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Despite a failed presidential campaign in 1960, Nixon successfully ran again in 1968, becoming the 37th President of the United States. Prior to his presidency, Nixon served as a Republican representative in the House and a Senate. This button was used to promote Nixon among America’s Scandinavian population during his 1972 re-election campaign. Nixon won re-election by a record landslide, beating Democratic opponent George McGovern. 

Although Nixon initially escalated America's involvement in the Vietnam War, he did manage to bring home the majority of US troops by 1973. As the Watergate scandal erupted in mid-1973, Nixon—facing certain impeachment, lack of support from his own party, and criminal charges—had no choice but to resign. On August 9th, 1974, Nixon became the only president in American history to resign from office. Nixon's vice president, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon from criminal charges once he assumed the presidency. Nixon died at the age of eighty-four from a severe stroke in 1994. 

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This button was used by The Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP), a fundraising organization for President Richard Nixon's 1972 election campaign. Though Nixon would go on to win the 1972 election, his presidency would end with his resignation in August 1974 when he and his administration were found to be involved in the Watergate Scandal. The Watergate Incident refers to the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in Washington, DC. Members of CRP had attempted to break into the headquarters in a means to steal sensitive information from their political opponents. When the incident came to public knowledge, many in the CRP would later be charged and/or resign from their post within the committee. This includes the organizations treasurer, Hugh Sloan Jr., whose name appears on the back of this campaign pin. 

Black and white photograph of a woman's head and shoulders with white text on a blue background

The button, featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, is from President Barack Obama’s 2012 U.S. Presidential re-election campaign. Michelle Obama, a lawyer, is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She met her husband, also a lawyer, early in her career at the Chicago-based corporate law firm Sidley Austin. 

Michelle Obama played a large role in both the 2008 and 2012 U.S. presidential election campaigns—giving keynote addresses at both the Democratic National Convention both years—though prior to 2008 she was nearly unknown to most of the American public. Her image in popular culture has grown significantly since then, and by the 2012 election was viewed by many as the most popular member of her husband’s administration. With the help of Michelle, President Obama successfully won re-election in 2012 over his Republican contender Mitt Romney, winning 51.06% of the popular vote to Romney’s 47.21%.

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Teeny boppers are young teenagers, mostly girls, who are often trendy and listen to pop music. This button most likely refers to the support that Bill Clinton and Al Gore (and their wives Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore) received from young people during the 1992 presidential election when Clinton defeated the incumbent George H. W. Bush.

Illustration of a cowboy with a large brown hat, pink boots with spurs, a green shirt with blue fringe and shooting pointer fingers like guns on a background of a desert and blue sky with red and green text.

This is a button critiquing George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States. The image of Bush as a stereotypical cowboy is a reference to his Texan heritage, distinct Southern accent, and the “country” persona he cultivated. According to polls, Bush's persona was cited by both his supporters and his detractors as one of the primary factors for their like or dislike. The expression on the button is a pun, playing into the panic about the spread of Mad Cow Disease—a degenerative, transmittable disease affecting the nervous system of cattle—that occurred in the U.S. during the early 2000s. 

George W. Bush's presidency began on a controversial note, due to the Florida ballot recounts and subsequent lawsuits that followed. Despite a rocky start, his approval rating rose to 90 percent following the September 11 attacks. Bush was reelected in 2004, but his popularity dropped significantly following the election, in part due to his handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina.

Black text on a white background with a sticker of an American flag and an illustration of a man's face.

Ross Perot, a native of Texarkana, Texas, is a businessman and entrepreneur who is perhaps most well-known for his presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996. Perot began his professional career as a salesman for IBM, and in 1962 founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS). In 1968, Fortune magazine named Perot the “fastest, richest Texan.” In 1984, General Motors purchased EDS and 1988, he founded a second company, Perot Systems Corporation. 

Perot announced his intentions to run for President on February 2, 1992, on the television show Larry King Live. His campaign platform included balancing the federal budget, ending job outsourcing, and repealing gun control laws. Despite running as an Independent, Perot gained momentum and by September, 1992, garnered enough support to appear on the ballot in all 50 states. Though he did not receive any electoral votes, but did receive 19% of the popular vote, making him the most popular third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. He ran for president again in 1996, this time with the Reform Party (a party his founded), and received  8% of the popular vote—less than in 1992, but still significant for a third-party candidate.

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This button is from Richard M. Nixon's 1968 U.S. Presidential campaign. Nixon first became well-known to the American people while serving as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower. He ran for President in 1960, but lost the general election to John F. Kennedy. In 1968 Nixon, along with running mate Spiro Agnew, ran as the Republican candidate against the Democrat Hubert Humphrey. Nixon called himself the leader of the "silent majority". He promised voters that he would bring law and order back to the country and help minorities start small businesses. He won by a small margin, with 43% of the voters against Humphrey’s 42%, and was inaugurated as 37th President of the United States.

Red upper quarter with white text over a white half with blue and red text and a blue and white photograph of a man.

This tongue-in-cheek button was created for the 1996 U.S. presidential election. It acknowledged that Republican presidential candidates were competing to see who could take over as standard-bearer of the party from former President Richard M. Nixon, who had died in 1995. Among those candidates were Governor Pete Wilson of California and Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, both of whom delivered eulogies at Nixon's funeral. Dole was chosen as the Republican challenger to incumbent president Bill Clinton. Dole and his running mate, Jack Kemp, lost the election to Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, 379 electoral votes to 159.

Black and white photograph of a man's face with white text

An American historian and author, George McGovern was elected as a US Senator from South Dakota in 1962 after a previous failed bid in 1960. As one of the first politicians to speak out publicly against America's growing involvement in Vietnam, McGovern would become most known in the Senate for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. McGovern's platform during his 1972 presidential campaign included a comprehensive plan to end the war in Vietnam, a substantial cut in federal defense spending, and a "demogrant" program—which sought to replace inflated welfare bureaucracies with a pledge to give every American citizen $1,000. McGovern's "demogrant" program was dropped from his platform in August of that year after it was severely criticized as a "liberal giveaway." Although McGovern captured the votes of activists and reform liberals, his opponent, Republican incumbent Richard Nixon, managed to defeat McGovern in one of the biggest landslides in American history.

A red letter C shape with a yellow center on a white stripe across the middle of the button with blue above and below and white text.

This button, displaying the Colorado flag, was distributed in 1971 when John Love and John D. Vanderhoof ran for the Colorado Governorship and Lieutenant Governorships respectively. The election marked the first after the passing of a constitutional provision instituting the joint election of both positions. Love had been Governor of Colorado since first being elected to the position in 1963, while Vanderhoof had served in the Colorado House of Representatives since 1950. Love and Vanderhoof won the election, though in 1973, Love resigned in order to become the first Director of the Office of Energy Policy under President Nixon. Vanderhoof took over the governorship and led the state through an energy crisis and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement until the end of his term in 1975. Both returned to local politics in Colorado after their respective terms.

John Arthur Love. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Arthur_Love.

John David Vanderhoof. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Vanderhoof.