Text is printed in blue with a red outline and surrounded by a red ribbon with white stars and a blue border.

This anti-president Richard Nixon button features a slogan commonly used by the George McGovern campaign in the 1972 presidential election. McGovern served as a Democratic Representative and Senator from South Dakota and is remembered for being a “die-hard liberal” whose main goal was to achieve world peace. McGovern warned against involvement in Vietnam in 1963, proposed a $4-billion reduction in the U.S. defense budget, and supported the war on poverty. President Nixon was originally elected in 1968, and was running for a second term in 1972 when he beat McGovern in a landslide with 60.7% of the popular vote.

Photograph of Nelson Mandela in front of a group of children, surrounded by a border of white text on a green background.

Nelson Mandela was famous around the world for being a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first black president of South Africa. His career started in 1944 when he began work as an anti-apartheid activist. Soon after, Mandela became a revered leader in the black community and was incarcerated for his work by the South African government from 1964 to 1982. 

In the early 1990s, Mandela negotiated with then President of South Africa F.W. de Klerk to help end the nation’s discriminatory apartheid system. For their efforts they were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.  Mandela was elected president of South Africa in 1994 and served one term that lasted until 1999.  Mandela was credited with bringing together a once divided nation through his efforts to investigate human rights violations under apartheid, and to introduce education and economic development initiatives to the black community.  Although he is now deceased, Mandela remains an international figure and is internationally known for his efforts towards peace and social justice.  

White text on green background.  Photograph of Jimmy Carter smiling imposed over the outline of the United States.  Image of the United States filled in with the American flag.

A recycled campaign slogan seen during the Kennedy and LBJ presidential campaigns, "Get America Moving Again" was one of the phrases used by the "Peanut Brigade"—a group of volunteers, friends, and other Carter supporters from Georgia—in support of his 1976 campaign for president.

In the wake of the Watergate scandal and Nixon's resignation, Jimmy Carter's Washington 'outsider' image caught the eye of disillusioned voters who were fed up with the politics 'as usual' mentality corroding Capital Hill. Nixon's successor and Republican incumbent Gerald Ford fared poorly in the primaries, but eventually proved to be a worthy competitor. In the end, Carter emerged victorious and became the 39th president of the United States. 

White button with photograph of Lyndon Johnson wearing cowboy hat and suit.  Black text along bottom border of the button.  Orange and white ribbon with white text.

The day after John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president. Johnson is one of the only four Americans to serve in all four federally elected offices: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. Prior to succeeding Kennedy, Johnson served as a Texas Representative from 1937 to 1949, and then Senator from 1949 to 1961. His term as Senator included six years as Senate majority leader. 

The button pictured above was presumably made for attendees of Johnson's 1965 inauguration. Although Johnson is most known for his escalation of the Vietnam War, he also designed and implemented much of the "Great Society"—legislation that sought to ameliorate poverty, bolster civil rights, and protect the environment. With widespread protests in opposition to the Vietnam War capturing headlines daily by 1968, Johnson ended his campaign for another term once results came back of his poor performance in the New Hampshire primary. Nixon went on to win the 1968 general election.

Johnson died at the age of 64 in January, 1973 after suffering a major heart attack. 

Bold white text on a green background.

Ralph Nader was the Green party candidate for President of United States in 1996 and 2000, and an independent candidate in both 2004 and 2008.  Once named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Americans of the Twentieth Century, Nader is often blamed for the loss of Vice President Al Gore to President George W. Bush in the controversial 2000 election.  Nader, a life-long political activist, Army veteran, and Harvard graduate, founded the non-profit group Public Citizen and has received numerous public service awards. Nader has been a prominent voice against nuclear weapons, and for airline deregulation, automobile safety, and environmental issues.

Black text on a green background.  NCNP is printed in the center in green text with a black background.

The National Conference for New Politics (NCNP) took place in Chicago’s Palmer House over Labor Day weekend in 1967 and featured Martin Luther King, Jr. as the keynote speaker. Approximately 3,000 people from hundreds of organizations attended the conference. The goal was to unify political activists of all races who believed in civil rights and opposed the Vietnam War.  President Lyndon B. Johnson felt so threatened by the conference that he instructed the FBI to attempt to track the attendants’ movements and thwart any long-term plans of the NCNP

Black text on a white background borders a photograph of Robert H. Johnson.

Robert H. Johnson was presumably a candidate for treasurer within the Masonic community.  

Black and white photograph of Archibald Wasson surrounded by black text on a white background.

Archibald Wasson was the Prohibition candidate from Livingston County, N.Y. in the 1904 New York State Assembly race.  He lost the race to Republican James Wadsworth, who later went on to have a successful career in Congress. Although not much is known about Wasson, the Prohibition Party has campaigned to end the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol since 1869.

The text appears as an illustration of brown logs beneath a brown log cabin on a white background with illustrated grass and trees

This button is from the birthplace of Senator Robert Samuel Kerr, Oklahoma’s first native-born governor and a U.S. Senator.  Kerr was Governor of Oklahoma from 1943 until 1947. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948 where he served until his death in 1963. The log cabin was located in what was once Native American Territory near Ada, Oklahoma.

Blue text on white background bordered by a thick red line and thin blue line.

Presumably made in support of Richard M. Daley's 1989 campaign for the mayor of Chicago, this button took advantage of the ubiquity of the Daley name in the Second City. Richard M. Daley's father, Richard J. Daley, was the mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976—the longest serving mayor until his son assumed the office in 1989. Prior to becoming mayor, Richard M. Daley served in the Illinois Senate as well as the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. After his inaugural election, Richard M. Daley was re-elected five times, serving nearly twenty-two years in office. Amidst dismal approval ratings and an endless string of scandals, Daley waived his opportunity to run for a seventh term as mayor in 2009.