Pres. Nixon mr. Chairman, delegates to this convention, my fellow americans, four years ago, standing in this very place, i proudly accepted your nomination for president of the United States. With your help and with the votes of millions of americans, we won a great victory in 1968. Tonight, i again proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States. [applause] let us pledge ourselves to win an even greater victory this november in 1972. I congratulate chairman ford. I congratulate chairman dole, Anne Armstrong and the hundreds of others who have laid the foundation for that victory by their work at this great convention. Our platform is a Dynamic Program for progress for america and for peace in the world. Speaking in a very personal sense, i express my deep gratitude to this convention for the tribute you have paid to the best campaigner in the nixon family, my wife pat. [applause] in honoring her, you have honored millions of women in america who have contributed in the past and will contribute in the future so very much to better government in this country. Again, as i did last night when i was not at the convention, i express the appreciation of all of the delegates and of all america for letting us see Young America at its best at our convention. [applause] [crowd chanting four more years ] pres. Nixon as i express my appreciation to you, i want to say that you have inspired us with your enthusiasm, with your intelligence, with your dedication at this convention. You have made us realize that this is a year when we can prove the experts predictions wrong, because we can set as our goal winning a majority of the new voters for our ticket this november. I pledge to you, all of the new voters in america who are listening on television and listening here in this Convention Hall, that i will do everything that i can over these next four years to make your support be one that you can be proud of, because as i said to you last night, and i feel it very deeply in my heart years from now, i want you to look back and be able to say that your first vote was one of the best votes you ever cast in your life. [applause] mr. Chairman, i congratulate the delegates to this convention for renominating as my running mate the man who has just so eloquently and graciously introduced me, Vice President ted agnew. I thought he was the best man for the job four years ago. I think he is the best man for the job today. And i am not going to change my mind tomorrow. [applause] finally, as the Vice President has indicated, you have demonstrated to the nation that we can have an open convention without dividing americans into quotas. Let us commit ourselves to rule out every vestige of discrimination in this country of ours. But my fellow americans, the way to end discrimination against some is not to begin discrimination against others. Dividing americans into quotas is totally alien to the american tradition. Americans dont want to be part of a quota. They want to be part of america. This nation proudly calls itself the United States of america. Let us reject any philosophy that would make us the divided people of america. In that spirit, i address you tonight, my fellow americans, not as a partisan of party, which would divide us, but as a partisan of principles, which can unite us. Six weeks ago our opponents at their convention rejected many of the great principles of the democratic party. To those millions who have been driven out of their home in the democratic party, we say come home. We say come home not to another party, but we say come home to the great principles we americans believe in together. And i ask you, my fellow americans, tonight to join us not in a coalition held together only by a desire to gain power. I ask you to join us as members of a new american majority bound together by our common ideals. I ask everyone listening to me tonightdemocrats, republicans, democrats, republicans, independents, to join our new majority not on the basis of the party label you wear in your lapel, but on the basis of what you believe in your hearts. In asking for your support, i shall not dwell on the record of our administration which has been praised perhaps too generously by others at this convention. We have made great progress in these past four years. It can truly be said that we have changed america and that america has changed the world. [applause] as a result of what we have done, America Today is a better place and the world is a safer place to live in than was the case four years ago. We can be proud of that record, but we shall never be satisfied. A record is not something to stand on, it is something to build on. Tonight, i do not ask you to join our new majority because of what we have done in the past. I ask your support of the principles i believe should determine americas future. The choice in this election is not between radical change and no change. The choice in this election is between change that works and change that wont work. [applause] i begin with an article of faith. It has become fashionable in recent years to point up what is wrong with what is called the american system. The critics contend it is so unfair, so corrupt, so unjust, that we should tear it down and substitute Something Else in its place. I totally disagree. I believe in the american system. I have traveled to 80 countries in the past 25 years, and i have seen communist systems, i have seen socialist systems, i have seen systems that are half socialist and half free. Every time i come home to america, i realize how fortunate we are to live in this great and good country. [applause] every time i am reminded that we have more freedom, more opportunity, more prosperity than any people in the world, that we have the highest rate of growth of any industrial nation, that americans have more jobs at higher wages than in any country in the world; that our rate of inflation is less than that of any industrial nation, that the incomparable productivity of americas farmers has made it possible for us to launch a winning war against hunger in the United States, and that the productivity of our farmers also makes us the best fed people in the world with the lowest percentage of the Family Budget going to food of any country in the world. We can be very grateful in this country that the people on welfare in america would be rich in most of the nations of the world today. Now, my fellow americans, in pointing up those things, we do not overlook the fact that our system has its problems. Our administration, as you know, has provided the biggest tax cut in history, but taxes are still too high. That is why one of the goals of our next administration is to reduce the property tax which is such an unfair and heavy burden on the poor, the elderly, the wage earner, the farmer, and those on fixed incomes. [applause] as all of you know, we have cut inflation in half in this administration, but we have got to cut it further. We must cut it further so that we can continue to expand on the greatest accomplishment of our new economic policy. For the first time in five years, wage increases in america are not being eaten up by price increases. As a result of the millions of new jobs created by our new economic policies, unemployment today in america is less than the peacetime average of the 1960s, but we must continue the unparalleled increase in new jobs so that we can achieve the great goal of our new prosperity a job for every american who wants to work, without war and without inflation. The way to reach this goal is to stay on the new road we have charted to move America Forward and not to take a sharp detour to the left, which would lead to a dead end for the hopes of the American People. This points up one of the clearest choices in this campaign. Our opponents believe in a different philosophy. Theirs is the politics of paternalism, where master planners in washington make decisions for people. Ours is the politics of people, where people make decisions for themselves. The proposal that they have made to pay 1000 to every person in america insults the intelligence of the American Voters. Because you know that every politicians promise has a price. The taxpayer pays the bill. The American People are not going to be taken in by any scheme where government gives money with one hand and then takes it away with the other. [applause] their platform promises everything to everybody, but at an increased net in the budget of 144 billion, but listen to what it means to you, the taxpayers of the country. That would mean an increase of 50 in what the taxpayers of america pay. I oppose any new spending programs which will increase the tax burden on the already overburdened american taxpayer. And they have proposed legislation which would add 82 Million People to the welfare rolls. I say that instead of providing incentives for millions of more americans to go on welfare, we need a program which will provide incentives for people to get off of welfare and to get to work. [applause] we believe that it is wrong for anyone to receive more on welfare than for someone who works. Let us be generous to those who cant work without increasing the tax burden of those who do work. And while we are talking about welfare, let us quit treating our Senior Citizens in this country like welfare recipients. They have worked hard all of their lives to build america. And as the builders of america, they have not asked for a handout. What they ask for is what they have earned, and that is retirement in dignity and selfrespect. Lets give that to our Senior Citizens. Now, when you add up the cost of all of the programs our opponents have proposed, you reach only one conclusion they would destroy the system which has made america number one in the world economically. Listen to these facts americans today pay onethird of all of their income in taxes. If their programs were adopted, americans would pay over onehalf of what they earn in taxes. This means that if their programs are adopted, american wage earners would be working more for the government than they would for themselves. Once we cross this line, we cannot turn back because the incentive which makes the American Economic system the most productive in the world would be destroyed. Theirs is not a new approach. It has been tried before in countries abroad, and i can tell you that those who have tried it have lived to regret it. We cannot and we will not let them do this to america. [applause] let us always be true to the principle that has made america the worlds most prosperous nation. That here in america, a person should get what he works for and work for what he gets. Let me illustrate the difference in our philosophies. Because of our free economic system, what we have done is to build a great building of economic wealth and money in america. It is by far the tallest building in the world, and we are still adding to it. Now because some of the windows are broken, they say tear it down and start again. We say, replace the windows and keep building. That is the difference. [applause] let me turn now to a second area where my beliefs are totally different from those of our opponents. Four years ago, crime was rising all over america at an unprecedented rate. Even our Nations Capital was called the crime capital of the world. I pledged to stop the rise in crime. In order to keep that pledge, i promised in the Election Campaign that i would appoint judges to the federal courts, and particularly to the Supreme Court, who would recognize that the first civil right of every american is to be free from domestic violence. [applause] i have kept that promise. I am proud of the appointments i have made to the courts, and particularly proud of those i have made to the Supreme Court of the United States. And i pledge again tonight, as i did four years ago, that whenever i have the opportunity to make more appointments to the courts, i shall continue to appoint judges who share my philosophy that we must strengthen the peace forces as against the criminal forces in we have launched an allout offensive against crime, against narcotics in our country. Officerst Police Across america to know they have the total backing of their president in the fight against crime. My fellow americans, as we move toward peace abroad, i ask you to support my program which will keep the peace abroad. Now, i turn to an issue of overriding importance, not only for the election, but generations to come. The progress we have made in building peace for the world. Peace is to important for partisanship. There have been four president s in my lifetime. They had differences on some issues but they were united in where theeve that peace of the world was involved, we are not republicans. We are not democrats. We are Americans First and last of all. These five president s were united in their total opposition in the belief of the interest of world peace that america be Strong Enough to assume the responsibility of leadership in the world. They were united in the conviction the United States should have a defense second to none. They hated war. They were dedicated to peace. No president in our history that we would destroy respect for the United States around the world. As your president s, i pledge i shall always uphold that proud bipartisan tradition. Standing in this Convention Hall i said we would home. Our soldiers i have come a long way to keeping that promise. We have reduced our taxes bite 98 . We have gone the extra mile. We have gone tens of owls ands of miles seeking to negotiate peace. Supervised free elections with the communists for dissipating. There are three things, however we have not and will not offer. We will never abandon our visitors of war. And second, we will not join our enemies in imposing a communist government on our allies, the 17 Million People of South Vietnam. And we will never stain the honor of the United States of america. Now i realize that many, particularly in this political year, wonder why we insist on an honorable peace in vietnam. From a political standpoint they suggest that since i was not in office when over a half million american men were sent there, that i should end the war by agreeing to impose a communist government on the people of South Vietnam and just blame the whole catastrophe on my predecessors. This might be good politics, but it would be disastrous to the cause of peace in the world. If, at this time, we betray our allies, it will discourage our friends abroad and it will encourage our enemies to engage in aggression. In areas like the mideast, which are danger areas, small nations who rely on the friendship and support of the United States would be in deadly jeopardy. To our friends and allies in europe, asia, the mideast, and latin america, i say the United States will continue its great bipartisan traditionto stand by our friends and never to desert them. Now in discussing vietnam, i have noted that in this Election Year there has been a great deal of talk about providing amnesty for those few hundred americans who chose to desert their country rather than to serve it in vietnam. I think it is time that we put the emphasis where it belongs. The real heroes are 2 1 2 million Young Americans who chose to serve their country rather than desert it. I say to you tonight, in these times when there is so much of a tendency to run down those who have served america in the past and who serve it today, let us give those who serve in our armed forces and those who have served in vietnam the honor and the respect that they deserve and that they have earned. Finally, in this connection, let one thing be clearly understood in this Election Campaign the American People will not tolerate any attempt by our enemies to interfere in the cherished right of the American Voter to make his own decision with regard to what is best for america without outside intervention. Now it is understandable that vietnam has been a major concern in foreign policy. But we have not allowed the war in vietnam to paralyze our capacity to initiate historic new policies to construct a lasting and just peace in the world. When the history of this period is written, i believe it will be recorded that our most significant contributions to peace resulted from our trips to peking and to moscow. The dialogue that we have begun with the peoples republic of china has reduced the danger of war and has increased the chance for peaceful cooperation between two great peoples. Within the space of 4 years in our relations with the soviet union, we have moved from confrontation to negotiation, and then to cooperation in the interest of peace. We have taken the first step in limiting the nuclear arms race. We have laid the foundation for further limitations on Nuclear Weapons and eventually of reducing the armaments in the nuclear area. We can thereby not only reduce the enormous cost of arms for both our countries, but we can increase the chances for peace. More than on any other single issue, i ask you, my fellow americans, to give us the chance to continue these great initiatives that can contribute so much to the future of peace in the world. It can truly be said that as a result of our initiatives, the danger of war is less today than it was; the chances for peace are greater. But a note of warning needs to be sounded. We cannot be complacen