White text on top of a photograph of Jessie Jackson. 

Jesse Jackson is a politician, civil rights activist, and minister.  He worked for Martin Luther King, Jr. and participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches.  Jackson was active in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and People United to Serve Humanity, and he founded the Rainbow Coalition in 1984.  He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.  In 1984, Jackson came in third place behind Gary Hart and Walter Mondale, despite having been viewed as a fringe candidate.  His 1988 campaign was even more successful.  Although he was briefly thought to be a frontrunner for the nomination, he was ultimately defeated by Michael Dukakis.

Red and blue text on white background with photograph of Adlai Stevenson in the center. 

This button was for Adlai Stevenson III's campaign for Illinois governor in 1986. Stevenson ran as a Solidarity Party candidate to offer an alternative to the Democratic slate of candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state. He lost the election to James R. Thompson, a Republican. Stevenson had run as a Democrat for Illinois governor in 1982, also against Thompson, but lost by 0.14 percent and asked for a recount. The Illinois Supreme Court voted against a recount, thereby making Thompson governor.

Stevenson was the Illinois Treasurer from 1967-1970 and U.S. Senator from 1970-1981. He is the son of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II, who lost the U.S. presidential election to Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956.

Photograph of the Beatles wearing suits on a blue background with a white banner and black text over the bottom and black and white photographs of each of their heads with black text on a blue background

The Beatles were a 1960s English rock band from Liverpool comprised of four childhood friends: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. This quartet took the music world by storm with their unconventional sound of rock, skiffle, and pop, which gained them international fame. Their first album entitled "Please Please Me" which debuted in 1963 climbed to the top of the charts and received musical acclaim from Rolling Stone magazine as being one of the greatest albums of all-time. However, that was only the beginning of their success. They continued to make great music and release iconic hit-makers such as "Love Me Due" and "Hey Jude."

Yellow text and an illustration of a man on a red background

Culturally referred to as "The King," Elvis Presley was a rock and roll sensation from Memphis, Tennessee who became one of the most renowned artists of the 20th century. His music career took flight in 1954 when he became acquainted with Sun Records producer Sam Phillips. His blend of country, rock and roll, and r&b set the precedent for his mainstream popularity when he debuted his first single on RCA Records, "Heartbreak Hotel." From that success early on, Presley ventured off into film and landed the lead role in "Love Me Tender" (1956). With success in both music and film, Presley received global acclaim. In his later years, he began to battle with several ailments that stemmed from his drug addiction and on August 8, 1977, he was found dead in a Memphis hotel.

White text and a red heart on a blue background

International Trucks is one of several brands owned by Navistar International Corporation. The company has its roots in a 1902 merger of the Deering Harvester Company and the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, resulting in the formation of the International Harvester Company. Over the next 75 years, the company evolved into manufacturing farming equipment, construction equipment, gas turbines, trucks, buses, and related components. During World War II, International Harvester made the M-series of military trucks serving the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy. 

In the failing agricultural economy of the 1980s, International Harvester fell on hard times and by 1986, had sold everything but the Truck and Engine divisions. At that time, the name was changed to Navistar International Corporation, and the International Trucks brand was created to produce a variety of medium-duty, over-the-road, and severe-service trucks.

Color illustration of a woman in a blue shirt with a red and white polka dotted scarf on her head on a yellow background with a blue outer edge and white and grey text

Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42^nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993.  Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were the Democratic nominees in 1992 and won the election, beating out President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle.  During Clinton’s inaugural address, he said, “Let us work until our work is done”.  Rosie the Riveter, depicted on this button, was an icon representing women workers of World War II and became a symbol for women’s rights.  During his 1992 campaign, Clinton became outspoken on the topic of women’s rights, as shown on the issues listed beside Rosie.

Illustration of a person with yellow hair, a red hat and blue bow tie and a brown dog on a yellow background

Buster Brown was a comic strip that was created by Richard Felton Outcault in the early 1900s. The young boy, Buster, had page-boy style hair with a wide brim hat and he wore an oversized bow around his neck. His companion was a pit bull terrier by the name of Tige. In the comic strip, Buster Brown was portrayed as a practical joker and the comic strip usually ended with a moral unrelated to the antics within that specific tale.

The Buster Brown characters are more widely recognized for their use in advertising. Outcault proactively sold roughly 200 licenses to companies to allow them to use his characters to promote their products. The most well-known affiliation came in 1904 when John Bush purchased the advertising rights for use in the company he worked for, the Brown Shoe Company. From then on the company imprinted the image on its shoe boxes. It also hired little people to dress up as Buster Brown and perform in department stores, accompanied by dogs representing Tige. In 1946 Bob Stolz replaced Frank Cornwell as the new Advertising Director of the company.

Color photograph of a man in a blue turtleneck over an illustration of a white star with black text on a red background

John Travolta is a Hollywood actor who is known for starring in popular '90s blockbusters such as Pulp Fiction (1994) and Face/Off (1997). His acting career began in the '70s when he was casted in a television sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. During his time there, Travolta landed leading roles in two of the most memorable films of the '70s, which were Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). Since, he has starred in the popular FX television drama, People v. O.J. Simpson, as one of Simpson's legal aid, Robert Shapiro.  

Red and blue text on a white background

After the attack on Pearl harbor during WWII, thousands looked to volunteer in civil defense units. The Council of National Defense had been established by the U.S. government during WWI and was followed by the Office of Civil Defense in 1941. States were not in support of the federal government having control over civil defense and they all created their own civil defense organizations. A Junior Service Corps was established for children under the age of 15. They primarily supported the efforts of recycling during WWII. They would pass out fliers and string, educate households on how to properly secure waste paper, and how much each household should salvage each month based on quotas set by the War Production Board (WPB).

Portrait picture of Michael Jordan on the left of a large printed black block text all on a white background.

In the early 1990’s, Michael Jordan’s popularity led to the fast food chain, McDonald’s, creating a hamburger named after the basketball celebrity. The burger claimed to include all of Jordan’s favorite toppings: mustard, cheese, pickles, onions, bacon, and BBQ sauce (called McJordan BBQ sauce). The burger’s run was short, and only sold in the Midwest before it was pulled in 1992. Later it would show up in the news again when a one-gallon jug of McJordan BBQ sauce was sold on eBay for nearly $10,000 in 2012 - twenty years after it had expired.