

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. entered into politics as a member of the House of Representatives which led him to become Minority Leader and House Speaker. Upon the resignation of U. S. President Spiro Agnew, Ford was appointed by President Nixon to assume the vice-presidency. Ford would go on to become the 38th President of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon. Ford is the only U.S. president who had never been elected to national office. Ford died December 26, 2006. 

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Ronald Reagan was an actor who became involved with politics in the 1960s. He was the Governor of California from 1966 to 1974. In 1968 and 1976 he ran unsuccessfully to become the Republican Party's nominee for President, but he easily secured the nomination in 1980. At the Republican Convention on July 14, 1980, Reagan declared that he would improve the lives of all Americans by "making America great again," which became his campaign slogan. 

Reagan ran against incumbent President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, alongside vice-presidential nominee George H.W. Bush. His campaign stressed lower taxes, states' rights and less governmental interference in people's lives. In the general election, Reagan was behind in most polls leading up to the sole televised debate with Carter, but the Reagan/Bush ticket was able to overcome the deficit. Reagan ended up carrying 44 states, and became the 40th President of the United States. 

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The 1984 presidential election was a contest between incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush, and the Democratic Party's ticket former Vice President Walter Mondale and New York Representative Geraldine Ferraro. Mondale had wanted to choose New York Governor Mario Cuomo as his running mate, but he declined. Ferraro, recommended by Cuomo, was the first woman nominated for Vice President by a major party, and Mondale hoped to appeal to women voters. 

President Reagan could point to a strong economic recovery and renewed national confidence during his first term, while Mondale supported the Equal Rights Amendment and the need to decrease budget deficits. The Mondale/Ferraro ticket was damaged during the campaign by questions about Ferraro's husband, real estate developer John Zaccaro. Although there were some questions about Reagan's age and capacity to continue in the office, the Reagan/Bush ticket was successful on Election Day, receiving the electoral college votes of 49 out of 50 states. 

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On January 23, 1973 U.S. President Richard Nixon gave a speech describing the Paris Peace Accord as “Peace with Honor”. The phrase plays on a promise Nixon made during his presidential campaign in which he said “I pledge to you that we shall have an honorable end to the war in Vietnam”. The Paris Peace Accord was established to end the Vietnam War and ended U.S. military combat in Vietnam. 

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Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro were the Democratic Party's nominations in the 1984 election for United States President and Vice-President. Mondale was a United States Senator representing the state of Minnesota from 1964 to 1976, and served as the 42nd Vice-President of the United States under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Ferraro was a schoolteacher, and then the head of a new Special Victims Bureau, a division of the Queens County District Attorney's office in New York, before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1978. 

The Mondale-Ferraro ticket was historic, with Ferraro becoming both the first woman and first Italian-American nominated by a major political party. This meant large-scale media attention,and Ferrraro faced tough questions about her lack of experience with foreign policy and the finances of her husband, businessman John Zaccaro, as well as criticism from the Catholic Church for her pro-choice stance. The Mondale-Ferraro campaign was liberal in nature, supporting the Equal Rights Amendment and nuclear disarmament, and gained the endorsement of several major unions, including the United Automobile Workers' union (UAW), whose flag is featured on this button. 

Mondale and Ferraro were defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan on Election Day, receiving only 13 electoral college votes from Mondale's home state of Minnesota. 

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Michael J. Bakalis’ ran for governor of Illinois in 1978. He and his running mate, Dick Durbin, faced stiff opposition from Republican incumbent James R. “Big Jim” Thompson. Thompson handily won and his victory margin of 596,550 votes set the record for an incumbent in an Illinois gubernatorial contest.

Bakalis went on to serve as Deputy Undersecretary of Education for the United States from 1980-1982, serving under presidents Carter and Reagan. Bakalis again made a brief attempt to run for governor in 2002, but failed to secure enough funding to compete.

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Eugene McCarthy was an American politician who ran for President in 1968. McCarthy unsuccessfully ran for President five times but served as Senator of Minnesota from 1959 to 1971 and in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959.