From past democratic tensions. Up next, texas state treasurer and richards delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National convention in atlanta. This is just under 40 minutes. Mrs. Richards thank you. Thank you. In an thank you. Thank you, very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Buenas noches, mis amigos. [cheers] im delighted to be here with you this evening because after listening to george bush all these years, i figured you needed to know what a real texas accent sounds like. [laughter] [cheers] twelve years ago barbara jordan, another texas woman [cheers] barbara made the keynote address to this convention, and two women in 160 years is about par for the course. [laughter] but if you give us a chance, we can perform. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that fred astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels. [cheers] i want to announce to this nation that in a little more than 100 days, the reagan meese deaver nofziger poindexter north weinberger watt gorsuch lavelle stockman haig bork noriega george bush era will be over. [cheers] you know, tonight i feel a little like i did when i played basketball in the 8th grade. I thought i looked real cute in my uniform. And then i heard a boy yell from the bleachers, make that basket, bird legs. [laughter] and my greatest fear is that same guy is somewhere out there in the audience tonight, and hes going to cut me down to size, because where i grew up there really wasnt much tolerance for selfimportance, people who put on airs. I was born during the depression in a Little Community just outside waco, and i grew up listening to Franklin Roosevelt on the radio. [applause] well, it was back then that i came to understand the small truths and the hardships that bind neighbors together. Those were real people with real problems and they had real dreams about getting out of the depression. I can remember Summer Nights when wed put down what we called the baptist pallet, and we listened to the grownups talk. I can still hear the sound of the dominoes clicking on the marble slab my daddy had found for a tabletop. I can still hear the laughter of the men telling jokes you werent supposed to hear talkin about how big that old buck deer was, laughin about mama puttin clorox in the well when the frog fell in. They talked about of war and washington and what this country needed. They talked straight talk. People who were living their lives as best they could. We are going to tell how the cow ate the cabbage. I got a letter last week from a young mother in texas. I want to read part of it to you. She writes our worries go from payday to payday, just like millions of others. Very decenttwo incomes but i worry how im going to pay the rising car insurance. I pray my kids dont have a growth spurt so i dont have to buy new jeans. We buy clothes at the budget store. We try to figure out how we are going to pay for college and braces and tennis shoes. Please dont think me ungrateful. We have jobs and a nice place to live. We are the people you see every day. We fly our flags on the holidays, trying to make it better for ourselves and our children and our parents. Maybe we are too tired. I believe People Like Us are forgotten in america. Well of course you believe you are forgotten, because you have then. You have been. This Republican Administration treats us as if we were pieces of a puzzle that cant fit together. They try to put us in our compartment and separate us from each other. Their political theory is divide and conquer. They have suggested time and time again that what is of interest to one group of americans is not of interest to anyone else. Isolated, we have been lumped into that sad phraseology called special interest. Farmers they were selfish, that they would drive up food prices if they asked the government to intervene. Watch farms go on the Auction Block wall we bought food from foreign countries. Thats wrong. They told working mothers it is their fault that families are falling apart because they had to work to keep their kids in teens and tennis shoes. And they are wrong. They told American Labor they were trying to ruin Free Enterprise by asking for 60 days notice of a plant closing, and that is wrong. And they told the Auto Industry and the Steel Industry and the timber industry, companies being threatened bike of foreign products flooding this country, that if you think the government should enforce our trade laws and that is wrong. When they belittle us for demanding clean air and water for trying to save the oceans and the ozone layer, that is wrong. No wonder we feel isolated. And confused. We want answers. Nothing is wrong with you. Nothing is wrong with you that you cant fix in november. Told the interests of the south and southwest are not the same interests as the north in our northeast isolation, we think government is not going to help us. And that we are alone in our feelings. The fact is that we are not an isolated piece of their puzzle. We are one nation. The United States of america. Democrats believe america is still the country of fair play, we can come out of a small town or poor neighborhood and have the same chance as anyone else, and it doesnt matter whether we are black or hispanic or disabled or women. We believe that america is a country where Small Business owners must succeed, because they are the bedrock, backbone of our economy. [applause] we believe our kids deserve good day care and Public Schools we believe our kids deserve Public Schools where students can learn and teachers can teach. And we want to believe that our parents will have a good retirement and that we will too. We democrats believe that Social Security is a pact that cannot be broken. We want to believe that we can live out our lives without the terrible fear that an illness is going to bankrupt us and our children. We democrats believe that america can overcome any problem, including the dreaded disease called aids. [applause] we believe that america is still a country where there is more to life than just a constant struggle for money. And we believe that america must have leaders who show us that our struggles amount to something and contribute to something larger, leaders who want us to be all that we can be. We want leaders like jesse jackson. Jesse jackson is a leader and a teacher who can open our hearts and open our minds and stir our very souls. Hes taught us that we are as good as our capacity for caring caring about the drug problem, caring about crime, caring about education and caring about each other. Now, in contrast, the greatest nation of the free world has had a leader for 8 straight years that has pretended that he cannot hear our questions over the noise of the helicopter. We know he doesnt want to answer. But we have a lot of questions. And when we get our questions asked, or there is a leak, or an investigation, the only answer we get is, i dont know, or i forgot. But you would not accept that answer from your children. I wouldnt. Dont tell me you dont know or you forgot. We are not going to have the america that we want until we elect leaders who tell the truth. Not most days, but every day. Leaders who dont forget what they dont want to remember. And for 8 straight years george bush hasnt displayed the slightest interest in anything we care about. And now that hes after a job that he cant get appointed to, hes like columbus discovering america. Hes found child care, hes found education. Poor george, he cant help it he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. Well, no wonder no wonder we cant figure it out because the leadership of this nation is telling us one thing on tv and doing something entirely different. They tell us, they tell us that theyre fighting a war against terrorists. And then we find out that the white house is selling arms to the ayatollah. They tell us that theyre fighting a war on drugs, and then people come on tv and testify that the c. I. A. And the d. E. A. And the f. B. I. Knew they were flying drugs into america all along. And theyre negotiating with a dictator who is shoveling cocaine into this country like crazy. I guess thats their Central American strategy. Now they tell us that employment rates are great and that theyre for equal opportunity, but we know it takes two paychecks to make ends meet today, when it used to take one, and the opportunity theyre so proud of is lowwage, deadend jobs. And there is no major city in america where you cannot see homeless men sitting in parking lots Holding Signs that say, i will work for food. i will work for food. Now my friends, we really are at a Crucial Point in american history. Under this administration we have devoted our resources into making this country a military colossus, but weve let our economic lines of defense fall into disrepair. The debt of this nation is greater than it has ever been in our history. We fought a world war on less debt that the republicans have built up in the last 8 years. Its kind of like that brotherinlaw who drives a flashy new car but hes always borrowing money from you to make the payments. But lets take what they are proudest of, that is their stand on defense. We democrats are committed to a strong america. And, quite frankly, when our leaders say to us we need a new weapon system, our inclination is to say, well, they must be right. But when we pay billions for planes that wont fly, billions for tanks that wont fire and billions for systems that wont work, that old dog wont hunt. And you dont have to be from waco to know that when the pentagon makes crooks rich and doesnt make america strong, that its a bum deal. Now im going to tell you im really glad that our young people missed the depression and missed the great big war. But i do regret that they missed the leaders that i knew, leaders who told us when things were tough and that wed have to sacrifice, and that these difficulties might last awhile. They didnt tell us things were hard for us because we were different, or isolated, or special interests. They brought us together and they gave us a sense of national purpose. They gave us Social Security and they told us they were setting up a system where we could pay our own money in and when the time came for our retirement, we could take the money out. People in rural areas were told that we deserved to have electric lights, and they were going to harness the energy that was necessary to give us electricity so that my grandmama didnt have to carry that coal oil lamp around. And they told us that they were going to guarantee that when we put our money in the bank that the money was going to be there and it was going to be insured, they did not lie to us. [applause] and i think that one of the saving graces of democrats is that we are candid. We are straight talk. We tell people what we think. And that tradition and those values live today in Michael Dukakis from massachusetts. Michael dukakis knows that this country is on the edge of a great new era, that were not afraid of change, that were for thoughtful, truthful, strong leadership. Behind his calm theres an impatience, to unify this country and to get on with the future. Dukakiss instincts are lauded instincts are deeply american, theyre tough and theyre generous, and personally i have to tell you that i have never met a man who had a more remarkable sense of what is really important in life. And then theres my friend and my teacher for many years, senator Lloyd Bentsen. And i couldnt be prouder, both as a texan and as a democrat, because Lloyd Bentsen understands america from the barrios to the boardroom. He knows how to bring us together, by regions, by economics, and by example. And hes already beaten george bush once. So when it comes right down to it, this election is a contest between those who are satisfied with what they have and those who know we can do better. Thats what this election is really all about. Its about the American Dream those who want to keep it for the few, and those who know it must be nurtured and passed along. Im a grandmother now. And i have one nearly perfect granddaughter named lily. And when i hold that grandbaby, i feel the continuity of life that unites us, that binds generation to generation, that ties us with each other. And sometimes i spread that baptist pallet out on the floor and lily and i roll a ball back and forth. And i think of all the families like mine, and like the one in lorena, texas, like the ones that nurture children all across america. And as i look at lily, i know that it is within families that we learn both the need to respect individual Human Dignity and to Work Together for our common good. Within our families, within our nation, it is the same. And as i sit there, i wonder if shell every grasp the changes ive seen in my life, if shell ever believe that there was a time when blacks could not drink from public water fountains, when hispanic children were punished for speaking spanish in the Public Schools and women couldnt vote. I think of all the political i want to tell lilly how far weve come. I want to tell her how lucky she is. For all of our differences, we are still the greatest nation on this good earth. [applause] our strength lies in the men and women who go to work every day, who struggled to balance their family and their jobs, and who should never, ever be forgotten. I just hope that, like her grandparents and her great grandparents before, lily goes on to raise her kids with the promise that echoes in homes all across america, that we can do better. And thats what this election is all about. Thank you very much. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies. Brought to you by Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. Real america brings you archival film that brings you context for todays Public Affairs issues. An its morning, 20 miles from the enemy. These are american boys going to work. The morning fighter patrol. Search of the enemy. The odds are bad this morning, nearly 31. The routine morning patrol goes on. 3500 feet,the range, 3000, 2500, 2000. 31 but s3e still nazis spinning down to flame for everyone of hours. Patrol, they are good planes, wonderful planes, and their pilots are good. Yesterday i fulfilled one of my ambitions as a combat pilot, i got one airplane. And american far from home fighting from around the world. I put up a wall of all its. It wasnt long ago these students were these were students at a university, worked in a shipyard, just plain citizens from everywhere usa. Jobs, they changed clothes, they took a frain in took a train into the future. Many hoped they would get the chance to fly and fight in the air. Some wanted that chance more than anything in the world. Deep inside alabama is a Famous School called the tuskegee institute. Or 1881. Unded july since then it has graduated many thousands into agriculture, into science, into industry. The school was the first of its kind, and its founder, booker t. Washington, was a pioneer who broke open a road for others to follow. Dream and that dream became stone. He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the close to school, close to the work this man had done, the United States government determined to build an airfield. More than trees had to be cleared away. There was misunderstanding and distrust and prejudice to be cleared away. Three years ago there was only an idea. But ideas are power of things. And today there are fighter planes fighting overhead. Pine swamp and yellow there are hangers, repair shops, barracks. Instead of patches of corn, concrete light strips. You cant make a Fighter Squadron out of concrete and aluminum and a can of paint. , a chemistry student a welder, a shoe salesman must learn how to live. Average americans must become a team of fighting men with wings. There is a new world up here. A man has to learn his way around. It takes many weeks of learning to make it hard fighter pilot. Fighter pilot is a combination of a mathematician and an leet, a scientist and a sharpshooter. He has to know what goes on inside his plane. Is heart of his fighter steel and copper. His bloodstream is gas and oil. But the brain is the man who flies it. He begins in a safe slow plane, two wings instead of one. But he flies many hours inside a closed room. In the morning he may be flying a prescribed course over a sheet of paper. He may fly the same course above the clouds. He trains his muscles down here very close to the ground, but he will use the same sense of balance and coordination in the skies above tuskegee. Easy,b of flying is never and sometimes it is very tough. But he is learning how high and fast and our he must go to reach the enemy. Reckoning, theory of flight, radio code. He is getting muscles in his mind. He is coming into the clear. Here above the warm familiar hills of alabama, americans are learning to fly and most tight combat formations they will use some day to hunt down the german and jap above his own cities. Year ago this field began to train men for medium bombers. One thing approved, you cant judge a man here by the color of his eyes or the shape of his nose. On the flight strip you fought flight strip you judge a man by the way he flies. Here is an answer to the propaganda. Here is the answer, wings for this man. Here is the answer. Wings for these americans. Squadron. Fter tough little planes. Then writing the mustangs. It was never easy for these men. No pioneer has it easy. They fought lives, the phot hot break fought heartbreak. Own fightt the the enemy on his own soil. They fought the enemy without loss. Only a handful are left alive so that liberty may not perish from the earth. Three years have passed