After he lost the presidency in 1960, then met with defeat in a bid for California governor two years later, it was generally believed that Nixon's political career was over. In 1968, he had to counter this perception and convince the public that he was not the "same old Dick." (Significantly, he stopped using the shortened form of his first name.) When Nixon chose Maryland governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate, a clever observer caught the hidden message, and this unusual button was the result.