Guides: Designed to Win: Political Buttons and Pins from the Past: Presidential Candidates' Campaign Buttons

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Abraham Lincoln, 16th president, 1861–1865, Springfield

Abraham Lincoln was close friends with Jesse Fell, who was recognized as instrumental in founding both Illinois State (Normal) University and the Town of Normal.

As an attorney, Abraham Lincoln drafted the legal documents for the property that would become Illinois State (Normal) University.

Lincoln’s famous 1856 “Lost Speech,” was held in Bloomington’s Major’s Hall—also the first site of Illinois State (Normal) University classes prior to the construction of Old Main.

On May 3, 1865, Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train, The Lincoln Special, passed through Normal on the same line Amtrak uses today.

Image from Library of Congress, Abraham Lincoln-Hannibal Hamlin campaign button for presidential election. 1860. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011647968/.

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president, 1869–1877, Galena

Ulysses S. Grant visited Bloomington before and after serving as President, notably several times to attend Illinois Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) reunions.

Chicago’s Grant Park is named for the 18th President and was the location for Barack Obama’s 2008 historic presidential victory speech.

Image from Library of Congress, U.S. Grant campaign button for presidential election.1868. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011661490/.

Adlai E. Stevenson II, Democratic Party nominee for U.S. President, 1952 and 1956, Bloomington

Bloomington, Illinois native Adlai Ewing Stevenson II had strong ties to the community and the University. His maternal great grandfather was Jesse Fell. From 1913 to 1916 Stevenson attended Thomas Metcalf Training School and later University High School when classes were held in what is now Moulton Hall.

Stevenson was elected Illinois’ 31st Governor from 1949–1953 and was the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. President in 1952 and 1956. In 1960, he was one of the Democratic nominees losing to John F. Kennedy. Under Kennedy’s Administration, Stevenson was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. Stevenson was a role model for 1957 ISNU alumnus and future U.S. Ambassador Donald McHenry.

Stevenson Hall was dedicated in his honor in 1969 along with the adjacent 27-foot gold leaf sculpture titled “Logos.” Since 1994, the University’s Stevenson Center has been dedicated to public service and global understanding following in the spirit of its namesake.

Ronald Reagan, 40th president, 1981–1989, Dixon

Ronald Reagan, a Eureka College alum from 1928–1932, competed against ISNU’s football team on McCormick Field when it was located on the south end of the Quad, near present-day State Farm Hall of Business.

On October 18, 1980, surrounded by Secret Service agents, Reagan led the University’s homecoming parade; weeks later he would be elected 40th U.S. President.

Paul Simon, 1988 lost Democratic Party nomination, Carbondale

Paul Simon was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in 1968. He served with Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie. This was the only gubernatorial administration with different political parties in Illinois history. Simon lost the 1972 Democratic primary against Dan Walker.

Simon visited campus many times. He supported the 26th Amendment lowering the voting age for all Americans to eighteen years and encouraged Illinois State University students to vote.

Simon was always seen wearing his trademark bowtie and it was incorporated into the button design for his 1988 Presidential campaign. Simon was one of the nominees losing the Democratic Party nomination to Michael Dukakis.

Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic Party nominee, Park Ridge

Hillary Clinton was the first “First Lady” to hold a law degree when Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd President in 1992 and the first “First Lady” to simultaneously hold elected office in 2000 when she was elected New York’s U.S. Senator.

She was also the first woman …

to be elected U.S. Senator from New York (2001).
to win a presidential primary or caucus state (2007).
to be nominated for U.S. President by a major U.S. political party (2016).
to win the popular vote for U.S. President (2018).

Barack Obama, 44th president, 2009–2017, Chicago

Barack and Michelle Obama Yes We Can

Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign used the slogans, “Change We Can Believe In” and “Yes We Can.” “Yes We Can” is the English version of “¡Si se puede!®” which has been used by the United Farm Workers when its co-founder Dolores Huerta created the phrase in 1972 during a 24-fast by César Chávez.

Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr

President Barack Obama commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 2008, on the same steps of the Lincoln Memorial the civil rights leader spoke a half century earlier.