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Born on February 18, 1892, Wendell Willkie was an American lawyer and corporate executive who is perhaps best known for being the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Campaigning against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Willkie actively campaigned against Roosevelt's New Deal policy as well as for a more active role for the United States in World War II. On election day, President Roosevelt received twenty-seven million votes to Willkie's twenty-two million, and also held a substantial lead in the Electoral College with four hundred and forty-nine to Willkie's eighty-two.

Despite his loss, Willkie, to the surprise of many in his party, became an unlikely ally to the President. Between 1941 and 1943, Willkie embarked on numerous trips abroad, acting as the President's informal envoy. Willkie actively pushed for the United States to provide unlimited aid to Britain in their struggle against Nazi Germany. After returning to campaign once more for President in 1944, Willkie suffered a series of heart attacks, forcing him to leave the campaign. Willkie finally succumbed to a heart attack and died in 1944 at the age of fifty-two. Willkie is remembered and hailed for providing President Roosevelt with political assistance that proved vital to helping America's allies during World War II. Click here to see an alernate version of this button.

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Disney released One Hundred and One Dalmatians in 1961. Based on the original novel by English writer Dodie Smith, the film was the first of Disney’s films to utilize Xerox technology. A Xerox machine was used to copy the animator’s original drawings to animation cells, a big time saver compared to the previous method of copying the drawings by hand. Disney continued using this technology until Beauty and the Beast in 1991, when animators switched to a Computer Animated Production System (CAPS).

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Margaret Mead was a revered American cultural anthropologist best known for her fieldwork in Samoa. She was involved in advancing a new anthropology that emphasized the sophistication and plasticity present across human cultures. Mead was also involved in significant activist work, including her advocacy for the rights of women. 

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Shedd Aquarium is a key cultural landmark of Chicago. Opened in 1930, the Shedd now holds 32,000 aquatic creatures. One of its most popular attractions is the beluga whale, which visitors have the opportunity to swim with during their famous Beluga Encounter. The institution is also deeply involved in conservation efforts, partnering with Georgia Aquarium to fund the protection of the dwindling beluga populations in Alaska.

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Otis G. Pike was a longtime New York Congressman who served as a Democrat in the House of Representatives for over eighteen years.  He was known for leading an inquiry of abuse of power against the CIA throughout the 1970s.  His inquiry was considered successful and led to a fairer balance of power and more Congressional oversight over the CIA.

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James Thompson was a Republican governor of Illinois who served four terms in office from 1976-1991. The Governor’s Office of Voluntary Action was created under Thompson’s tenure as governor in 1979, under the original name Office of Voluntary Citizens Participation. The commission has undergone a series of name changes over the decades, but the purpose of the commission has remained consistent: to promote community services, encourage volunteering throughout the state, and to be a coordinating service for volunteer needs. Now called the Serve Illinois Commission, the group is housed in the Department of Human Services for the state government and still works to promote volunteerism in the state of Illinois, as well as supporting the AmeriCorps program. 

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The Century of Progress Exposition (also known as the World's Fair) of 1933 was a celebration of technological innovation. There were many exhibits that urged Americans to spend money to modernize their homes and cars. One exhibit was George Keck's House of Tomorrow, which predicted the rise of dishwashers and air conditioning in most American homes. The fair proved to be powerful in getting Americans to spend their money during the Great Depression that President Franklin D. Rossevelt pushed for the fair to be reopened in 1934.

One of the many events held during the exposition was the logrolling competition, where two competitors attempt to stay on a rolling log while getting their opponent to lose their balance. In the 1920s and 1930s, log rolling was popular as a spectator sport. A group of log rollers headed by Jimmy Murray toured the country, attending state and county fairs, exhibiting their skills to the public through trick and fancy log rolling. The 1933 world champion of log rolling, Wilber Marx, was featured in a popular news reel of the time, and he gained national popularity.  This group of log rollers would have been the featured performers at the 1933 World’s Fair log rolling exhibition.  
 

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“Ordain women or stop baptizing them” is a popular slogan amongst feminist theologians who want to be ordained as priests and feel liberated within Catholicism. The phrase was coined in the early 1990s by Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag, an author, social philosopher, and feminist scholar.