Two black outlined smiling faces separated by a red dotted line.  The bottom two faces are neutral faced and smoking a cigarette and cigar respectively with smoke emitting from them. Red text and dotted line across the middle of the button.

This button promotes separate smoking sections in public places. It is from the Washington office of the Action on Smoking and Health. The office was founded in 1967 and started it's campaign for separate smoking and nonsmoking sections in 1971 amidst a national wave of support. Their campaign gained some support in 1971 when United Airlines was the first airline to create separate smoking sections. 

Yellow background with a red border around the outer edge of the button. The button has white text with a red shadow above red all capitalized text.

The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political organization that places a high priority on labor issues and aiding strikes.Its influence peaked in the 1970s, and in the 1976 presidential election the SWP candidate Peter Camejo and his running mate Willie Mae Reed ran on a platform that included equal employment opportunity and an end to war. The pair earned 90,986 votes, the most ever received by a SWP candidate. In addition to issues of labor, the SWP also strongly supported Chicano nationalism, legal abortion, and the Cuban government during this period.

Black, yellow, and red block text on white background, gold border around edge. Shield symbol in the middle filled with American flag print, penny inlaid face-up in middle of shield

On March 19, 2003 President George W. Bush announced the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The invasion commenced on March 20, 2003, ostensibly to pre-empt Iraqi weapons of mass destruction deployment and remove Saddam Hussain from power. The capital, Baghdad, fell on April 9, 2003.  President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1 with his “Mission Accomplished” speech which later would be criticized as premature.  Iraqi elections and a referendum to approve a constitution were held in January and December of 2005.  From 2004-2006 Iraq deteriorated to almost reaching the point of a full scale civil war.  In 2006 a National Intelligence Estimate asserted that the Iraq war had increased Islamic radicalism and worsened the terror threat.  In January of 2007 Bush announced new initiatives including the “surge” of 21,500 more troops to Iraq which was opposed by many in the Senate and the House.  On July 31, 2008, Bush stated that due to increased stability in Iraq because of what he saw as a success of the 2007 troop surge they would withdraw the additional American forces.

Top half red text on black background, bottom half black text on red background

This pinback button is from the green movement of the '70's. It began with Earth Day in 1971.

Yellow all capitalized text on red background.

This button most likely represents the views of those who oppose America’s use of fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) as the primary source of energy for the nation. Many believe that using oil as a source of energy come at the cost of human and environmental health problems through air pollution, damage to the land, environmental degradation, water pollution, and sickness. There are also national security impacts of fossil fuel use. During the Persian Gulf War, U.S. troops were sent to the Gulf in part to guard against a possible cutoff of the U.S.’s oil supply. 

Blue text on fluorescent pink background.

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White text on black background

The Moral Majority was an American political organization that started in 1979 and dissolved in the late 1980s. At it's height, it represented the views of millions of conservative lobbyists, supporting ideas such as anti-choice and classroom prayer and rejecting ideas such as gay marriage and sex education. The protest represented by this button is that the organization was neither moral nor the majority. 

Illustration of a U.S. flag flying from a flag pole, printed on a white background surrounded by a jagged blue border.

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Bold purple outlined text on a light yellow background.

This button was created by Donnelly/Colt Progressive Resources, a family-owned business that designs and distributes materials for promoting progressive messages on social issues.

White background with red Women's Liberation logo

Robin Morgan designed this button for the 1969 Miss America Pageant protest. There are many versions of similar buttons.  The color of the symbol, now synonymous with the Women's Rights Movement, is "menstrual red." Morgan selected the name out of concern that the cosmetics company sponsoring the pageant would use the red color to sell lipstick.