Speech at the convention after narrowly defeating reagan. I am honored by your nomination and i accept it. [applause] with pride, with gratitude and a total will to win a great victory for the American People. We will wage a Winning Campaign in every region of this country from the snowy banks of minnesota to the sandy plains of georgia. [applause] we can see not a single state, we concede not a single vote. This evening, i am proud to stand before this Great Convention as the first incumbent president since dwight the highs and how or who can tell the American People, america is at peace. Tonight i can tell you straight away, this nation is sound, this nation is secure, this nation is on the march to full economic recovery and a better quality of life for all americans. [applause], and i will tell you one more thing, this is the year the issues are on our side. I am ready. I am eager to go before the American People and debate the real issues facetoface with jimmy carter. [applause] we want ford we want ford. The American People have the right to know firsthand exactly where both of us stand. I am deeply grateful to those who stood with me and winning the nomination of the party whose cause i have served all of my adult life, i expect the convictions of those who want to change in washington, i want to change to. After2 long years of majority misrule, lets change the United States congress. My gratitude tonight, it reaches far beyond this arena, to countless friends whose counted its and unselfish support have brought me to this moment. It would be unfair to single out anyone. But may i may come a section four might wonderful, mike, jack steve, and susan and definitely my dear wife betty. Chantingc we republicans have had some tough competition. We not only preach the virtues, we practice them. But tonight we come together not on a battlefield to conclude a ceasefire but to join forces on a Training Field that is conditioned us all for the rugged contest ahead. [applause] let me say this, from the bottom of my heart, after the scrimmage is of the past few months, it really feels good to have Ronald Reagan on the same side of the line. [applause] to strengthen our championship lineup, the convention has wisely chosen one of the ablest americans as our next Vice President , senator bob dole of kansas. With his hope, your help, with the help of millions of americans, who cherish peace, who want freedom preserved, prosperity shared and pride in america. We will win this election. I speak not of a republican victory, but a victory for the American People. You at home listening tonight, you are the people who pay the taxes and obey the laws, you are the people who make our system work, you are the people who make america what it is. It is from your ranks that i come and im on your side and i stand with you. [applause] Something Wonderful happened to this country of ours the past two years. We all came to realize it on the 4th of july. Together out of years of turmoil and tragedy, wars and riots, assassinations and wrongdoings in wrong places, americans recapture the spirit of 1776. We saw again, a pioneer vision of our revolutionary founders and our immigrant ancestors. [applause] their vision was about three men and free women and enjoying limited government and unlimited opportunity. The mandate i want in 1976 is the big vision and make it a reality. It will take the voices and the votes of many more americans who are not republican,s to make that mandate binding and my mission impossible. I have been called an an elected president , accidental president. We may even hear that from the other party despite the fact that i was welcomed and endorsed by an overwhelming majority of their elected representatives in congress who certified my business to the highest office. Having become Vice President and president , without expecting or seeking either, i have a special feeling for these high offices. To be the presidency and vice presidency were not prizes to be one but a duty to be done. [applause] so tonight it is not the power and glamour of the presidency that leads me to ask for another four years. It is something every hardworking american will understand, the challenge of a job well begun but far from finished. [applause] two years ago, on august 9th, 1974, i place my hand on the bible which betty hailed and took the same constitutional role that was administer to george washington. I have faith in our people, in our institutions and in myself. My fellow americans are Long National nightmare is over. It is an hour in our history that troubled our minds and tore out our hearts, anger and hatred had risen to dangerous levels, dividing friends and familys, the polarization of our political order had aroused unworthy passions of reprisal and revenge. Our governmental system was closer to stalemate than at any since Abraham Lincoln took that same oath of office. Our economy was in the throes of runaway inflation and taking us headlong into the worst recession since franklin d. Roosevelt took the same oath, on that dark day, i told my fellow countrymen that i am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, so i ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers. [applause] on a marble fireplace, in the white house, is carved a prayer which john adams wrote, it concludes, may none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof. Since i have reside it in that historic house, i have tried to live by that prayer. [applause] i faced many for tough problems, i probably made some mistakes. But on balance, america and americans have made an incredible comeback since august, 1974. Nobody can honestly say otherwise, and the plain truth is, the great progress we have made at home and abroad was in spite of the majority who run the congress of the United States. [applause] for two years i have stood for all of the people against that vote hungry, free spending, congressional majority on capitol hill. 55 times, i have vetoed extravagant and unwise legislation, 45 times ive made those vetoes stick. Those vetoes have saved american taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. I am against the big tax spender and for the little taxpayer. I called for a permanent tax cut coupled with spending reductions to stimulate the economy and relief hard pressed middle exam tax payers. Your exemption must be raised from 750 dollars to 1000 dollars. [applause] the other parties platform talks about tax reform, but there is one big problem, their own congress will not act. I call for reasonable constitutional restrictions on Court Ordered busing of schoolchildren, but the other platform concedes that busing should be a last resort. There is the same problem, their own congress will not act. I called for a Major Overhaul of criminal laws to crack down on crime and illegal drugs. The other parties platform deplores americas 90 billion dollar cost of crime. There is the problem again. Their own congress will not act. [applause] the other parties platform talks about a strong defense. Now here is the other side of the problem, their own congress did act. They slashed 50 billion dollars from our National Defense in the last ten years, my friends, washington is not the problem, their congress is the problem. You know the president of the United States is not a magician who can wave a wand or a sign a paper that will instantly handle a recession or make bureaucracy disappear. A president has immense powers under the constitution, but all of them ultimately come from the American People and their mandate to him. That is why tonight, i turn to the American People and ask not only what they do for your prayers but for your strength and your support. For your voice and for your vote. I come before you with a fouryear record of performance without your mandate, i offer you a fouryear pledge of greater performance with your mandate. As governor used to say, lets look at the record. Two years ago inflation was 12 , sales were off, plants were shut down, thousands were being laid off every week. Fear of the future was traveling down our economy and threatening millions of families. Lets look at the record since august 1974, inflation has been cut in half, payrolls are up, profits up, production is up, purchases are up. Since the recession was turned around almost 4 million of our fellow americans have found do jobs or gotten their old jobs back. This year more men and women have jobs than ever before in the history of the United States. [applause] confidence has returns and we are in the full surge of recovery to steady prosperity. Two years ago, america was mired in withdrawal from southeast asia, a decade of congress is had short changed our global defenses and threatened our strategic posture. Mounting tension between israel and the arab nations made another war seem inevitable. The whole world watched and wondered where america was going, did we know domestic turmoil have the will, the stamina, and the unity to stand up for freedom . Look at the record since august two years ago. Today, america is at peace and seeks peace for all nations. Not a single america is at war anywhere on the face of this earth tonight. [applause] our ties with western europe and Japan Economic as well as military were never stronger, our relations with eastern europe, soviet union, Mainland China are firm, vigilant and forwardlooking. Policies that i have initiated offer sound, progress and for the people of the pacific and africa and latin america. Israel egypt, both trusting the United States, have taken a historic step that promises and eventual settlement for the whole middle east. The world now respects americas policy of peace through strength, the United States is again the confidence leader of the free world. [applause] nobody questions are dedication to peace. But nobody doubts our willingness to use our strength when our vital interest is at stake and we will. I call for an up to date powerful army navy, air force and marine that will keep america secure for decades. A Strong Military posture is always the best insurance for peace. But americas strength is never rested on arms alone, it is rooted in our mutual commitment of our citizens and leaders in the highest standards of ethics and morality and in the spiritual renewal which our nation is undergoing right now. Two years ago, peoples confidence in our highest officials to whom they had overwhelmingly interested power had twice been showered. Losing faith in the words of their elected leaders. Americans lost some of their own faith in themselves. A game, lets look at the record since august 1974. From the start, my administration has been open, candid, fourthrate. [applause] well my entire public and private life is under examination for the vice presidency, i reaffirms my lifelong conviction that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only government but civilization itself. I have demanded honesty, decency and personal integrity from everybody in the executive branch of the government. The house and senate have the same duty. The American People will not accept a double standard in the United States congress. Those who make our laws today must not debase the reputation of our great legislative bodies that have given us such giants as daniel webster, henry clay and robert a taft. Whether in the nations capital, state capital or city hall, private morality and public trust must go together. From august of 1974 to august of 1976, the record shows steady progress upwards towards prosperity, peace and public trust. My record is one of progress and not platitudes, my records as one of specifics and not smiles. My record is one of performance not policy. [applause] it is a record i am proud of, it is a record the American People, democrats, republicans and democrats alike will support on november 2nd. For the next four years, i pledge to you that i will owe to the steady course we have begun. But i have no intention of standing on the record alone. We will continue winning the fight against inflation, we will go on reducing the deadweight and impudence of bureaucracy. We will submit a balanced budget by 1978, we will improve the quality of life at work, play, and in our homes and in our neighborhoods. We will not abandon our cities. We will encourage urban programs which ensure safety in the streets, create healthy environments and restore neighborhood proud. We will return control of our childrens education to parents and local school authorities. We will make sure that the party of lincoln remains the party of equal rights. [applause] we will creates a tax structure that is fair for all of our citizens, one that preserves the continuity of the family home, the family farm and the family business. We will ensure that integrity of the Social Security system and improve medicare so that are older citizens can enjoy that help and have fetus that they have earned. There is no reason that they should have to go broke just to get well. We will make sure that this rich nation does not neglect citizens who are less fortunate, but provides for their needs with compassion and with dignity. We will reduce the cost of government and allow individual breadwinners and businesses to keep more of the money that they earned. We will create a climate in which our economy will provide a meaningful job for everyone who wants to work. And a decent standard of life for all americans. We will ensure that our young people have a better chance in life than we had. An education that they could use and a career that they could be proud of. We will carry out a Foreign Policy that ensures a fair market price for the farmer, encourages full production, leads to record exports and eases the hunger in the human family. We will never use the bounty of americas farmers as a pawn in international diplomacy. There will be no embargo. We will continue our strong leadership to bring peace, justice an economic progress war there is turmoil. Especially in the middle east. We will build a safer and seen our world through pay should negotiations and dependable arms agreements which reduce the danger of conflict and horror of thermal nuclear war. While i am president , we will not return to a collision course that could be reducing civilization to ashes. [applause] we will build an america where people feel rich in spirit as well as in the world. We will build in america where people feel proud about themselves and about their country. We will build on performance not promises, experience not expediency, Real Progress instead of mysterious plans to be revealed in some dim and distant future. The American People are wise, wiser than her opponents think. They know who pays for every campaign promise, they are not afraid of the truth. We will tell them the truth. From start to finish, our campaign will be credible, it will be responsible. We will come out fighting and we will win. [applause] yes, we have all seen the polls and the pundits who say our party is dead. I have heard that before. So did harry truman, i will tell you what i think, the only polls that count or the polls the American People go to on november 2nd. Right now i predict that the American People are going to say that night, jerry, you have done a good job and keep right on doing it. [applause] [chanting] ford and dole. As i try in my imagination to look in the homes where families are watching the end of this Great Convention, i cant tell which faces are republicans, which are democrat, and which are independents. I cannot see either color or their creed, i see only americans. I see americans who love their husbands, their wives and their children. I see americans who love their country for what it has been and what it must become. I see americans who work hard but are willing to sacrifice all that they have worked for to keep their children and their country free. I see americans who in their own quiet way pray for peace among nations and peace among themselves. We do love our neighbors, and we do forgive those who have trespassed against us. I see a new generation that nose itself, a generation determined to preserve its ideals, its environment, our nation and the world. My fellow americans, i like what i see. I have no fear for the future of this great country. And as we go forward together, i promise you once more what i promised before, back to uphold the constitution, to do what is right as what god gives me to see the right. And to do the very best that i can for america. God help me, i wont let you down. Thank you. [applause] one of the most enthusiastic speeches weve received. [inaudible] the president spoke for 36 minutes, he was interrupted on average of once almost every 30 seconds. We will have more on that pneumonia it. The reference to be on the same side of Ronald Reagan was 39 seconds of applause. The most consistently applauded section was when he went after the democraticcontrolled congress. [inaudible] harry truman was able to turn those around, even though on the night of election itself he talks about covering the 1976 president ial race against gerald ford and jimmy carter. Washington is like a room with an enormous window, you are looking all over, anything and everything that happens is noticed. Almost every single occurrence in the world has a repercussion in washington