Button shows blue text and a yellow biplane over a light blue and white background.

The Whittelsey Avian was a U.S. model of the Avro Avian plane manufactured in England. Australian pilot Bert Hinkler used a Whittelsey Avian to complete the first solo flight from England to Australia in February 1928, setting a record of 15 1/2 days.

Button shows white text and an illustration of a white monoplane with red markings over a yellow and orange background.

The Vultee V-1A, a single-engine passenger plane designed by Gerard Vultee, first flew in 1933. Though airlines bought the model, its use was greatly reduced in 1936 when the U.S. government ruled that all commercial passenger aircraft had to have multiple engines. Several private companies and pilots continued to use the plane.

In 1936, Harry Richman and Dick Merrill bought a V-1A for a planned roundtrip flight from New York to London. They had it filled with thousands of ping-pong balls to help it float in case of a water landing. They landed in Wales, went on to London, and on the return flight had to make an emergency landing in Newfoundland before flying on to New York a week later.

Button has blue text and an illustration of a yellow two-wing seaplane with red markings over a background of blue and white sky and water.

Curtiss based their R3C and R3C-2 models on the U.S. Navy's F3C fighter. In the 1920s, the U.S. Navy and Army acquired planes from the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company specifically to race against civilian planes in national and international air races. One of the most noted was the Schneider Trophy, an international competition.

Button shows a white single-wing aircraft in flight and dark blue text over a dual-shaded green background.

Pilot Glenn L. Martin started his first aircraft company in 1912. It merged with the Wright Company in 1916, but Martin left to form a new company in 1917. The Glenn L. Martin Company made several models of bomber for the U.S. military, including the B-10, B-12, and JRM Mars. The B-10, which went into service in 1934, was noted for its innovations such as rotating gun turrets, enclosed cockpit, and retractable landing gear. The JRM Mars was a type of "flying boat" bomber built for the U.S. Navy that was modified and used as a transport plane during World War II. Martin merged with American-Marietta in 1961 and with Lockheed Corporation in 1995. It is now part of Lockheed-Martin, an aerospace and defense contractor.

Button shows black text and an illustration of a blue biplane with red wings over a yellow background.

The Condor II biplane was a Curtiss-Wright model designed for varied transport. "155" may refer to its cruising speed. Models of the Condor II biplane include BT-32 (for bomber transport), AT-32 (air transport), and CT-32 (cargo transport). Some models of the Condor II offered convertible sleeping compartments and were used by the forerunners of both American Airlines and Eastern Airlines. Condor II aircraft were also part of some civilian and military fleets in the United Kingdom and China. Admiral Richard E. Byrd used a specially equipped model in his 1933 Antarctic expedition.

Button has a white illustration of a single-wing airplane in flight and white text on a shaded brown and black background.

After President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced in 1934 that the Army Air Corps would take over airmail contracts, Eddie Rickenbacker flew the only DC-1 ever built from Los Angeles to New York to show that commercial airlines were qualified to carry the mail. The flight time of 12 hours, 3 minutes and 50 seconds set a transcontinental record for commercial aircraft. Rickenbacker was the top U.S. flying ace in World War I, with 26 victories. He received numerous awards, including the U.S. Medal of Honor and France's Croix de Guerre.

Button depicts a single-wing, twin-engine yellow and white plane and dark blue text over a light blue background.

In the early 1930s, Boeing Company developed bomber aircraft from its existing mail-plane designs. The YB-9 and Y1B-9 were the first all-metal single-wing planes developed for the U.S. Army Air Corps. They featured open cockpits for the pilot and co-pilot, who doubled as the bombardier. Five Y1B-9A test planes were built and entered service in 1932. The more advanced Martin B-10 bomber prototype had already been flown, however, and the last of the Y1B-9As were phased out in 1935.

Boeing developed more advanced bombers such as the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress used during World War II. In March 1944, Boeing workers were building 350 planes per month for the war. After the war, Boeing transitioned to building passenger aircraft, including the 747 (1970), 777 (1994), and 787 Dreamliner (2009).

Blue text on a white background with a silver key attached

Wendell Willkie was the Republican presidential candidate who ran against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. His campaign produced millions of buttons in response to items in the news about Roosevelt in an attempt to gain name recognition. 

Willkie was a lawyer from New York, who campaigned on issues such as international relations, which addressed the United States role in World War II.  He lost the election to Roosevelt, who had won 85% of the electoral college.  As a result, Roosevelt would go on to become the first president to be in office three terms, before the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1951, would limit a president's time in office to two terms.

Button shows blue text and red text on a white background

This button mocks Richard M. Nixon's previous losing campaigns for U.S. president and California governor. Nixon had served as U.S. senator from California (1950-53) and as vice president under Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61). Yet he lost his campaign for president to John F. Kennedy in 1960, and the race for California governor to Pat Brown in 1962, making some think his political career was finished. Nixon won the 1968 election and was re-elected in 1972, resigning in the wake of the Watergate scandal in 1974.

Black text on a white background

This button was released during the 1940 presidential election by Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate, against standing president Franklin Roosevelt who was running for a third time. Willkie, an Indiana business man with no previous experience in office, was popular in the Midwest and Northeast for his platform of siding with the allies but not actively joining the war. However, many felt that with the threat of Nazi Germany in Europe, the best candidate was Roosevelt, who had two terms worth of experience in office. Franklin Roosevelt won the election, becoming the first president to be elected to three terms, and successfully led the United States through World War Two.

United States Presidential Election, 1940. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1940