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In 1995, Walmart banned a shirt saying 'a woman will be president'

Here's the shirt the store once said violated its "family values."
/ Source: TODAY

A T-shirt proclaiming that a woman will one day be president was banned from Walmart back in 1995, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it sounds more like a story from 1895.

Now the shirt is back in the news, just as Hillary Clinton (a woman!) is running for president, reminding us all just how far we have come. But really: 1995, Walmart?

The reminder comes from a Rutgers University professor who shared a snapshot of the T-shirt on Twitter, along with an Associated Press article from 1995.

The shirt in question features the cartoon character Margaret from “Dennis the Menace” with her hands raised in the air and the slogan, “Someday a woman will be PRESIDENT!”

The article, with a Miami dateline and outdated spelling of the superstore, explained how one Walmart location yanked the popular shirt once a customer complained. At the time, a spokesperson said "it was offensive to some people." But not everyone agreed with the decision.

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Ann Moliver Ruben, who designed the T-shirt, told the AP then that "promoting females as leaders is still a very threatening concept in this country." She defended the shirt as "humorous and delightful."

Ruben also told the AP that a buyer for Walmart told her they wouldn't carry the shirt anymore because it "goes against Walmart's family values."

Coincidentally, Clinton was on Walmart's board of directors for six years, from 1986 to 1992.

The T-shirt controversy didn't last long — after women's groups threatened to boycott Walmart, the shirt was reintroduced to stores, The Chicago Tribune reported.

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Nonetheless, it's clear that 21 years later — with plenty of T-shirts celebrating Clinton's historic run for the White House — times have changed.

To its credit, Walmart appears contrite about the shirt snafu.

"Wow, it still pains me that we made this mistake 20 years ago," spokesperson Danit Marquardt said in a statement sent to TODAY. "We're proud of the fact that our country — and our company — has made so much progress in advancing women in the workplace, and in society."

We bet it won't be long before some clever designer recreates the T-shirt.