Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Presidency Richard Nixon 1968 Rep

Next, we see Richard Nixon except his parties nomination at the 1968 Republican Convention in miami beach, florida. He defeated Hubert Humphreys in close general election. Independent candidate George Wallace came in third. [applause] mr. Nixon thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [applause] mr. Nixon thank you. Mr. Chairman, delegates of 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 any time, dwight d. Eisenhower. [applause] mr. Nixon eight years ago, i had the highest honor of accepting your nomination for president of the United States. [applause] mr. Nixon tonight, i again proudly accept the nomination for president of the United States. [applause] mr. Nixon i have news for you. This time, there is a difference. This time, we are going to win. [applause] mr. Nixon were going to win for a number of reasons. First, a personal one. As you know, critical in the Walter Reed Hospital tonight. I have talked with mrs. Eisenhower on the telephone. She says his heart is with us. She says there is nothing that he lives more for, and it was nothing that would lift him more than for us to win in november, and i say let us win this one for ike. [applause] mr. Nixon we are going to win because this Great Convention has demonstrated as a nation that the Republican Party has the leadership, the platform, and the purpose that America Needs. We are going to win because you have nominated as my running mate a statesman of the first rank it will be a great campaigner and one who is fully qualified to undertake the new responsibilities i should give to the Vice President of the United States. [applause] mr. Nixon he is a man who fully shares my conviction and yours that after 40 years one power has gone from these cities and states to the government in washington, d. C. , it is time to have power go back from washington to the states and cities of this country all over america. [applause] mr. Nixon we are going to win because at a time america cries out with 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. [applause] mr. Nixon i congratulate governor reagan. [applause] mr. Nixon i congratulate governor rockefeller. [applause] mr. Nixon i congratulate governor romney. [applause] mr. Nixon i congratulate all of those who have made the hard fight night have for this nomination fight they have for this nomination, and i know you will find for the great victory over party will win in november because we will be together in the election campaign. [applause] mr. Nixon a party that can unite itself, will unite america. [applause] mr. Nixon 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 choice we make in 1968 will be the future for the world, and the question answer tonight, can american meet this great challenge . For a few moments, let us look at america, let us listen to america, and find the answer to that question. As we look at america, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flames. 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. As we see and hear these things, millions of americans cry out in english. In anguish. Did we come all this way for this . Did americans die in normandy and valley forge for this . Listen to the answers to those questions. It is another voice. It is a quiet voice in the tumult of a shouting. It is a great of the majority of americans, the nonshouters. They are not guilty of the crime that plagues the land. They are black, white, young, old, they worked at 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 worked, and they saved, and they pay their taxes, and they care. This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in a less it is a good place for all of us to live in in unless it is a good place for all of us to live in. [applause] mr. Nixon this, i say to you tonight is the real voice of america. In this year, 1968, this is the message that will broadcast to americans in the world. Let us not forget the fighter folks, america is a great nation, and america is great because the people are great with Winston Churchill saying we have not journeyed all this way across centuries, across oceans, across mountains, across the prairies because we are made of sugar candy. America is in trouble today not because the people have failed, but because the leaders have failed, and american needs the leaders to match the greatness of the people. [applause] mr. Nixon 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, when we should whether we shall continue for four more years the policies of the last 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 cannot manage its own economy, when a nation with the greatest tradition in the rule of law is plagued by lawlessness, when a country known for quality of opportunity is torn by violence, and when the president of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home without fear of a hostile demonstration, then it is time for new leadership of the United States of america. [applause] mr. Nixon thank you. My fellow americans, tonight, i accept the challenge and the commitment to provide the new leadership for america, and i ask you to accept it with me. Let us accept this challenge not as a grim duty, but as an exciting adventure in which we are convinced to help a great privileged to help a great nation realize its destiny, 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. That is what we will do. [applause] mr. Nixon we have had an update of big promises and little action. For honests come government in the United States of america. [applause] mr. Nixon so tonight, i do not promise the millennium in the morning. I do not promise we can eradicate poverty and end discrimination and eliminate all danger of war. I do promise action. A new policy for peace abroad, a new policy for peace and progress 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 . That is the record. [applause] mr. Nixon there is only one answer to set the record of failure, and that is a complete housecleaning of those responsible for the failures of that record. [applause] mr. Nixon 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 the current negotiations may bring an honorable end to the war. We will say nothing in this campaign that may destroy that chance, but if the war is not ended when the People Choose in november, the choice will be clear. Here it is. Here it is for four years, this administration has had at its disposal the greatest economic and military advantage one nation has ever had over another in any war in history. For four years, Americas Fighting men have set a record for courage and sacrifice unsurpassed by our history. For four years, this administration has been seeking an honorable and to the struggle. Never has so much military and economic and diplomatic power been used so effectively. If after all this time, and all of this sacrifice, and all the support, there is still low end no end in sight, then i say that time has come for the American People to turn to new leadership not tied to the mistakes and the politics of the past. That is what we offer you, america. [applause] mr. Nixon and i was to you tonight that the First Priority Foreign Policy objective of our next administration will be to bring an honorable end to the war in vietnam. [applause] mr. Nixon we shall not stop there. We need a policy to prevent more vietnams. All of americas foreign commitments and americas peacekeeping institutions must be appraised. Over the past 25 years, america has provided more than 150 aid to in foreign nations abroad. In korea and now again in vietnam, the United States for furnished most of the money and most of the arms to help those people defend themselves. 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 that the time has come for the other nations bear their fair share of the burdens of defending peace and freedom around the world. [applause] mr. Nixon what i call for is not a new isolationism, is a new internationalism. In which america in list enlists its allies and friends around the world. Their struggle is as great as ours. Now, to the leaders of the communist world, we say that after an era of confrontation, the time has come for an era of negotiation. Where the worlds superpowers are concerned, there is no acceptable alternative to a 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. [applause] mr. Nixon and as we seek peace through negotiation, what are will be made clear. We do not seek domination over any other country. And 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 very 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 the people in the world, and we work towards the goal of an open world, open skies, open cities, open hearts, open minds. The next eight years, my friends [applause] mr. Nixon 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 of our history. I believe that we must have peace. I believe that we can have peace, but i do not underestimate the difficulty of this task. Because, 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 that ended one war and kept the nation out of other wars for eight years. [applause] mr. Nixon and it is that kind of experience and that kind of leadership that America Needs today and we will give to america with your help. [applause] and as we commit the new policies for america, let me make one further pledge. For five years, hardly a day has gone by when we have not read or heard a report of the American Flag being spit on, an embassy being stoned or a library being burned or ambassador being insulted. Which opened in seoul inevitably occurred. When respect for the United States of america also loved that a fourth rate, military power like north korea will seize a freighter of high seas, it is time to restore respect for the United States of america. [applause] mr. Nixon 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. [applause] mr. Nixon it is ironic to note that when we were a small nation, america was respected and the reason was that america stood for something more powerful than military strength or economic well. The American Revolution was a shining example to the world. Today, america is an example to be avoided and not followed. A nation that cant keep the peace at home will not be trusted to keep the peace abroad. A president who is not treated with respect abroad will not be at home will not be respected abroad. A nation that cannot manage its own economy cannot tell others how to manage theres. If we are to restore respect for america abroad, the place to do it is at home. [applause] mr. Nixon my friends, we live in an age of revolution in america and in the world. 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. There is no quarrel between progress and order because neither can exist without the other. So let us have order in america, not that which suppresses and discourages change, but the order that guarantees the right forissent and the basis peaceful change. Tonight, it is time for some honest talk about the problem of order in the United States. Los 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 a criminal forces in this country. [applause] mr. Nixon but those who have the responsibility to enforce our laws and our judges who have the responsibility to interpret them, the dedicated to the great principles of civil rights, but let them also recognize that the first of all right of every american is to be free from domestic violence, and that right must be guaranteed in this country. [applause] mr. Nixon if we are to restore order, 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 give that our new attorneygeneral will be directed by the president of United States to launch a war against organized crime in this country. I pledge to you that our new attorney general will be active and belligerent against the loan sharks and the number of people who rob the urban rack enter in our cities. The new attorney general will open a new front against the filth peddlers and the narcotics peddlers that are corrupting the lives of the children of this 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 america. [applause] mr. Nixon 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 a 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. But just as we cannot have progress without order, we cannot have order without progress. And so as we commit to order tonight, let us commit to progress. This brings us to the clearest choice among the great issues of this campaign. For the past five years, we have been valued by Government Programs for the unemployed, programs for the cities, and reapsr the poor from these programs and ugly harvest of violence and failure. Our opponents will be offering more of the same. I say it time to quit touring billions of dollars into programs that have failed in the United States of america. [applause] to put it bluntly, it is time to take a new roads to progress. Turn to the American Revolution for our answer. World poverty be did not world of poverty did not begin five years ago. More wealth in america today, more shared than 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 it for themselves over 190 years. [applause] mr. Nixon so it is time to apply the lessons of the American Revolution. Let us increase the wealth of america so we can provide more agingusly for the and the needy and all those who cannot help themselves. But for those who can help themselves, what we need are not more millions on welfare rolls, but on payrolls in the United States of america. Instead of government jobs and Government Housing and letrnment wealth there, government use its tax and to enlist inies this great cause, the millions of americans and volunteer organizations who will bring a dedication to this task that no amount of money can never buy, and let us build bridges, my friend. Build bridges across that gulf that separates black america from white america. [applause] mr. Nixon black america, no more than white america, do not want more Government Programs that perpetuate your dependency. They do not want to be a colony in a nation. They want the pride and selfrespect and dignity that come with an equal chance to own their own homes, busine