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Laugh-In was a popular American sketch comedy television show created by Dan Rowen and Dick Martin.  The show, which consisted of 140 episodes, ran from 1968-1973.  The title was a play on words reflecting the “love-ins” and “sit-ins” common in the 1960s hippie culture and civil rights movements.  Skits from the show featured regular cast members and special guest stars and became the launching platform for stars such as Goldie Hawn, Lilly Tomlin and Arte Johnson.  Laugh-In became the #1 television show in America within two months of its debut.

Dick Martin (1922-2008) was an American comedian and director, best known as co-creator of the Laugh-In series.  A graduate of Michigan State University, he formed a comedy team with Dan Rowan in 1952 and played in nightclubs throughout the U.S. and overseas.  The pair also appeared frequently on Colgate’s Comedy Hour.  Later in his career, he directed The Bob Newhart Show and the 1980s sitcom Newhart.

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Laugh-In was a popular American sketch comedy television show created by Dan Rowen and Dick Martin.  The show, which consisted of 140 episodes, ran from 1968-1973.  The title was a play on words reflecting the “love-ins” and “sit-ins” common in the 1960s hippie culture and civil rights movements.  Skits from the show featured regular cast members and special guest stars and became the launching platform for stars such as Goldie Hawn, Lilly Tomlin and Arte Johnson.  Laugh-In became the #1 television show in America within two months of its debut.

Dan Rowen (1922-1987) was an American comedian who co-created the comedy series Laugh-In with Dick Martin.  Rowen was actually born on a carnival train in Oklahoma, and traveled and performed with his parents until he was 11, when he was orphaned.  He then spent the next 4 years in an orphanage in Colorado, until he was adopted at the age of 15.  After completing high school, Rowan hitchhiked to Los Angeles and began working in the mail room at Paramount.  A year later, he became the youngest staff writer for the studio.  Rowan served as a fighter pilot in WWII and received several military decorations including the Purple Heart.  After discharge he returned to California, and teamed up with Dick Martin and toured as a comedy team until the pair created the Laugh-In series.

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The Beatles were a well-known English rock band comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The group experimented with several musical styles and quickly gained popularity. They first appeared as “Beatlemania.” The band was nick-named the “Fab Four” and by 1964 were internationally loved. After the group broke up in 1970, there was a widespread movement, speared by Muhammad Ali and Joel Sacher, to reunite the band.

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Equal Rights for Public Employees is likely a reference to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, its purpose is to enforce federal laws prohibiting workplace discrimination against employees of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. They also work to prevent discrimination from occurring by giving presentations to employees about law enforcement and writing documents about equal employment opportunity laws to help employees understand their rights and responsibilities at work. Their vision is to respect and include workplaces with equal employment opportunities for all.

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Dad’s Root Beer was developed in the 1930s by Barney Berns and Ely Klapman of Chicago, Illinois. By the 1940s, Dad’s was one of the most consumed brands of root beer in the U.S. The company’s bottling plant, located in the Avondale area of northwest Chicago along the Kennedy Expressway, was a fixture in that neighborhood. After the plant was moved to Indiana in the 70s, the Chicago location was renovated into condominiums. Jules Klapman, grandson of the co-founder was able to expand the product to the international market. The Dad’s brand was sold to IC Industries and then Monarch Beverage Company and is currently headquartered in Jasper, Indiana. 

A white-bearded Norseman carries a club and a shield that reads, The Nourse Brands, while wearing a horned helmet and fur-lined boots. He stands above a message that reads, Nourse Oil Co, in black text following orange text that reads, "Business is Good." There is an orange and black checkered outer border and an inner background tan color behind the man. In the center is a whole where a wooden stick should be to use as a spinning top.

Nourse Oil Co. was an independent oil company founded by John Cuming Nourse at age 19 in 1904. He is also referred to by the name Jack. The company based operations in Kansas City in 1917 where Nourse painted his slogan, “Business is Good,” on the company building. The company produced Nourse Brands motor oil between 1925 and 1945 in Omaha, Nebraska. All of the brand’s advertising featured the “Nourseman.” It is based on the concept of a hardy Norseman with his armor, shield, war club and horned helmet. Nourse wanted his legacy after death to have his name and his Nourse brand be known widely for "lubrication."

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In the 1930s, Cracker Jack caramel popcorn featured prize tin toy tops with a wooden peg handle in their snack boxes. Cracker Jack was the creation of Frederick William Rueckheim, a German immigrant who sold the popcorn in Chicago beginning in 1871. The Cracker Jack name became a registered trademark in 1896 and the company began selling their product in moisture-proof paper packaging and is considered by some historians as the first junk food. The company provided a wide variety of trinkets as prizes including toy tops, miniature wagons, beer mugs, dice, trading cards, and whistles.

The snack has been commonly sold at American baseball games, and is featured in the song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Cracker Jack was bought out by Frito-Lay, who in 2016 replaced the trinkets with a digital code that purchasers can use to log into the company’s site to view their favorite baseball moments.

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The Republican Party was founded in 1854 and it’s primary issue centered around the abolition of Slavery. This was accomplished when the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, won the presidency. The Civil War of the United States that followed helped to abolish slavery in the United States for good. The Republican Party continued to enjoy years of prosperity and promoted improving the life of the working class. During the Great Depression, many citizens blamed the Republicans in power, leading to a Democrat resurgence.

The Republican Party greatly changed after the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and it became much more conservative. Several Republicans opposed the spending of Democrats and wanted the government to stay limited. This conservatism ramped up over several culture wars issues such as abortion, due to the high Christian membership in the party. This led to the modern Republican Party seen today.

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George H.W. Bush was a Republican who served as Vice-President of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1988. In 1988, Bush selected Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as his running mate, and successfully campaigned to succeed Reagan as President, defeating the Democratic Party nominee Michael Dukakis. 

In 1992, the Bush/Quayle ticket was re-nominated by the Republican Party. Since taking office in 1988, the economy had soured and Bush had lost the support of the conservative base by breaking his campaign pledge to not raise taxes. In the general election, the incumbent President was defeated by the Democratic opponents, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and Tennessee Senator Al Gore. Bush's loss marked the end of a period when the Republican Party controlled the White House for 20 of the 24 previous years. Some argued that support for Independent candidate Ross Perot had contributed to Bush's inability to get re-elected, but a mathematical evaluation of the results demonstrated that Perot supporters were swayed away from voting for both Clinton and Bush at an equal rate. 

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Republican Party candidates George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle ran for reelection in the 1992 presidential elections. Their opponents were the Democratic Party Candidates Bill Clinton and Al Gore. At the time of this presidential campaign, Bush was the 41^st President of the United States and Quayle was the 44^th US Vice President alongside Bush. The early 1990s economic recession, the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, and the tax increase had negatively impacted Bush’s popularity at the time of re-election. Bush received only 168 electoral votes while Clinton won the race with 370.