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.

White text and a white ecology symbol on a light green background

George McGovern was a politician from South Dakota who was active between 1957 and 1984. In 1962, he won himself a Senate seat and won re-election in the state in 1968. McGovern would utilize a grassroots campaign and surprisingly win the Democratic nomination. An active member of the convention, McGovern had enacted policies that gave greater representation to minorities, helping him secure the victory. 

McGovern was ahead of his time and campaigned for an immediate end to the Vietnam War. He is considered a reformer politician for trying to make Democrats lean to more liberal social and economic policies. These radical ideas would have a negative consequence of splitting the party. As a result of not have a unified party backing him, McGovern lost by a large margin to incumbent President Nixon.

Blue text and blue trim on a white button. 

Richard M. Daley was Chicago's mayor for a then-record breaking five terms. In 1967, Daley entered the race for his fourth term against Republican nominee John L. Waner. In the past, Daley had failed to receive support from the white electorate, though he was reelected due to overwhelming support among black Chicago voters. In 1967, Daley adopted a much more conservative stance on race, attempting to win back the white voters by planning a housing redesign that cleared slums and "protected" white citizens against the "encroachment" of black families. Daley won the election in a landslide, taking all 50 city wards and receiving more votes than he had in all three previous elections.

Black text and black and white photographs on a white background

During the United States presidential election of 1976 the democratic candidate was Georgia Governor, Jimmy Carter, along with his running mate, Minnesota Senator, Walter Mondale. The opposition was republican candidate Gerald Ford and his running mate, Bob Dole. Carter narrowly won the election with 297 electoral votes, 23 states plus Washington DC, and 50.1% of the popular vote. 

White text with illustration to make the shape of a donkey on a green background

In 1976, Jimmy Carter won the democratic nomination and ran for president against incumbent President Ford. Carter’s political experience included a term as a senator in the 1960’s before becoming the governor of Georgia from 1971-1975. Gerald Ford, a Republican, had taken over as president after Nixon’s resignation in 1974 and many people were upset that Ford had pardoned Nixon, creating tensions. Carter ran as an underdog and Washington outsider, someone who would be a good change for America. Carter’s name is spelled to look like a donkey, the mascot of the Democratic Party. Many of Carter’s campaign materials were green to pay homage to his roots as a peanut farmer, which is a departure from the typical red, white, and blue color scheme of political memorabilia.

Photograph of Linda Ronstadt between a Democratic donkey symbol and the number 80 with black text on the top and bottom edges on a white background

Linda Ronstadt met Jerry Brown in 1971. At the time, he was California's Secretary of State, and her career in music had not yet made her famous. By 1975, Ronstadt's album "Heart Like a Wheel" was climbing the charts.  Brown announced his candidacy for President of the United States in March 1976. His bid for the presidency was unsuccessful, but in November 1979, he announced he would again seek the Democratic nomination in 1980. Ronstadt performed several benefit concerts for Brown, and the public began referring to her as the First Lady. Brown ended his campaign on April 1, 1980. Although the two were occasionally seen together in the early 1980s, they eventually parted ways.

Illustration of a red fez bearing the Shriner symbol with green text on the top and bottom edge on a white background

The Zamora Shrine Center is a Shriners International temple in Birmingham, Alabama. The Shriners International fraternal organization was established in 1870 and founded on Masonic principles. The Shrine Circus was founded in 1906. It now travels across the United States and Canada, holding performances as fundraisers for the organization.