Button shows black text on a white rectangle and white text on a red and blue oval, and a black and white photograph of a man wearing a hat on the lower right. Text and photo are superimposed over a blue background.

American Oil Company, known as Amoco, ran its "Join the 'American' Party" ad campaign from the 1930s and 1940s. In 1936, newspapers announced that gas stations were giving out multi colored, engraved portraits of the Presidents of the United States as collectible stamps as well. A billboard from 1942 read "For Greater Values Join the American Party - American Gas Amoco." Amoco, was incorporated in 1922 and later became part of Standard Oil of Indiana, which had been broken off from the Standard Oil trust in 1911. In the 1920s, Amoco was among the first oil companies to sell lead-free gasoline as well as leaded gas. Amoco merged with British Petroleum (BP) in 1998.

Red text on a white background and an illustration of a shoe with brown wings

This button was created for the Custer High School Indians, also known as Warriors, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mascot has changed from Warriors to Cougars. It is possible the mascot change is more recent as the state of Wisconsin created a law banning the use of Native-American inspired mascots.

White text and an illustration of a football player on a red background

This button was created for the Custer High School Warriors, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The mascot has changed from Warriors to Cougars. It is possible the mascot change is recent as the state of Wisconsin created a law banning the use of Native-American inspired mascots.

Blue text on a white background

Pikes Peak is located in Pikes National Park in Colorado.  The mountain is named after Zebulon Pike, an American explorer who attempted to climb the mountain in the autumn of 1806, but failed to reach the top.  

The Spanish were the first to discover the peak in the 1700s.  It is now both a tourist attraction and the home to the United States Army Pikes Peak Research Laboratory.  

Red and black text on a white background with two color photograph of women surrounded by a golden tassled rope and an American flag

Women for a Democratic America was a campaign slogan utilized during the 1996 United States Presidential election by the Democratic Party.  Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore were First and Second Lady of the United States, respectively, from 1993 to 2001, while their husbands, Bill Clinton and Al Gore served as President and Vice President.  

White and blue text on red background

The motivation behind this slogan is to get out the female vote in elections by way of linking women's suffrage to the Democratic Party.  Historically, the Democratic Party has proven popular among women due to the Party's view on reproductive rights.  

Red white and blue striped background with white and blue text

The slogan "War is Not the Answer" was produced and distrubed on bumper stickers and buttons by the Sojourners Organization at the beginning of the Iraq war.  The organization, Sojo for short, is Christian based with a mission of expanding a movement orientated at social justice and peace.

White text on a red background

The message is meant to suggest breaking the metaphorical chains of conventional thinking or the traditional way of doing things. Each person who sees this button may have a different interpretation of what it means to “unchain yourself”, in that the button suggests seeking freedom from whatever it is a person feels is tying them down or keeping them from going their own way. 

Black and white image of a man's head and shoulders with red text along the top and bottom edge on white background

This button dates from President William McKinley's campaign for a second term in office in 1900. The colonies in question were those won in the Spanish American War, McKinley's greatest achievement while in office and the basis of his reelection campaign. The war began in 1898 with the explosion of the USS Maine, which was believed to have been orchestrated by Spain in retaliation for American attempts at helping Cuba (a Spanish colony) gain independence. Lasting for four months, the war was an American victory and Spain surrendered Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

McKinley, who believed that modern nations could only be strong if they had numerous colonies, ran for office in 1900 with the platform that by winning the war he had earned new colonies which would bring prosperity to the country. McKinley easily won the election, but was assassinated by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz in 1901 while on a cross-country tour.

White text on black background and black text on a white background

Robert F. Kennedy, a Democratic senator from New York and the brother of former president John F. Kennedy, ran for the US presidency in 1968. Running against Lyndon B. Johnson who was running for his second term in office, Kennedy's campaign platform included hopes for negotiating peace in Vietnam and Cuba, and increased civil rights. His work towards desegregation and support for the Civil Rights Movement won him the votes of racial minorities, who distributed buttons like this one to rally voters to his cause. Unfortunately, Kennedy's campaign for the presidency was cut short when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968, after which the Republican candidate Richard Nixon defeated the Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.