Black text on white background

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Red stop sign with white text above black text on white background.

"Stop Civilian Review Boards" was a slogan coined by opponents of a movement to add civilian members to Civilian Complaint Review Boards previously administered by New York City policemen. Civilian Complaint Review Boards were around since 1953, but previously had handled complaints by New York civilians against the police using a committee that consisted solely of civilian administrators of the police department. Supporters of the referendum touted it as a tool against racism, while the police opposed it and eventually the public voted the bill down. In 1987, the New York Civilian Review Board started admitting civilians that were unaffiliated with the police department.

White background with red, white, and blue butterfly graphic; blue text with red, white, and blue "O"

The image on this button was designed by McQ Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana. The company was founded by Robert McQuade who was an advertising agent who wanted to encourage a large voter turnout.  The company created many items with vote logos on them like this button and interestingly, a record by The Fourth Room titled Vote that uses the same image. "Vote" is the A-side song about voting written by the American jingle writer Ed Labunski. The record was released on McQ Records in Indianapolis Indiana in 1971. 

The image of the butterfly on the button represents peace and freedom and was meant to appeal to “free spirited youth”. While the image on the other button in the Button Museum’s collection of an eagle with a tear was meant to represent the pain the country felt over the Vietnam War and to appeal to older patriotic Americans.

Red text on white background, black image of nuclear power plant

Established in 1977, Mobilization for Survival is a national coalition of local disarmament, anti-intervention, safe energy, religious, and community organizations. The coalition was organized around four main goals: "Zero Nuclear Weapons, Ban Nuclear Power, Stop the Arms Race, and Fund Human Needs." The first two goals garnered the most attention, and in subsequent years Mobilization for Survival sponsored and organized hundreds of public gatherings and teach-ins to spread the message of disarmament.

Green image of a pickle and green text on a white background. 

This button was created by Pickle Packers International, Inc., which has served the pickled vegetable industry for almost 120 years. In 1967, they held a convention in Washington, DC and they’re secretary-treasurer at the time was quoted in a newspaper article as saying, “pickles make paychecks”. The newspaper article also noted that they were forming the Pickle Political Party, which was handed out these buttons at their convention. 

Black background with yellow text.

Designer of the button, Kim Matthews said:

"USA" in blue and white star block letters over red text on a white background.

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Yellow background, black smiley in middle with black block text along top and bottom edge

Constitutional money refers to what is described in the USA Constitution which states that the only legal tender for currency are gold and silver coins. Paper money cannot be used as a means to payback pre-existing debts. The government cannot simply print money on demand when needed as this causes inflation, the more money printed, the more taxes rise, the more prices in general rise.

The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.
The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.

Green background with black peace sign made from a tree and its branches.

The Environmental Teach-In was held April 22, 1970 as started by Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson (and a large crew of activists) in reaction to the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969. Over 20 million people participated in this Teach-In (modeled after the Vietnam War Teach-Ins) and is now merged with what we celebrate as Earth Day. 

Black text on white background

This button supported Consolidated Edison of New York's energy-saving campaign from the 1970s. Energy companies tried to reduce the demand on their power plants by using existing technology and promoting conservation instead of simply buiiklding new plants. Con Editson's "Save a Watt" campaign was a part of this strategy aimed at electricity consumers, which continued through the oil crisis of the mid-1970s. Con Edison’s history as an electricity provider dates to 1882, when Thomas Edison's company supplied electricity to 59 customers in Manhattan.