Barry Goldwater’s campaign theme “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” led Democrats to argue that the 1964 Republican presidential nominee was a candidate to be feared. This plastic campaign pin was intended as a humorous response to that charge. Pushing the “panic button” raises a spring-loaded sign promoting votes for Goldwater and his running mate William Miller. Goldwater ultimately lost to his Democratic opponent President Lyndon B. Johnson by one of the largest margins in election history. A similar “panic button” was reissued for the 1976 campaign of Democrat Jimmy Carter.