Let me say first that i accept the nomination of the Democratic Party. I accept it without reservation. And with only one obligation. The obligation to devote every effort of my mind and soul to lead our party back to victory and our nation to greatness. I am grateful that you have with a platform to run on. This is essential to the Human Dignity of all men. And our first principle. This is a platform on which i can run. I am grateful that i will rely on the many others. They bring unity and strength to our platform and articulate. One of the most articulate men of modern times, at least even sin. A great fighter for our needs and our people, stuart symington. [applause] and my traveling companion in wisconsin and west virginia, senator hubert humphrey. [applause] on paul butler, our devoted and courageous chairman, and on that fighting campaigner whose support i welcome, president harry truman. [applause] i feel a lot safer with all of them on my side. And i am proud of the contrast of our republican competitors. For their ranks are so thin that not one challenger has dared to put his head up in the last 12 months. [applause] i am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk, new at least since 1928. The Democratic Party has placed its confidence in the American People, and in their ability to render a free and fair judgment, and in my ability to render a free and fair judgment. [applause] to uphold the constitution and my oath of office. To reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the presidency in the natural interest. [applause] my record of 14 years in supporting public education, supporting complete separation of church and state, and resisting pressure of sources of any kind, should be clear by now to everyone. [applause] i hope that no american, i hope that no american, considering the really Critical Issues facing this country, will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me because of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. [applause] i am telling you what you are entitled to know, as i come before you seeking your support for the most powerful office in the free world. I am saying to you that my decisions on every Public Policy will be my own as an american, as a democrat, and as a free man. [applause] i mention all of this only because this country faces so many serious challenges, so many great opportunities, so many burdensome responsibilities, that i hope that it is those great matters that we can address ourselves in the coming months. And if this statement of mine makes it easier to concentrate on our nations problems, then i am glad that i have made it. [applause] under any circumstances, the victory we seek in november will not be easy. We know that in our hearts, we know that our opponents will invoke the name of Abraham Lincoln on behalf of their candidate, despite the fact that his political career has often seemed to show Charity Towards none, and malice towards all. We know that it will not be easy to campaign against a man who has spoken and voted on every side of every issue. [applause] mr. Nixon may feel that it is his turn now, after the new deal and the fair deal. But before he deals, someone is going to cut the cards. [applause] that someone may be the millions of americans who voted for president eisenhower, but would balk at electing his successor. For just as historians tell us that richard i was not fit to fill the shoes of the bold henry ii, and that Richard Cornwall was not fit to wear the medal of his uncle, they might add in future years that Richard Nixon did not measure up to the footsteps of dwight d. Eisenhower. [applause] that he could carry on the party policies, the policies of nixon and benson and dirksen and goldwater, but the nation cannot afford such a luxury. We could afford a coolidge following harding, and perhaps we could afford a pierce following fillmore, but after buchanan, this nation needed lincoln. After taft, we needed wilson. And after hoover, we needed franklin roosevelt. [applause] but we are not merely running against mr. Nixon. Our task is not merely one of itemizing republican failures, nor is that only necessary, for the families forced from the farm do not need to tell them for the plight. The unemployed miners and textile workers know that the decision is before them. The families without a decent home, the parents of children without a decent school, they all know that it is time for a change. [applause] we are not here to curse the darkness, we are here to light a candle. [applause] as Winston Churchill said on taking office some 20 years ago, if we open a quarrel between the present in the past and be in danger of losing the future. Our concern must be with the future because the world is changing and the old era is ending, and the old ways will not do. Abroad the balance of power is shifting, new and more terrible weapons are coming into use. One third of the world may be free, but one third is a victim of a cruel repression and the other third is rock i and hunger and disease. Communist influence has penetrated into asia, it stands in the middle east, and now, some 90 miles off the coast of florida. Friends have slipped into neutrality and neutrals have slipped into hostility. As our keynoter reminded us, the president who began his career by going to korea ended it by staying away from japan. [applause] the world has been close to war before, but now man, who has survived all previous threats, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate his species seven times over. Here at home, the future is equally revolutionary. The new deal, and the fair deal put bold measures for their generations, but now this is a new generation, a technological output, explosion on the farms has led to an output explosion. An urban population revolution has overcrowded our schools and flooded our cities and crowded our slums. A peaceful resolution for human rights, demanding an end to Racial Discrimination in all parts of our community life, has strained at leashes imposed by a timid executive leadership. It is time, in short [applause] it is time, in short, for a new init is time, in short, for a new generation of leadership. All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power, men who are not bound by the traditions of the past. Men who are not blinded by the old fears and hate send rivalries, young men who can cast off the old slogans and the old delusions. The republican nominee, of course, is a young man, but his approach is as old as mckinley. [applause] his party is the party of the past, the party of memories. His speeches are generalities from Poor Richards almanac. Their platform, made up of all leftover democratic planks, has the courage of our old convictions. Their pledge is for the status quo, and today there is no status quo. For i stand here tonight, facing west on what was once the last frontier, from the lands that stretched 3000 miles behind us, the pioneers gave up their safety, their comfort, and sometimes their lives to build our new west. They were not the captives of their own doubt, or the prisoners of their own. They were determined to make the world strong and free, an example to the world, to overcome its hazards and its hardships, to conquer the enemies that threatened within and without. Some would say that those struggles are all over, that all the horizons have been explored, that all the battles have been won, that there is no longer an american frontier. But i charge that no one in this convention would agree with that sentiment. For the problems are not all solved, and the battles are not all won, and we stand today on the edge of a new frontier, the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. Woodrow wilsons new freedom promised our nation a new economic framework. Franklin roosevelts new deal promised security and succor to those in need. But the new frontier of which i speak is not a set of promises. It is a set of challenges. It sums up not what i intend to offer to the American People, but what i intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride. [applause] it appeals to our pride, not our security. It holds out the promise of more sacrifice, instead of more security. A new frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered providence of ignorance and and prejudice, Unanswered Questions of poverty and surplus. Leadership, not salesmanship. And the only valid a test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously. A tired nation, said david lloyd george, is a tory nation. And the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or tory. [applause] there may be those who wish to hear more, more promises to this group or that, more harsh rhetoric about the men in the kremlin as a substitute for policy, more assurances of a golden future where taxes are always low and the subsidies are always high. But my promises are in the platform that you have adopted. Our ends will not be won by rhetoric, and we can only have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves. [applause] for the harsh facts of the matter are that we stand at this frontier at a turning point of history. We must prove all over again to a watching world, as we stand on a most conspicuous stage, whether this nation conceived as it is with its freedom of choice, its opportunity, and range of alternatives can compete with the singleminded , can compete with a single mind and the communist system. Can a nation organized and governed such as ours do it . That is the real question. Have with the nerve and the will . Agewe carry through at an where we will witness not only also aakthroughs, but mastery of the ocean and the tides. In the inside of mens minds. That is the question of the new frontier. That is the choice that our nation must make. A choice that lies not merely between two men, two parties, but the dream of Public Interest in private comfort between National Greatness and national declines. Between the fresh air of progress and the stale stench of fear of normalcy and dedication. All mankind waits upon our decision. The whole world waits to see what we shall do and we cannot fail that trust and we cannot fail to try. Road in newa long hampshire, many months ago, to this crowded convention city. Journeyns another long taken tier cities and homes across the United States. Give me your help and your hand and your voice. [applause] recall with me the words that those that call upon the lord may renew their strength. Weary. L run and not be as we face the coming great challenge, we, too, shall wait upon the lord and ask that he renew our strength. And we shall be equal to the task. And we shall prevail. When Richard Nixon excepted the republican nomination for president in 1960, he was the incumbent Vice President after spending eight years in the eisenhower administration. Earlier, he was a wreck elected to two terms in the u. S. House. Richard nixon accepted the nomination at the Republican National convention in chicago. More bags of balloons have been released. Its a good year for balloons. Some came last night filled with still linedased are up against the rafters. And we found what you may possibly hear on your home receiver Something Like a telegraph key in operation. It is caused by these bursting balloons. This is nixon. The Vice President s wife and his mother. Two little girls. Get in thea way to costume. And it is a bright green. Nbc asked misses nixon to step out long enough to ask her a few questions. She said the children are so excited. The ticket. The demonstration may be a little hard to stop. It,ave been hearing about the first time he has been here himself. [crowd noise] we have to give the states banners a chance to get to their spots. They will do it as quickly as they can. They are on tv. Its a huge gap. There is texas heard from again. The delegates are still pacing and carrying signs. Most of them, anyway. [crowd chanting we want nixon] take theirgates will places as quickly as they can. And if you will just be quiet, you will have dick nixon. [applause] mr. Nixon mr. Chairman. Convention. This my fellow americans. I have made many speeches in my life. And never have i found it more difficult to find the words adequate to express what i feel as i find them tonight. To stand here before this great convention. To hear your expression of , fortion for me, for pat our daughters, for my mother. For all of us representing our party. It is, of course, the greatest moment of my life. [applause] and i just want you to know that herely prayer as i stand , ithat in the months ahead may be in some way worthy of the whichion and the trust you have presented to me on this occasion. And everything that i say, everything that i do, everything that i think in this campaign and afterwords. And may i say also that [applause] may i say also that i have been wanting to come to this convention, but because of the protocol that makes it necessary for a candidate not to attend the convention until the nominations are over, i had to look on it on television. Know that if you to have never been so proud of my party as i have been in the last three days. And as i have compared this convention, the conduct of our delegates, and our speakers of what went on in my state of california two weeks ago. And i congratulate chairman holub and chairman morgan. And those that helped make the convention one that will stand in the annals of our party forever as one of the finest we have ever held. Have you ever stop to think of the memories he will take away from this convention . The things that run through my mind are these. That first day at the magnificent speeches. Mr. Hoover with his great lesson for the American People. Walter judge was one of the most outstanding keynote addresses in either party in history. [applause] and last night, our beloved president to making the greatest speech i ever heard him make before this convention. Your platform and the forificent presentation these and for so many other things. I want to congratulate you tonight and thank you for the bottom of my heart and on behalf of americans, not just republicans. Making us proud of our country and of the twoparty system. You have done. [applause] tonight, i want to thank my running mate, a world statesman of the first rank. Fromiend and colleague massachusetts. In refreshing contrast to what happened in los angeles, you nominated a man that shares my views on the great issues and who will work with me and not ournst me in carrying out magnificent mantle. [applause] and may i say during this week that we republicans that feel our convictions strongly have had our differences. As the speech by senator goldwater indicated yesterday [applause] in the eloquence and remarks that rockefeller indicated tonight. These differences are infant to some compared to what the ocrats infinite small inifinitesimal compared to what the democrats have done. It was eight years ago that i beingin this very place nominated as our candidate for president , one of the great men of our century. And i say to you tonight, for generations to come, americans regardless of party will gratefully remember Dwight Eisenhower as the men who brought peace to america. Man under whose leadership americans enjoy the greatest progress and prosperity in history. And above all, they will remember him as the man that andored honesty, integrity, dignity to the conduct of government in the highest office of this land. [applause] i now know to understand the next day. The next president of the united his greatl have example to follow. The next president will have new and challenging problems in the world of utmost gravity. I am sure you will understand that i alone am the man that can furnish that leadership. That question is not for me, but for you to decide. Tonight, i only ask that the thousands in this hall in the millions listening to me on television, i only ask that you make that decision in the most thoughtful way that you possibly can. Because what you decide this november will not only affect itr lives, and your future, will affect the future of millions throughout the world. Urge you to study the records of the candidates. Listen to my speeches and that of my opponents. And after you have studied our records and listens to our speeches, decide. Decide on the basis of what we , who iswhat we believe best qualified to lead america in this critical time. And to help you make this decision, i would like to discuss tonight some of the great problems which will confront the next president of the United States, and the policies i believe that we should adopt to meet them. 100 years ago in this city, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president of the United States. Will confronthich our next president will be even greater then those that confronted him. The question then was freedom for the slaves and survival of the nation. The question now is freedom for all mankind and the survival of civilization. In the choice you make. Each of you listening to me, could affect what happens in november. Thes consider what opponents offered in los angeles two weeks ago. They claim theirs was a new program. But you know what it was . It was simply the same old propositions that a Political Party should be all things to all men and nothing more than that. [applause] they promised everything to everybody with one exception. They didnt promise to pay the bill. And i say tonight, that with their convention, their platform , and their ticket, they compose the symphony of political cynicism which is out of harmony with our times today. To the key question. What should our answer be . Ill promise them because that is the only way to win. And i will tell you my an