Red white and blue striped background with white and blue text on top.

Wendell Willkie ran as the Republican candidate in the 1940 United States Presidential election against two term incumbent, Franklin D. Roosevelt.  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 a lithograph of a white dog wearing a brown collar with gold lettering and studs over an orange background, surrounded by a yellow circle with black lettering at the bottom and an ornate gold circle.

In 1821, John Cooper and Thomas Gould established a brewery in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the city's first..  When William Van Nostrand acquired interest in 1860, he gradually expanded production and distribution.  His son, Alonzo G. Van Nostrand, joined his father's brewery in 1872 and originated the “P.B. Ale” (Purest and Best) brand in 1879.  In the 1890s, Alonzo became the sole proprietor of the brewery, which was now known as the Bunker Hill Brewery.  It operated until Prohibition.  In addition to P.B. Ale, the brewery also manufactured; Boston Club Lager, Bunker Hill Lager, Old Musty Ale, Owl Musty and Van Nostrand's Porter.

See more photos of pre- and post-prohibition beer buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.

Black text along the top edge with an illustration of a man in a top hat, suit and carrying a cane and a portable computer.

The IBM Portable Personal Computer, one of the first “laptop” computers ever produced, was introduced by IBM in February 1984. The computer was considered portable due to the fact that it could be carried around like a small suitcase. The monitor and CPU were combined into one unit, and the keyboard folded down and could be detached when in use. Charlie Chaplin’s famous character “The Little Tramp” featured as part of a $36-million dollar IBM advertising campaign inspired by Chaplin’s films.

Black text on a bright orange background

Subaru, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Fuji Heavy Industries, has been producing cars in Japan since the 1950s. Subaru of America was founded in 1968, and was responsible for importing Subarus to the United States. The first Subaru car introduced in America, the 360, offered a counterpoint to the much larger cars being produced domestically at the time and was advertised as “cheap and ugly.” 

“The What? The Subaru” advertising campaign coincided with the 1971 release of the second Subaru, the 1100, and featured print ads, bumper stickers, and other peripherals to help introduce the brand to the wider American market. The campaign was designed to help consumers connect the company’s name with the physical shape of the car.

Orange text and a white question mark on a black background

The Beam-A-Scope is a shielded coil antenna that was built into the back of many General Electric radios beginning in the late 1930s. G.E.’s advertising claimed that due to the shielded design of the antenna that blocked electrostatic fields, listeners would have finer reception with less static. Before built-in antennas, radios required a grounded connection that lead to an antenna, usually installed on the roof the listener’s house or building. The Beam-A-Scope and its competitors like the Zenith Wavemagnet eliminated the need for a direct connection to an outside antenna, enabling radios to become more portable.

Illustration of a person in a hat and with closed eyes holding a lightbulb next to white and blue text on a white and blue background

Mr. Magoo is a cartoon character created in 1949 by Millard Kaufman and John Hubley. Mr Magoo's storylines usually focus on his nearsightedness and the comedic problems it causes for him. He appeared in films by UPA Animation Studio throughout the 1950s and won two Oscars for When Magoo Flew and Magoo's Puddle Jumper. In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Magoo advertised General Electric products. Mr. Magoo continues to appear in smaller animated roles in films and television.

Illustration of a green, purple and yellow flower with black text on a white background

Spike is the name of the Chicago Botanic Garden's titan arum plant, more commonly known as a corpse flower. This type of flower, which is the largest unbranched inflorescent plant in the world and can grow up to 12 feet tall, was first discovered by Odoardo Beccari in Sumatra in 1878. The Chicago Botanic Garden acquired the plant in 2003 in seed form, and Spike was the first of the seeds to bloom. The plant has a blog dedicated to it to document the rare times when it blooms or is being pollinated, and every year thousands of visitors visit Spike, which continues to thrive.

(n.d.). About Spike. Retrieved from: http://www.chicagobotanic.org/titan_arum_corpse_flower

Amorphophallus Titanum. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum

This button was manufactured by the Busy Beaver Button Co.

Blue and yellow background with white text and an illustration of a man holding a telephone reciever in the upper right corner

“Detroit says: ‘Watch Ford in ’48’” was a slogan used by the Ford Motor Company as part of a 1948 advertising campaign. The slogan appeared in both print and radio advertisements, as well as on other materials like this button, and played up the city of Detroit’s clout in the automotive industry. Detroit, which has come to be known colloquially as “The Motor City,” was world-renowned as an automotive powerhouse. For the majority of the 20th century, Detroit housed the headquarters for Ford and its subsidiary brands, along with the other two major American car manufacturers, Chrysler and General Motors. 

Illustration of a caucasian man with black hair in a red white and blue suit and cape on a white background with black text.

A series of 86 different comic character buttons were issued by Kellogg's and given away with PEP cereal between 1945-1947. Other characters in the series included Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Popeye and Felix the Cat.

Superman is a comic book superhero created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1933. He was born on the planet he was born on the planet Krypton and was sent to earth by his father before Krypton was destroyed. He was found and raised by a family in Kansas. He has superhuman abilities like superhuman strength, speed, senses, breath and the ability to fly.

White text on red backgroud

Faites-Le! is French for "do it!"