Illustration of a grey elephant being kicked in the hind quarters by a donkey with black text above and below on a light yellow background. 

This button was promoting the Democratic Party during the 1932 presidential campaign which took place during the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover was repeatedly blamed for the Depression and the worsening economy. The Democrats and presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, attacked the economic policies of Republican President Hoover with slogans like ‘Kick out Depression with a Democratic Vote’ and ‘Sweeping Out Depression’. The Republican Party responded with a similar button of an elephant kicking a donkey which read ‘Bring Back Prosperity with a Republican Vote’. Roosevelt’s main strategy, while traveling around the country campaigning, was to focus on Hoover's inadequacies while promising better days ahead. Roosevelt won the election by a landslide. He won 57% of the popular vote and forty-two of the forty-eight states.

This lithographic button was created by George Haumann, owner of Character Display Co in Chicago, Illinois. His company made mechanical and animated store displays and two known mechanical pinback buttons (mentioned above). These were manufactured by Green Duck Chicago and then were hand assembled by George Haumann​. The third image above shows an original store display.

See more innovative and unique buttons in action on the Busy Beaver blog.

Image of Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carey) wearing the mask, yellow hat and suit. Ipkiss's eyes are bulging out of his sockets and his tounge is lying on a table. On the table is a small lamp and the words "The Mask" is listed above it in green capital letters. 

The Mask is a 1994 American fantasy superhero comedy movie directed by Chuck Russell.  Based on a comic books series of the same name and published by Dark Horse Comics, The Mask stars Jim Carrey. His character, Stanley Ipkiss, finds a magical mask which turns him into a grinning trickster with reality-bending powers uninhibited by anything, including physical reality.  The film was a box-office success and ranked among the top ten moneymakers of 1994. Carrey earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance and The Mask was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 67th Academy Awards.  

Color illustration of a brown first aid helicopter. The abbreviation" M.A.S.H." is listed below the illustration in yellow letters. The number 4077th is underneath the abbreviation in yellow letters as well. Illustration and words are all over a red background. 

MASH was an American television showed that aired from September 17, 1972 until February 28, 1983.  The television show was loosely based off the 1970 movie, MASH (which was based on the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, written by Richard Hooker).  The television show tells the story of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (acronym for MASH) and the team of doctors and staff stationed in Uijeongbu, South Korea during the Korean War conflict. During the first season, real life stories were added into the story line by real MASH surgeons that had been interviewed by staff directors.

Black and white text on a black and white backgroundART 

“Jumpin' jigowatts” was an exclamation used by Doc Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future animated series in 1991-1992. Doc Brown was portrayed by Christopher Lloyd in the Back to the Future movie trilogy, where he tells Marty (Michael J. Fox) that he needs “1.21 jigowatts" to power their time machine. “Jigowatt” was actually a misspelling of “gigawatt” by the producers of the films, and became the way it was spelled and pronounced throughout the series. A gigawatt (or “jigowatt”) is a large amount of electricity, equal to one billion watts, and is what was needed to power the DeLorean time machine through the flux capacitor. 

Photograph of a man in a red and black commander uniform in front of a blue background. With white text in the bottom left corner of button.

Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in 1987, and is still the only syndicated television show to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. The Next Generation was announced in 1986, 20 years after the original Star Trek series aired. British actor Patrick Stewart played Starship Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and was a cast member for all seven seasons of the show. Gene Roddenberry, the series creator, did not initially approve of the casting of Stewart—whose background included work as an actor with Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company—but was eventually persuaded, in part due to the actor's resonant and powerful voice.

Illustration of Alfred E. Neuman on blue background with the words "What- Me Worry?" in black letters on the right side of illustration. Red text on the upper portion of button and black and blue text on bottom portion of button. Entire illustration and text on white background. 

Alfred E. Neuman is the name of the familiar fictional character who is the red-headed, goofy-eared mascot for MAD Magazine. First making his appearance on MAD issue #21, in 1955, Alfred wasn’t yet a sensation. When MAD switched to a magazine format with issue #24, Alfred’s face again appeared on the cover with his familiar catch phrase, “What, me worry?” Alfred’s defining moment as MAD cover boy was in 1956 on issue #30 when he was offered as a candidate for president. Since issue #30, Alfred has appeared on all but a few of MAD’s covers and has been re-offered as a presidential candidate with the slogan, “You could do worse…  and always have!” Alfred was often depicted as other people or characters over the years, including George W. Bush, Gollum, Darth Vader, and Barbara Streisand. 

Photograph of a nude baby laying on its stomach and wearing a large hat on a dark background surrounded by a red outer edge with white text

Harris-Polk Hat Company was based in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a leading hat company in the early 1900s. Their most popular and best-selling hats were the “Thoroughbred” and “Worth”, the latter depicted here in this button. Harris-Polk Hats began in 1903, and was at one time run by J.W. Harris, who was also president of the American Association of Wholesale Hatters.

Illustration of a person made of bread wearing a bakers hat and a white apron with black text on it, all on a blue background

Fleishmann's Yeast is a brand of yeast sold to both consumer and industrial markets in the United States and Canada. The company was founded by Charles Louis Fleischmann, his brother Maximillian, and James Gaff in 1868. It is currently owned by Associated British Foods.

Since yeast is a common ingredient in breads, this button plays on the word "dough." John Dough is alluding to the placeholder name John Doe which is commonly used for a man whose true identity is unknown or must be withheld in a legal action, case, or discussion. It can also be used to refer to a corpse or hospital patient whose identity is unknown.

Blue background with white text and a white illustration of a radio microphone.

Uncle WIP’s Kiddie Club was a tremendously popular radio program for children. WIP was Philadelphia’s first commercial radio station owned by the Gimbel Brothers Department Store, and the first broadcast occurred on March 18, 1922. Uncle WIP, hosted by Christopher Graham, read bedtime stories and was an instant success. The kiddie club was born and members were given buttons to wear. In 1930, Wayne Cody took over as Uncle WIP and by 1933 the kiddie club boasted over 500,000 members.

Orange button with black text around the top and bottom edges and in the middle there is a halftone photograph of a man in a captain's hat, wearing glasses and smoking a pipe.

Uncle Jack’s club was a kiddie club on radio station WFBR located in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1930s and 1940s. The club provided children an opportunity to participate in a talent show at the Hippodrome Theatre every Saturday morning. It was co-sponsored by Loew’s Theatre and a local newspaper, The Baltimore News and American.