Black and white photo of President Nixon on a blue background with white text. 

Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. ran as the Republican presidential ticket for the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy. This was Nixon’s first run to become President after serving as Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 1960 election was the first year the presidential debates were televised. For the first time, a candidate’s appearance was critically judged along with their policy. Those listening to the debates on the radio thought Nixon won because he was a great orator; however, those watching the television thought Kennedy won as Nixon looked sickly and pale compared to Kennedy’s youthful, photogenic appearance. Nixon and Lodge lost the election by a narrow margin.

Blue text between horizontal stripes of red and blue over white background. 

This button dates from the 1960 US Presidential campaign of Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) and Henry Cabot Lodge (1902-1985).  At the time of the campaign, Nixon was the US Vice President under Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) and Lodge was the US Ambassador to the UN.  Nixon and Lodge, Republicans, were opposed by the Democrats John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) and Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973).  

Nixon and Lodge won the majority of the states, but Kennedy and Johnson received 303 of the 537 Electoral College votes.  Nixon and Lodge received only 219, which made Nixon the first presidential candidate to win a majority of states but still lose the election.  Nixon returned to his role as vice president after the defeat and returned to California to practice law after his term ended.  

A white button with red and blue text

This button is for Dwight Eisenhower (Ike) and Richard M. Nixon (Dick). Eisenhower and Nixon ran on the Republican ticket and won in both 1952 and 1956. The eight year administration is considered some of the best of the 20th century. Eisenhower served in World War I and served as the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II. The popular slogan for the Eisenhower campaign was "I Like Ike." Due to Eisenhower's moderate stances, Nixon was an essential choice in order to rally all part of the Republican base together. Under Eisenhower, the interstate highway system was created, the quality of life for middle-class white Americans improved, and Alaska and Hawaii were added to the Union. Nixon devoted nearly his entire eight years to foreign policy affairs. His most famous event being an impromptu debate with Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow known as "The Kitchen Debate." 

Black and white portrait of Hubert Humphrey encircled by red text over white background. 

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. was the Democratic party's nominee for US President in 1968. Humphrey was born in South Dakota but is often associated with Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, taught political science at Macalester College in Saint Paul, helped found Minnesota's Democratic party, and served as mayor of Minneapolis. He was also elected as one of Minnesota's US Senators before he became the Lyndon Johnson's Vice President in 1965. The 1968 presidential bid was Humphrey's third—the two previous attempts in 1952 and 1960 had failed to gather support. It's presumed by many that his 1968 bid was prompted by the fact that the incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson did not seek reelection.

Humphrey and his running mate Edmund S. Muskie faced Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew, the Republican candidates. The Nixon-Agnew ticket emerged victorious, winning 301 electoral votes—quite enough to defeat the Humphrey-Muskie ticket, who received 191.

Gold text over blue banner encircled by blue border over yellowed background. 

Jessie Annette Jack Hooper (1864-1935), a Wisconsin democratic nominee, ran for Senator in 1922. She was born on a farm in Iowa, was a notable suffragist and peace advocate. She joined the women's suffrage campaign in the 1910s and was elected as the first president of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters in 1920. She believed that it was a woman's civic duty to serve in office and therefore campaigned vigorously for the Senate seat against the incumbent Senator Robert La Follette in 1922. Although she lost in that election, Hooper was recognized in public as a great speaker and was asked to help Presidential candidate John W. Davis in the 1924 election. 

Black and white portrait of Abe Lincoln outlined by blue rope bookended by stars, shield, and wheat symbols. Black text above and below portrait over yellowed background. 

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He served from March, 1861until his assassination in April, 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Abraham Lincoln was known as “Honest Abe” as a young man – before he became a lawyer or a politician—and the name stuck. In 1859 when he ran for president the nickname became his campaign slogan, and his writings show that he valued honesty.

A Tan button with American style accents featuring the faces of Grover Cleveland and Thomas Hendricks in red.

This button is in support of Grover Cleveland and Thomas Hendricks for the 1884 United States Presidential Election. Cleveland served a long Democratic career in government through the United States Progressive era. Cleveland served as the mayor of Buffalo, New York, the governor of New York, and as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Although largely forgotten in modern times he created the Interstate Commerce Commission, backed the gold standard, and was a staunch non-interventionist in a time of imperial  conquest. In his second term he presided over the Panic of 1893, the famous Pullman Strike, and the rise of American labor unions. Although the Cleveland years are forgotten in popular history they are critical times in American policy-making.

Hendricks served as a roughly 30 year Congress until his election as vice-president on the Cleveland ticket. He is the first democrat to win the Northern state's governorship after the Civil War having many moderate stances. He was chosen as a means of creating a more balanced ticket with Cleveland but due to poor health had to vacate the vice-presidency in 1885 leaving the office vacant until 1889. 

A white background with portraits of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman bordered by part of the American flag on the left and red text at the buttom.

The button promoted the Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign in the 2000 election. Al Gore was the Vice President during the Bill Clinton presidency, and Joe Lieberman was a Senator from Connecticut at the time of the election. They were candidates for the Democratic Party. Gore and Lieberman lost the election to Republican team of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

White and red text over blue background. 

In 1999, then US Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for US President. Gore served as a US Congressman for Tennessee from 1977 to 1993 before becoming Bill Clinton's Vice President in 1993. In August of 2000, Gore selected Joe Lieberman (1942- ), US Senator from Connecticut, as his running mate. When Lieberman accepted, he became the first Jewish-American candidate to nationally represent one of America's two major parties. Gore and Lieberman ran against the Republican candidates, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Bush was Governor of Texas at the time and Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton.

Gore and Lieberman lost the presidential election to Bush and Cheney by five Electoral College votes. The popular vote in Florida was so close—Bush beat Gore by just over 500 votes out of over 6 million—that the Florida election code called for a state-wide automated recount. In addition, the election season in Florida was fraught with so much controversy that Gore requested three counties' votes to be recounted by hand. The ballot controversy went all the way to the US Supreme Court, which decided 5-4 that due to recount time limits Bush's certification as winner would stand. 

Black background with a gold band across the center with black text. There is a gold star above the band and gold text below it.

In 1964, US Senator from Arizona, Barry M. Goldwater (1909-1998) was the Republican Party's nominee for US President.  Goldwater's running mate was William E. Miller (1914 -1983) who at the time was Republican National Committee's chairman.  The two ran against Democrats, sitting US President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) and his Vice President, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. (1911-1978).  Johnson and Humphrey won the November election, receiving over 90 percent of the Electoral College votes.  Goldwater did win six states, his home state and five states in the Deep South.  

Goldwater's southern success was due to is disfavor for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  He oppose the act not because he was for discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, but rather because he viewed it as a federal encroachment on state's and individual rights.  Goldwater had long supported of state's rights over federal rights.  When he first ran for US Senate in 1952, he ran in opposition to the New Deal.  Goldwater also greatly admired former US President Herbert Hoover's (1874-1964) approach during early years of the Great Depression and his focus on government inefficiency.