Illustration of the top of a building next to a black and white photograph of a man's head and shoulders with gold and blue text above and below

Notre Dame University, a private co-educational Catholic research college was founded in 1842 in South Bend, Indiana and is consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in America.  Founded by the Congregation of the Holy Cross as an all-male school, the university became co-educational in 1971.  The Kennedy family, whose members have held numerous political positions, have a history of Roman Catholic roots, and have been benefactors for numerous students to attend Notre Dame. 

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy (1932-2009), Massachusetts Senator and part of the famous Kennedy clan, ran against incumbent Jimmy Carter in the 1980 Presidential Primary for the Democratic ticket.  To date, this was the last primary in which an incumbent lost electoral states to another candidate in a presidential primary.  The victories were not enough to secure the nomination, and Carter went on to represent the Democratic Party.  Kennedy returned to his post as Senator, where he served out a 47 year term as the Senator from Massachusetts.

Red text on a white background

In the 1940 presidential election, Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie, faced off against President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was campaigning for a third term in office. While it was not yet written in the Constitution, a U.S. President customarily served only two terms in office, making President Roosevelt's reelection campaign controversial. Using the President's break from tradition as a platform for his own campaign, Willkie and his staff used the slogan, "No Third Term" as an attack on Roosevelt. Despite its irregular nature, Roosevelt went on to win the election, becoming the only President in American history to ever be elected for a third term. First passed by Congress in 1947 and later ratified by the States in 1951, the Twenty-Second Amendment specifically limits a president to only two terms in office.​

Large black 'X' in center of button, with 'NI's and 'ON's in red to form the name 'Nixon' twice on a white background.

Richard Nixon (R-CA) ran for re-election against U.S. Senator George McGovern (D-SD) in the 1972 Presidential election. Nixon won in a landslide victory, taking 49 states and 60% of the popular vote. He was also the first Republican to sweep the southern states. The 1972 election was the first time 18 year olds were allowed to vote because of the ratification of the 26th Amendment in 1971. By 1974, both President Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew would resign, Nixon due to the Watergate scandal and Agnew due to corruption charges during his time as governor of Maryland.

Illustration of American flag with blue text on a white background.

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Black and white photographs of two women's head and shoulders on a blue background with a white and red outer edge with white text

Rosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter, took to the campaign trail in the 1980 presidential re-election campaign, making speeches and appearances for her husband who was preoccupied with foreign and domestic affairs.  Mrs. Carter embraced Ted Kennedy’s challenges during the primaries and endured allergic reactions, a hotel fire and mouth sores from constant public appearances and speeches.  Despite maintaining a grueling schedule in her husband’s place, as well as keeping up with her schedule as First Lady, Mrs. Carter was not asked to speak at the Democratic National Convention that year.  She was the last First Lady to not address a national Presidential convention.

Joan Mondale, wife of Vice-President Walter Mondale, is best known for her zeal during the Carter/Mondale administration to focus attention on arts and culture and was dubbed “Joan of Art” for her constant promotion of fine arts throughout her husband’s political career.  Mrs. Mondale was an avid potter, and while living at the American embassy in Tokyo, she often gave away the cups and bowls she made.  Like her cohort Rosalynn, she spent a great deal of time traveling and campaigning for her husband.

Rosalynn and Joan were both strong advocates of the Equal Rights Amendment and the push for equal pay for women, and heralded in a new era for presidential spouses who were not content with the traditional roles delegated to the First Lady, but charted their own path through their husbands' administrations.

An illustration of Jimmy Carter is center in black and white surrounded by a green rim and white text. 

Jimmy Carter began his political career by serving on the Georgia State Senate from 1963-1967. After losing the bid for governor in 1966, he took a few years off to tend to his farming business. In 1970, he again ran for governor, this time successfully winning the Democratic nomination and the overall election. He served as governor until 1975. In 1976, he shocked the Democratic party leadership by winning the Iowa caucus in pursuit of the Democratic nomination for president. After that win, Carter's campaign released a series of green and white buttons, including this one. The green color was a departure from traditional red, white, and blue political buttons. It signified Carter's background as a peanut farmer. Carter eventually secured the nomination and won the 1976 election. 

In his 1980 reelection campaign, Carter reintroduced variations on his 1976 green buttons. However, he lost the election to Ronald Reagan.

Blue text on a white stripe with red and blue above and below

The grassroots movement to draft WWII hero and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, Dwight D. Eisenhower, into the Oval Office was the first of its kind in the 20^th century. Republican supporters coined the slogan “I Like Ike” in 1951 when marketing research revealed that the public liked to talk about how they trusted and felt comfortable with Eisenhower (nicknamed “Ike”). During the campaign, the slogan was used for one of the first ever political television commercials using a song written by Irving Berlin and produced by Disney.  

Eisenhower was reluctant to accept the nomination, but after 25,000 people attended a “Draft Eisenhower” rally held at the 16,000-person capacity Madison Square Garden, he was moved to accept his party’s nomination.

Black-and-white photograph of Elizabeth II and black text on white background. 

This button may have been produced in honor of Queen Elizabeth's coronation on June 2,1953. Elizabeth II has been the Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia since the death of her father, King George VI, on February 6, 1952. Elizabeth became the heir presumptive at the age of 10 years old when her uncle, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to her father in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. 

Married to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, since 1947, Queen Elizabeth has four children: Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Edward, Earl of Essex. Her reign of over 60 years has seen its fair share of tragedy and scandal, but during her Diamond Jubilee year in 2012, Elizabeth's approval ratings reached 90%. Queen Elizabeth is both the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch. While she does not intend to abdicate the throne before her death, her eldest son, Prince Charles, has begun to take over some over her duties following her 90th birthday in 2016. 

White text on a green background 

Jimmy Carter ran as the Democratic candidate in the 1976 Presidential Election.  It was well-known that Carter was a former peanut farmer from Georgia and served as that state’s governor for two terms.  It was hoped that the reference to “grits” would help emphasize his Southern roots and would capture the votes of the Southern states.  Walter Frederick Mondale served as Carter’s running mate. 

Mondale was known to his family and friends as “Fritz” which was a possible shortening of his middle name.  The Carter-Mondale ticket won the 1976 election, and served for one administration.  Mondale later ran for President in the 1984 election, but lost by a land-slide to Ronald Reagan.

Black and white photograph of Goldwater and white text on a black background

Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) was a U.S. Senator from Arizona would ran as the Republican candidate against Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 presidential election.  Goldwater is credited with pushing the Republican Party to the far right of their previous moderate platform with the assistance of supporters like Ronald Reagan, who gave a stirring national television speech shortly before the election titled “A Time for Choosing.”  Goldwater published The Conscience of a Conservative, and is seen as the founder of the modern conservative political movement.  His most famous quote “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” from his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination resulted in the Johnson campaign depicting Goldwater as a proponent of nuclear war.  In a hotly debated campaign Goldwater strongly criticized Johnson’s liberal domestic policies and defended his stand against the Civil Rights Amendment.  Goldwater was defeated when incumbent Johnson won the election with over 60% of the popular vote.

Once a staunch supporter of Nixon, Goldwater was among those Republican leaders who visited the White House on August 7, 1974 to compel the president that he needed to resign in the wake of the Watergate Scandal.  After retiring from the Senate, Goldwater began to express more libertarian views and at the end of his life, became a strong supporter of libertarian politics, and supported the removal of the ban against homosexuals in the military.