Thank you very much. Hi all right. Thank you very much. [ chanting ] mr. Chairman, delegates to this convention, my fellow americans, 16 years ago, i stood before this convention to accept your nomination as the running mate of one of the greatest americans of our time or of my time, dwight d. Eisenhower. Eight years ago, i had the highest honor of accepting your nomination for president of the United States. Tonight, i again proudly accept that nomination for president of the United States. But i have news for you. This time, theres a difference. This time, were going to win were going to win for a number of reasons. First, a personal one. General eisenhower, as you know, lies critically ill in the Walter Reed Hospital tonight. I have talked, however, with mrs. Eisenhower on the telephone. She tells me that his heart is with us. And she says that there is nothing that he lives more for, and there is nothing that would lift him more than for us to win in november. And i say, lets win this one for ike. Were going to win because this Great Convention has demonstrated to the nation that the Republican Party has the leadership, the platform, and the purpose that America Needs. Were going to win because you have nominated as my running mate a statesman of the first rank who will be a great campaigner, and one who is fully qualified to undertake the new responsibilities that i shall give to the next Vice President of the United States. And he is a man who fully shares my conviction and yours, that after a period of 40 years, when power has gone from the cities and the states to the government in washington, d. C. , its time to have power go back from washington to the states and to the cities of this country all over america. Were going to win because at a time that america cries out for the unity that this administration has destroyed, the Republican Party, after a spirited contest for its nomination for president and Vice President stands united before the nation tonight. And i congratulate governor reagan. I congratulate governor rockefeller. I congratulate governor romney. I congratulate all those who have made the hard fight that they have for this nomination. And i know that you will all fight even harder for the great victory our party is going to win in november because we are going to be together in that election campaign. And a party that can unite itself will unite america. My fellow americans, most important, we are going to win because our cause is right. We make history tonight not for ourselves, but for the ages. The choice we make in 1968 will determine not only the future of america, but the future of peace and freedom in the world for the last third of the 20th century. And the question that we answer tonight, can america meet this great challenge . For a few moments, let us look at america, let us listen to america, to find the answer to that question. As we look at america, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. We hear sirens in the night. We see americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. We see americans hating each other, fighting each other, killing each other at home. And as we see and hear these things, millions of americans cry out in anguish, did we come all this way for this . Did american boys die in normandy and korea and in valley forge for this . Listen to the answer to those questions. It is another voice. It is a quiet voice in the tumult of the shouting. It is the great of the great majority of americans, the for gotten americans, the nonshouters, the nondemonstrators. They are not racist or sick. They are not guilty of the crime that plagues the land. They are black, and they are white. They are native born, and foreign born. They are young and they are old. They work in americas factories. They run americas businesses. They serve in government. They provide most of the soldiers who died to keep us free. They give drive to the spirit of america. They give lift to the American Dream. They give steel to the backbone of america. They are good people. They are decent people. They work, and they save, and they pay their taxes, and they care. Like theodore roosevelt, they know that this country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless it is a good place for all of us to live in. And this i say this i say to you tonight is the real voice of america. In this year, 1968, this is the message that will broadcast to america and to the world, lets never forget that despite our faults, america is a great nation, and america is great because your people are great. With Winston Churchill we say, we have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy. Americas in trouble today not because her people have failed, but because her leaders have failed. And what America Needs are leaders to match the greatness of her people. And this great group of americans, the forgotten americans and others, know that the great question americans must answer by their votes in november is this whether we shall continue for four more years the policies of the past five years. And this is their answer, and this is my answer to that question. When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war in vietnam with no end in sight. When the richest nation in the world cant manage its own economy, when the nation with greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness, when a nation has been known for a century for equality of opportunity is torn by unprecedented racial violence and when the president of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home without a hostile demonstration, then its time for new leadership for the United States of america. [ cheers and applause ] [ audience chanting ] thank you. My fellow americans, tonight i accept the challenge and the commitment to provide that new leadership for america. And i ask you to accept it with me. And let us accept this challenge not as a grim duty, but as an exciting adventure in which we are privileged to help a great nation realize its destiny and. And let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth, to see it like it is, and tell it like it is. To find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth. Thats what we will do. We have had enough of big promises and little action. The time has come for honest government in the United States of america. And so tonight i do not promise the millennial yum in the morning i do not promise we can eliminate discrimination and eliminate all dangers of war in the space of fourer even eight years but i promise action, a new policy tour peace abroad, a new policy for peace and justice at home. Look at our problems abroad. Do you realize that we face the stark truth that we are worse off in every area of the world tonight than we were when president eisenhower left office eight years ago . Thats the record. And there is only one answer to such a record of failure, and that is a complete housecleaning of those responsible for the failures and that record. The answer is the complete reappraisal of americas policies in every section of the world. We shall begin with vietnam. We all hope in this room that there is a chance that current negotiations may bring an honorable end to that war. And we will say nothing during this campaign that might destroy that chance. But if the war is not ended when the People Choose in november, the choice will be clear. Here it is. For four years, this administration has had at its disposal the greatest military and economic advantage that one nation has ever had over another in a war in history. For four years, Americas Fighting men have set a record for courage and sacrifice unsurpassed in our history. For four years this administration has had the support of the loyal opposition for the objective of seeking an honorable end to the struggle. Never has so much military and economic and diplomatic power been used so ineffectively. And if after all of this time and all this sacrifice and all of this support there is still no end in sight, then i say the time has come for the American People to turn to new leadership not tied to the mistakes and the policies of the past. That is what we offer to america. And i pledge to you tonight that the First PriorityForeign Policy objective of our next administration will to be to bring an honorable end to the war in vietnam. We shall not stop there. We need a policy to prevent more vietnams. All of americas peacekeeping institutions and all of americas foreign commitments must be reappraised. Over the past 25 years, america has provided more than 150 billion in foreign aid to nations abroad. In korea, and now again in vietnam, the United States furnished most of the money, most of the arms, most of the men to help the people of those countries defend themselves against aggression. Now, we are a rich country. We are a strong nation. We are a populous nation, but there are 200 million americans, and there are 2 billion people that live in the free world. And i say the time has come for other nations in the free world to bear their fair share of the burden of defending peace and freedom around this world. What i call for is not a new isolationism. It is a new internationalism in which american enlists its allies and its friend around the world in those struggles in which their interest is as great as ours. And now to the leaders of the communist world, we say, after an era of confrontation, the time has come for an era of negotiation, where the worlds super powers are concerned, there is no acceptable all turn i have to peaceful negotiation. Because this will be a period of negotiation, we shall restore the strength of america so that we shall always negotiate from strength and never from weakness. And as we seek peace through negotiation, let our goals be made clear. We do not seek domination over any other country. We believe deeply in our ideas, but we believe they should travel on their own power and not on the power of our arms we shall never be belligerent. But we shall be as firm in defending our system as they are in expanding theirs. We believe this should be an era of peaceful competition not only in the productivity of our factories, but in the quality of our ideas. We extend the hand of friendship to all people, to the russian people, to the chinese people, to all people in the world. And we shall work toward the goal of an open world, open sky, open cities, open hearts, open minds. The next eight years, my friends [ applause ] this period in which we are entering, i think we will have the greatest opportunity for world peace, but also face the greatest danger of world war of any time in our history. I believe we must have peace. I believe that we can have peace. But i do not underestimate the difficulty of this task. Because, you see, the art of preserving peace is greater than that of waging war, and much more demanding. But i am proud to have served in an administration which ended one war and kept the nation out of other wars for eight years. [ applause ] and it is that kind of experience and its that kind of leadership that America Needs today and that we will give to america with your help. As we commit to new policies for america tonight let me make one further pledge. For five years hardly a day has done by when we havent heard or read an report of an American Flag being spid on, a library being burned or an ambassador being insulted someplace in the orld. Each incident reduced respect for the United States until the ultimate insult inevitably occurred. I say to you tonight that when respect for the United States of america falls so low that a fourth rate military power like north korea will seize an american vessel in the high seas, its time for new leadership to restore respect for the United States of america. [ cheers and applause ] [ audience chanting ] thank you very much. My friends, america is a great nation. It is time we started to act like a great nation around the world. Its ironic to note, when we were a small nation, weak militarily and poor economically, america was respected. And the reason was that america stood for something more powerful than military strength or economic wealth. The American Revolution was a shining example of freedom in action which caught the imagination of the world. And today too often america is an example to be avoided and not followed, a nation that cant keep the peace at home wonting trusted to keep the peace abroad. A president who isnt treated with respect at home wont be treated with respect abroad. A nation which cant manage its own economy cant tell others how to manage theirs. If we are the restore prestige and respect for america abroad, the place to begin is at home in the United States of america. My friends, we live in an age of revolution in america and in the world. And to find the answers to our problems, let us turn to a revolution, a revolution that will never grow old. The worlds greatest continuing revolution, the American Revolution. The American Revolution was and is dedicated to progress. But our founders recognized that the first requisite of progress is order. Now, there is no quarrel between progress and order because neither can exist without the other. So let us have order in america, not the order that suppresses dissent and discourages change, but the order which guarantees the right to dissent and provides the basis for peaceful change. And tonight its time for some honesty talk about the problem of order in the United States. Let us always respect, as i do, our courts, and those who serve on them. But let us also recognize that some of our courts and their decisions have gone too far in weakening the peace forces against the criminal forces in this country. Let those who have the responsibility to enforce our laws and our judges who have the responsibility to interpret them be dedicated to the great principles of civil rights. But let them also recognize that the first civil right of every american is to be free from domestic violence. And that might must be guaranteed in this country. And if we are to restore order and respect for law in this country, there is one place we are going to begin. We are going to have a new attorney general of the United States of america. I pledge to you that our new attorney general will be directed by the president of the United States to launch a war against organized crime in this country. I pledge to you that the new attorney general of the United States will be enact i have belinl rent against the lone sharks that rob the urban poor in our cities. I pledge to you that the new attorney general will open a new front against the narcotics peddlers who are corrupting the lives of the children of the country. Because, my friends, let this message come through clear from what i say tonight, time is running out for the merchants of crime and corruption in american society. The wave of crime is not going to be the wave of the future in the United States of america. We shall reestablish freedom from fear in america so that america can take the lead in reestablishing freedom from fear in the world. And to those who say that law and order is the code word for racism, here is the reply. Our goal is justice. Justice for every american. If we are to have respect for law in america, we must have laws that deserve respect. Just as we cannot have progress without order, we cannot have order without progress. So as we commit to order tonight, let us commit to progress. This brings me to the clearest choice among the great issues of this campaign. For the past five years, we have been deluged by Government Programs for the unemployed, programs for the cities, programs for the poor, and we have reaped from these programs an ugly harvest of frustration, violence, and failure across the land. And now our opponents will be offering more of the same, more billions for government jobs, Government Housing, government welfare. I say its time to quit pouring billions of dollars into programs that have failed in the United States of america. To put it bluntly, were on the wrong road, and its time to take a new road to progress. Again, we turn to the American Revolution for our answers. Poverty didnt begin five years ago in this country. It began when this country began. It has been the most successful war on poverty in the history of nations. There is more wealth in America Today more broadly shared than in any nation in the world. We are a great nation, and we must never forget how we became great. America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people, but because of what people did for themselves over 190 years in this country. And so it is time to apply the lessons of the American Revolution to our present problem. Let us increase the wealth of america so that we can provide more generously for the aged and for the needy and for all those who cannot help themselves but for those who are able to help themselves what we need are not more millions on welfare roles but more millions on pay rolls in the United States of america. Instead of government jobs, and Government Housing and government welfare, let government use its tax and credit policies to enlist in this battle the greatest engine of progress ever developed in the history of man, American Private enterprise. Let us enlist in this great cause the millions of americans in volunteer organizations who will bring a dedication to this task that no amount of money could ever buy and let us build bridges, my friends, build bridges to Human Dignity across that gulf that separates black america from white america. Black america, no more than white government, they do not want more Government Programs which perpetuate dependency. They dont want to be a colony in a nation. They want the pride, and the selfrespect skrk the dignity that can only come if they have an equal chance to own their own holes, to own their own businesses, to be managers and executives as well as workers, to have a piece of the action in the exciting ventures of private enterprise. And i pledge to you tonight that we shall have new programs which will provide that equal chance. We make great history tonight. We do not fire a shot heard round the world. But we shall light the lamp of hope in millions of homes across this land in which there is no hope today. And that great light shining out from america will again become a beacon of hope for all those in the world who seek freedom and opportunity. My fellow americans, i believe that historians will recall that 1968 marked the beginning of the american generation in world history. Just to be alive in america, just to be alive at this time is an experience unparalleled in history. Heres where the action is. Think. 32 years from now, most of americans living today will celebrate a new year that comes once in 1,000 years. Eight years from now, in the second term of the next president , we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. By our decision in this election we, all of us here, all of you listening on television and radio, we will determine what kind of nation america will be on its 200th birthday. We will determine what kinds of a world america will live in in the year 2000. This is the kind of a day i see for america on that glorious 4th eight years from now. I see a day when americans are once again proud of their flag. When once again at home and abroad it is honored as the worlds greatest symbol of liberty and justice. I see a day when the president of the United States is respected and his office is honored because it is worthy of respect and worthy of honor. I see a day whenev ever child i this land has a chance for the best education that our education our schools can provide and an equal chance to go just as high as his at that times will take him. I see a day when rural life in america attracts people to the country rather than driving them away. I see a day when we can look back on massive breakthroughs on slums and pollution and traffic which are choking our cities to death. I see a day when our Senior Citizens and millions of others can plan for the future with the assurance that their government is not going to rob them of their savings by destroying the value of their dollar. I see a day when we will again have freedom from fear in america and freedom from fear in the world. I see a day when our nation is at peace and the world is at peace and everyone on earth. Those who hope, those who aspire, those who crave liberty will look to america as shining example of hope realized and dreams achieved. My fellow americans, this is the cause i ask you to vote for. This is the cause i ask you to work for. This is the cause i ask you to commit to, not just for victory in november, but beyond that into a new administration. Because the time when one man or a few leaders could save america is gone. We need tonight nothing less than the total commitment and the total mobilization of the American People if we are to succeed. Government can pass laws. But respect for law can come only from people who take the law into their hearts and their minds and not into their hands. Government [ applause ] government can provide opportunity but opportunity Means Nothing unless people are propose to seize it. A president can ask for reconciliation in the racial conflict that divides americans. But reconciliation comes only from the hearts of people. And tonight, therefore, as we make this commitment, let us look into our hearts and let us look down into the faces of our children. Is there anything in the world that should stand in their way . None of the old hatreds mean anything when you look down into the faces of our children. In their faces is our hope, our love, and our courage. Tonight i see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. Hes black. Or hes white. Hes mexican, italian, polish. None of that matter. What matters, hes an american child. That child n that great city, is more important than any politicians promise. He is america. He is a poet. Hes a scientist. Hes a great teacher. Hes a proud craftsman. Hes everything we ever hoped to be, and everything we dared dream to be. He sleeps the sleep of childhood, and he dreams the dreams of a child. And yet, when he awakens, he awakens to a living nightmare of poverty and neglect and despair. He fails in school. He ends up on welfare. For him, the american system is one that feeds his stomach and starves his soul. It breaks his heart. And in the end, it may take his life in some distant battlefield. To millions of children in this rich land, this is their prospect for the future. But this is only part of what i see in america. I see another child tonight. He hears the train go by at night, and he dreams of far away places where he would like to go. It seems like an impossible dream. But he is helped on his journey through life. A father who had to go to work before he finished the sixth grade sacrificed everything he had so that his sons could go to college. A gentle quaker mother with a passionate concern for peace quietly wept when he went to war, but she understood why he had to go. A great teacher. A remarkable football coach. An inspirational minister encouraged him on his way. A courageous wife and loyal children stood by him in victory and also in defeat. And in his chosen profession of politics, first there were scores, then hundreds, then thousands, and finally millions working for his success. And tonight, he stands before you, nominated for president of the United States of america. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ] this convention obviously likes what it has seen and heard. You can see why i believe so deeply in the American Dream. For most of us, the American Revolution has been won, the American Dream has come true. What i ask you to do tonight is to help me make that dream come true for millions to whom its an impossible dream today. 108 [ applause ] 108 years ago, the newly elected president of the United States, abraham lincoln, left springfield, illinois, never to return again. He spoke to his friends gathered at the railroad station who listened to his words. Today i leave you. I go to assume a greater task than devolved on general washington. The great god which helped him must help me. Win that great assistance, i will surely fail. With it, i cannot fail. Abraham lincoln lost his life, but he did not fail. The next president of the United States will face challenges which in some ways will be greater than those of washington or lincoln because, for the first time in our nations history, an american president will face not only the problem of restoring peace abroad, but of restoring peace at home. Without gods help, and your help, we will surely fail. But with gods help, and your help, we shall surely succeed. My fellow americans, the long, dark night for america is about to end. [ applause ] the time has come the time has come for us to leave the valley of despair and climb the mountain so that we may see the glory of the dawn. A new day for america. And a new dawn for peace and freedom in the world. Weeknights this month on American History tv, were featuring the contenders. Our series that looks at 14 president ial candidates who lost the election but had a lasting effect on u. S. Politics. Tonight we feature former governor of alabama and fourtime president ial candidate george wallace. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern. Enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. The president s available in hard back, paper back and ebook. Inspired by conversations with noted historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. As americans go to the polls next month to decide who should lead our country, this election offers perspectives into the lives and events that forged each president s leadership style. To learn more about all of our president s and the books featured historians, visit cspan. Org the president and cspan. Org thepresident s. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Good evening, my fellow americans. Tonight i want to talk to you on a subject of deep concern to all americans and to many people in all parts of the world, the war in vietnam. I believe that one of the reasons for the deep division