The gesture has been involved in notable political events . During the incident , in which an American ship was captured by North Korea , the captured American crewmembers often discreetly gave the finger in staged photo ops , thus ruining the North Koreans ' efforts at propaganda . The North Koreans , ignorant of what the gesture meant , were at first told by the prisoners that it was a " Hawaiian good luck sign " , similar to the shaka . When the guards finally figured things out , the crewmembers were subjected to extremely severe beatings . Abbie Hoffman used the gesture at the 1968 Democratic National Convention . Ronald Reagan , while serving as the Governor of California , gave the middle finger to counterculture protestors in Berkeley , California . Nelson Rockefeller , then the Vice President of the United States , directed the gesture to hecklers at a 1976 campaign stop near Binghamton , New York , leading it to be called the " Rockefeller gesture " . Pierre Trudeau , then the Prime Minister of Canada , gave the finger to protesters in Salmon Arm , British Columbia , earning the incident the nickname the " Salmon Arm salute " . The gesture itself has also been nicknamed the " Trudeau salute " . Former president George W. Bush gave the finger to the camera at an Austin production facility during his term as governor of Texas , saying it was " just a one-finger victory salute . " Anthony Weiner gave the finger to reporters after leaving his election headquarters the night he lost the 2013 primary election for Mayor of New York City . During the campaign for the 2013 German federal election , the leading candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , Peer Steinbrück controversially gave the finger in a photo interview with '' Süddeutsche Zeitung '' 's '' Magazin '' supplement
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
The finger