Red text and a red and white photograph of a man's head and shoulders in front of the Captial building.

Edward Joseph "Ed" Derwinski was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1957 where he served one term prior to winning the election for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1958. Derwinski encountered several re-elections during his 12 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives where he served the 4th district of Illinois, a suburban region southwest of Chicago.

Derwinski was best known as the driving force in keeping relations between the United States and Poland. After his 12 terms in Congress, Derwinski became the first Cabinet-level U.S. Secretary to Veterans Affairs under George H.W. Bush until 1992.  

Yellow text on black background on top half of button; black text and elephant symbol on yellow background on bottom half of button
 

Born in 1928, Joseph A. Tecson served as a Cook County (Illinois) Commissioner for 5 years, having first been elected in 1976. He resigned in 1982 to allow his replacement to join the board. He was the first Asian American on the board. During his time on the commission, he was on the committee that oversaw Cook County Hospital. He also was active in the convention that drafted a new Illinois Constitution in 1970.

Tecson attended Ripon College and the University of Wisconsin law school, earning his LL.B/J.D. in 1954. He was a founding member of Chuhak & Tecson, P.C. He served as special counsel to various government agencies such as the Medical Disciplinary Board, the Department of Public Aid, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Professional Regulation. Tecson also served in the U.S. Navy aboard the U.S.S. Shangri-La. He died in January 2015.

White and silver text on a blue background

Red text on a white background

William Grant Stratton was the 32nd Governor of Illinois from 1953 to 1961, at the time of his inauguration he was the youngest Governor in United States at the age of 38.  Stratton was re-elected as Governor in 1956 but was defeated when he ran for his third term in 1960.  Stratton was accused of tax evasion in the mid 1960's but after his acquittal ran for the Republican primary for Governor again in 1968 but was unsuccessful.

Stratton served the state of Illinois for more than 60 years in positions including; Congressman, State Treasure, Governor, and World War II veteran.  Stratton’s terms as Governor overlapped with Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency and his agreement of Eisenhower’s interstate highway system continues to benefit be his legacy.  Stratton was also known for helping the university system grow in Illinois due to the amount of service members returning from war to use the G.I. Bill.

Blue text on a white background

William Singer was first elected as the alderman of Chicago's 44th ward in 1969, with a victory of only 429 votes. He later led an insurgency with Reverend Jesse Jackson against Richard J. Daley at the Democratic National Convention in 1972, succeeding in replacing Daley's delegates. He later ran for mayor against Daley, but was defeated in a landslide. He ended his career in politics and entered into a private law firm in the 1980s.

Illustrations of red white and blue elephants

Cartoonist Thomas Nash invented the Republican Party symbol, the elephant, for a cartoon published in Harper's Weekly in 1874. The cartoon depicted a donkey, who was dressed as a lion, scaring the other zoo animals including an elephant labeled "The Republican Vote." Since that cartoon was published, the elephant has been a symbol of the Republican Party due to the fact that the animal is perceived as strong and dignified.

The Republican Party, or Grand Old Party (GOP), is one of the two major political parties within the United States of America. Beginning in the Northern states, the party preserved the Union and promoted the abolishment of slavery and provided equal rights to all men.  Anti-slavery advocates and other conservatives founded the Republican Party.  Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President of the United States in 1860.  

Black and white text on an orange background

Republican Peter “Pete” Bensinger unsuccessfully ran for Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois in 1974 against Democratic incumbent Richard Elrod. Prior to running for Sheriff, Bensinger was the director of the Chicago Crime Commission, and served as the Chairman of the Illinois Youth Commission. He was also the director of the Illinois Department of Corrections under former Illinois Governor Richard Ogilvie. Despite losing the campaign to Elrod, Bensinger went on to serve as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) from 1976 to 1981. He was appointed to the position by President Gerald Ford, and continued in the role under both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. In 1982, Bensinger founded the private professional services company Bensinger, DuPont & Associates. He currently serves as the company's President and CEO. 

Black text on an orange background

This button is in support of Republican Richard B. Ogilvie’s 1968 Illinois gubernatorial campaign. Ogilvie won the 1968 election with 51.2% of the vote. Ogilvie’s Lieutenant Governor, Paul Simon, was a Democrat. It was the only time in Illinois history that the Governor and Lieutenant Governor hailed from different political parties.

Despite serving only one term, Ogilvie is considered by some to have been one of the best governors in Illinois’ history. His notable achievements include establishing an income tax which boosted the state’s economy; creating an antipollution program; and developing or restructuring several agencies within the government like the Illinois Bureau of Investigation and the Human Rights Commission.

Blue text on a white background with a blue outer edge

This button is supporting the 1956 Democratic presidential ticket of Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kevauver. Stevenson and Kefauver lost the election to incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon 57.4% to 42%. 1956 was the second time Stevenson lost the election for U.S. president. In 1952, he and Senator John Sparkman of Alabama lost to Eisenhower and Nixon, 55% to 45%.

Stevenson had served as Governor of Illinois from 1949-1953 and, following his presidential runs, served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961-1965. During the October, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Stevenson presented U-2 spy plane photos to the UN Security Council that showed evidence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Kefauver, a US senator from Tennessee, still held his senate seat after the 1956 defeat. He was named chair of the U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee in 1957. He co-authored the 1962 Kefauver-Harris Amendments, which required drug manufacturers to disclose drug side effects and allowed their drugs to become available generically after the patents expired.

Black and white photograph of a woman's head in the center with blue text around the outer edge

Carol Mosley Braun began her political career in 1978 as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives.  Prior to her appointment, Braun was a prosecuting attorney for the United States Attorney's office in Chicago from 1973 to 1977.  Braun served as a United States Senator for Illinois from 1993 to 1999, making her the first female Senator from Illinois as well as the first African-American female to serve in the Senate.  Braun's Senatorial race was not without controversy, in 1993 the Federal Election Commission investigated Braun for over $249,000 of unaccounted-for campaign funds.  Braun proved it was all accounting errors and was not officially charged.  After her term as a Senator, she worked under President Bill Clinton from 1999-2001 as the Ambassador to New Zealand.