In 2012, Donald Trump applied for a trademark for “Make America Great Again,” a slogan that had been used by previous presidential candidates Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Bill Clinton. Trump’s application was approved in 2015 and the Republican candidate first wore a campaign golf hat with the slogan in July of that year. Hats like this one were available to supporters in many colors but red was one of the most popular. Trump was elected president in 2016 defeating his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
This poster, with a play on Patrick Henry’s famous words “give me liberty, or give me death,” was used at the Tea Party demonstration on Tax Day 2010 in Washington, D.C.
The successful presidential campaign of Republican Abraham Lincoln perfected the nighttime torchlight parade as an entertainment of unprecedented scale that attracted the attention of men, women, and children. The concept originated in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1858, and was revived for Lincoln’s campaign by the city’s young Republicans. Tailored oil-resistant enameled cloth capes distinguished the marchers, some of whom were too young to vote. Their example spread from Hartford to cities in the northeastern United States, which contributed traveling companies totaling some ten thousand uniformed men with torches to a Grand Procession in New York City on October 3, 1860. The martial spectacle—including fireworks, Lincoln “Wide Awake” transparencies, and floats—created envy among the city’s Democrats, and panic among southern sympathizers who regarded the torch-lit parade as a provocation.