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John Glenn is a former astronaut and United States Senator. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard the Friendship 7, on February 20, 1962. NASA psychologists determined that Glenn was the astronaut best suited to a political career, and Robert F. Kennedy suggested to Glenn that he challenge incumbent Ohio Senator Stephen Young. Glenn announced that he was resigning from the space program to run for office in 1964, but he had to withdraw from the race after sustaining a concussion from a fall. Glenn remained close to Kennedy, and was with him when he was assassinated in 1968. 

Glenn ran for Senate in Ohio unsuccessfully again in 1970, but was finally elected in his 1974 bid, serving until 1999. As a sitting Senator, he became the oldest person to fly in space on a Discovery mission in 1998, at age 77. Glenn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. 

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Illinois Citizens for Reagan was a committee formed in 1976 by former Congressman Phil Crane to assist Ronald Reagan in becoming elected President by providing support to delegates loyal to Reagan in the Republican primary. 

Ronald Reagan was the 40^th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Reagan himself lived in various towns in northern Illinois and graduated from Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois in 1932. 

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Hubert the Lion is a marketing character that was created for Harris Bank by the Leo Burnett advertising agency in 1958. Like a lion, Hubert was meant to represent what the bank wanted to be known for; per bank VP Mary Ullrich, “dignity, importance, strength, everything that we wanted to stand for except warmth and friendliness.” Hubert was originally a stuffed animal given out as a premium for attracting customers and became one of the more popular bank premiums in history. 

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Thomas E. Dewey was an attorney who became famous after his 1935 appointment as a special prosecutor to look into corruption in New York City. Dewey targeted organized criminal enterprises, prosecuting Mafia members and corrupt bankers. Dewey was elected as governor of New York in 1942, and was regarded as honest and efficient. He was the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 1944, and is still the youngest Republican nominee at age 42, but lost the election to incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt. The party nominated Dewey for President again in 1948, and he was strongly favored in the general election, leading to the infamously erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" printed by the Chicago Daily Tribune, before returns showed that the winner was incumbent president Harry S. Truman. 

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After the untimely death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President of the United States. During his time in office, he made tremendous steps in aiding the economic growth of Western Europe with the launch of the Marshall Plan, sought the U.S. through the Korean War to regulate communism, and authorized the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski to end World War II. These accomplishments are what sparked his reelection to presidency in 1948 when he defeated former New York State Governor Thomas Dewey.

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Thomas Francis "Tom" Eagleton, a Missouri native, was a U.S. Senator from 1968 to 1987. While in office, Eagleton was actively involved in foreign relations, education, health care, and environmental matters. He was integral to the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act being passed and sponsored the bill that would end American involvement in the Vietnam War.

When George McGovern became the Democratic nominee for President in 1972, Eagleton was his chosen vice-president. Shortly after the announcement, word got out that Eagleton had been hospitalized and received electric shock therapy for his depression. McGovern did defend Eagleton in the beginning, but party pressure led to Eagleton being dropped from the campaign after only 18 days. Eagleton went on to practice law and had a major role in bringing the Rams to St. Louis.

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The American Party is a monniker that has been used by a variety of different parties in American political history, often campaigning on nativist, anti-immigration platforms. The most famous American Party was a mid-1850s populist movement commonly referred to as the Know Nothings. 

The current iteration of the American Party grew out of George Wallace's independent campaign for president in 1968. The Party is extremely conservative and maintains the Know Nothing populist nativist ideologies, including a distaste for big government and for the two major parties.

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One fifth of the Beatles, Ringo Starr who was born Richard Starkey is an international performer from England who's a vocalist, drummer, and songwriter. He has provided his vocals to Beatles' classics such as Yellow Submarine (1966) and With a Little Help from My Friends (1967). Along with his vocals, Starr also lent his songwriting skills to the following group albums: The Beatles (1968) and Abbey Road (1969).

This button is part of a set of 9. The buttons were circulated in vending machines in the US in the 1960s. 

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Douglas Corrigan was a notorious aviator made famous for his “mistaken” flight from Brooklyn to Dublin Ireland in 1938 for which he was later dubbed “Wrong-Way Corrigan.”  Corrigan had filed a flight plan from New York to California, and claimed when he landed in Ireland sometime later that he had gotten lost in the fog.  It is believed that Corrigan became increasingly frustrated with aviation authorities who continually denied requests for such a flight because they deemed his 1929 Curtiss-Robin monoplane unworthy of the trip. They were not too far off the mark.  During the flight, the fuel began to leak at such an alarming rate, that Corrigan had to use a screwdriver to punch a hole in the cockpit floor so the fuel would drain. 

As a result of the wrong-way flight, Corrigan’s pilot license was suspended, but only briefly.  Tales of his exploits became front page news and upon his return to America, Corrigan was treated to a ticker tape parade in New York more extravagant than the one given for Lindbergh after his 1927 trans-Atlantic flight.  Lindbergh was a source of inspiration for Corrigan, and in fact Corrigan helped build the Spirit of St. Louis and pulled the chucks away from the wheels for Lindbergh’s famous flight.

Pat placed on the face of this button likely refers to a patent on the design or image.