And the 'Convention Closer' speech given by the future President Ronald Reagan?

Reagan had just lost in his bid to become the GOP Presidential candidate against Gerald Ford, by a narrow margin.

After then-President Ford gave his acceptance speech, the crowd looked up at the box in which Ronald and Nancy Reagan sat and roared for 'Reagan', 'Reagan', 'Reagan.' They wanted him to come down and appear with Ford on the stage, as a sign of party unity!

Reluctantly, Ford motioned to Reagan to come on down, and the crowd went bonkers!

When he finally appeared with Nancy on the stage, shaking hands with his erstwhile opponent, the crowd was on its feet demanding a 'speech', 'speech', 'speech!'

Reagan looked to Ford for a sign of approval and when the President nodded to him, Reagan approached the podium and gave this speech of 798 words.

These 798 words were the 'best of show' at that convention, there was literally not a dry eye to be found on that convention floor before it ended:

"Thank you very much. Mr. President, Mrs. Ford, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Vice President to be--(Applause and laughter)--the distinguished guests here, and you ladies and gentlemen: I am going to say fellow Republicans here, but also those who are watching from a distance, all of those millions of Democrats and Independents who I know are looking for a cause around which to rally and which I believe we can give them. (Applause)

"Mr. President, before you arrived tonight, these wonderful people here when we came in gave Nancy and myself a welcome. That, plus this, and plus your kindness and generosity in honoring us by bringing us down here will give us a memory that will live in our hearts forever. (Applause)

"Watching on television these last few nights, and I have seen you also with the warmth that you greeted Nancy, and you also filled my heart with joy when you did that. (Applause)

"May I just say some words. There are cynics who say that a party platform is something that no one bothers to read and it doesn't very often amount to much.

"Whether it is different this time than it has ever been before, I believe the Republican Party has a platform that is a banner of bold, unmistakable colors, with no pastel shades. (Applause)

"We have just heard a call to arms based on that platform, and a call to us to really be successful in communicating and reveal to the American people the difference between this platform and the platform of the opposing party, which is nothing but a revamp and a reissue and a running of a late, late show of the thing that we have been hearing from them for the last 40 years. (Applause)

"If I could just take a moment; I had an assignment the other day. Someone asked me to write a letter for a time capsule that is going to be opened in Los Angeles a hundred years from now, on our Tricentennial.

- continued -

"It sounded like an easy assignment. They suggested I write something about the problems and the issues today. I set out to do so, riding down the coast in an automobile, looking at the blue Pacific out on one side and the Santa Ynez Mountains on the other, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was going to be that beautiful a hundred years from now as it was on that summer day.

"Then as I tried to write--let your own minds turn to that task. You are going to write for people a hundred years from now, who know all about us. We know nothing about them. We don't know what kind of a world they will be living in.

"And suddenly I thought to myself if I write of the problems, they will be the domestic problems the President spoke of here tonight; the challenges confronting us, the erosion of freedom that has taken place under Democratic rule in this country, the invasion of private rights, the controls and restrictions on the vitality of the great free economy that we enjoy. These are our challenges that we must meet.

"And then again there is that challenge of which he spoke that we live in a world in which the great powers have poised and aimed at each other horrible missiles of destruction, nuclear weapons that can in a matter of minutes arrive at each other's country and destroy, virtually, the civilized world we live in.

[b]"And suddenly it dawned on me, those who would read this letter a hundred years from now will know whether those missiles were fired. They will know whether we met our challenge. Whether they have the freedoms that we have known up until now will depend on what we do here.

"Will they look back with appreciation and say, "Thank God for those people in 1976 who headed off that loss of freedom, who kept us now 100 years later free, who kept our world from nuclear destruction"?

"And if we failed, they probably won't get to read the letter at all because it spoke of individual freedom, and they won't be allowed to talk of that or read of it.[/b]

[b]"This is our challenge; and this is why here in this hall tonight, better than we have ever done before, we have got to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we have ever been, but we carry the message they are waiting for.

We must go forth from here united, determined that what a great general said a few years ago is true: [u]There is no substitute for victory[/u], Mr. President.[/b] (Applause)

By the time Mr. Reagan had finished with his speech, there was the beginning of a deep realization by all present, that the GOP had surely tapped the wrong man for the job that lay ahead!

And they were right!

Who knows how American history might have been changed had Reagan, rather than Jimmy Carter, been the man who placed his hand upon the Bible in January, 1977, and taken the oath of office?

Eric The(OneGratefulAmerican)Hun[>]:)]

BTW, thanks to [b]Ponyboy[/b] for posting that Reagan site!

Thanks for reminding me (us?)

'76 was the year i Graduated High School, I hope that counts.

i can remember 1956!

ronny reagon was the best actor ever to hold the office of president. no one could read the words put into his mouth as well as he. nancy reagon was elected to be the actual president.

Yes, I do remember 1976; however, I'm having problems with 1993....

I was at the Washington Monument that summer, celebrating the bicentennial.  I was 16, and we got tear-gassed by the police trying to control a riot near the front of the crowd.

As young as I was, I wasn't as gullible, or cynical, as CrampyBlob.  What a Mo'! I'll bet he voted for Carter, twice!

Great speach!!

I do remember 1976, but the 80's decade was a complete blur.

Sgtar15

A speech is an easy thing to accomplish. Someone writes it. Someone reads it. Jimmy Carter was, and remains a Christian man. Reagan rode along on a party that courts the Christian right all the while believing in psychics. He did more to promote personal and corporate greed than any other man in the 20th century.

Where do you find this crap, Hon?

76 was the year I finished my first enlistment. There were to be many more. In those days, as I recall, it wasn't so popular to be a member of our country's armed forces. But looking at it from 2002, I'd say things went relatively well. I can't imagine anyone back then could have imagined al Queda.
-Tom

no...i didn't vote for jimmy c! lol!

kennedy was a philanderer. johnson was a lying, thieving buffoon. nixon was a criminal. ford was a stooge. ronny reagunzap was a puppet. carter, although a decent man, was just plain scarey. bush sr. appears to have been the best of the last 40 years.

now...can we we discuss danny q. and spiro t.?

gullible? no way. cycnical? perhaps. realistic? damn straight ajax.

I was two.  I vaguely remember my sandbox.

I thank you, ETH, for giving me the opportunity to read another one of Reagans speeches... I was too young too appreciate them then. Luckily his wisdom hasn't been lost on me as I've grown.

this should be a poll. I was around, but my answer is no

with all due respect grim....Reagan is easily recognized by historians as one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th century.....personal opinions not withstanding...

Hey grimshaw, I walked the streets of the Soviet Union as part of Reagan's visit to the evil empire. You attitude stinks with a poor, hatred description of capitalism. Simply, a visit in what is now Russia would have shown you the light.

And by now, you should have learned that greed is promoted by liberals such as Clinton with Global Crossings and Enron. It was Clinton's term that changed the rules and allowed this to happen. Not Ronald Reagan as you falsely point out. He is vastly different and far superior to the fictious man you described. Perhaps you should have worked for him?

Yeah, you're right.  Jimmy Carter was and excellent president.  I wish he would have gotten reelected.

Mr reagan definitely was a good actor........[spank]

Having just turned 5, I remember the Independence Day celebration fairly well.  Tonka's were big that year.

So it is your contention that just because we aren't Russia that all is ok? I hate to be the one to break the news, but just as unbridled Communism is a complete failure, so too is this relatively new concept of unbridled capitalism, and make no mistake, the modern definition is a new interpretation.

This land has ALWAYS practiced a LIMITED form of capitalism, as it has been recognized that just like in the game of monopoly, the guy who runs the bank has unlimited, and thus unfair advantage.

100 years ago we would have NEVER allowed entire industries to be shipped off and then imported as "American" so as to evade a tariff.
Yes, the shareholder makes an extra 20 cents per share, but if your postulation is that America is little more than the Corporate States of America, then let me ask you to look back into our history.

America was once a nation. Today it is an Empire. Nations last, where Empires crumble.
So, I'd agree with the idea that under Reagan, just as under every President before or after, things have progressively gotten worse.

As loveable as old RR might have come off, I'm of the mind that he should have been in the cell next to Ollie North, along with GWB.

I'd caution against using the worst example of failure as a contrast to make America seem infallible. I mean, if that's the case, we can always point to that hovel Mexico and claim greatness in comparison.

We should SET the standard, not try to lower it.

Also, I'd say this gets back to the age old argument as to why societies form to begin with. I do not believe men come together to be over taxed and abused so that we can claim lower prices at Walmart as our ultimate goal.
There has to be more to it than that.

That is an interesting story which makes me wonder why Reagan lost that primary. Policics maybe? [}:D]

Well it was fun taking a trip in the wayback machine to three years before I was born.

Did Big Wheels come out that year?

Post from grimshaw -

I had no idea it was [u]that[/u] easy! So tell me, grimshaw, where can we find the website of great speeches written and delivered by you?

In the meanwhile, forget the speeches, remember the fall of the Soviet Union!

Yeah, so was my father, and his father, so what?

No, Reagan invigorated the Christian Right, along with the Blue Collar Democrats and just about every other group in American society!

The grimshaw household being the only exception, I would suppose, along with the dyed-in-the-wool Democrat interest groups!

BTW, it was Nancy Reagan who consulted a psychic of some sort. Read more about it!

That is simply absurd! Can you give examples of how he accomplished this?

Wherever thoughtful, conservative, and decent articles and commentaries gather - usually NationalReviewOnline, or the WSJ-Opinion website!

You might want to go to one of those sites and learn something one day, about Reagan!

Eric The(ReaganRepublican)Hun[>]:)]

Sooo, in your country companies will be forced at gunpoint to stay in business even in an environment that is hostile to them.  HMMM...doesn't sound right to me.  I think you should head back over to DU and leave us alone.

Ladies and gent, I am proud to introduce....
The new "kinder, gentler" raf

and for his next speech he will be talking about a thousand points of light[:D]

And you are being helpful....  

I remember the convention speech where Jimmy Carter called Hubert Humphrey "Hubert Horatio Hornblower".  That was classic.

GunLvr

They all suck.  When was they last time we had a president that was intelligent enough to write his own speeches?  Lincoln?

Reagan projected a folksy charm like no other president I remember, starting with LBJ.  He was a talented actor.

Yes, a talented actor ('Hey, I [u]always[/u] got the girl!'), [u]and[/u] the best President of the 20th Century.

And he was charming!

Peggy Noonan, who was Pres. Reagan's favorite speechwriter, freely admits that some of his best lines were the lines that he added to his prepared speeches!

Eric The(Shouldn'tYouLearnBeforeYouPost,NotAfterwards?)Hun[>]:)]

When I read the title I started hearing "Eye of the Tiger!" in my head![:D]

BigDozer66

Best president of the 20th century?  IMO that would be Roosevelt I, not Reagan.

An expert on Reagan you are, Hon, but I have to tell you I get two opposite reactions from your posts. When you get on the subject of Christ and your Christian faith you bring tears to my eyes! Wow! But then you sink into this Reagan bootlicking that brings up my stomach! How do you reconcile these two? King of Kings and Captain Zodiac.

Ronald Reagan increased the American defense budget and wrote some nasty speeches toward the USSR, but he did not cause the fall of communism. If you read a little history on the events written by the Russians themselves you will see clearly that Reagan was an external force that had little effect on the hearts and minds of the people living in the Republics. The change was entirely internal.

I wrote a fabulous speech once in college about the benefits to the health of marijuana! :)

Lord, Golgo-13, I sure as hell hope you mean [u]Theodore[/u] Roosevelt and not that other, ahem, gentleman!

If you meant Teddy, then I agree that he is the 2nd best President of the 20th Century!

But President Reagan guided this country through a much more intense time in this nation's history!

And, as Lawrence Kudlow mentioned the other day on CNN Financial, we are in the 21st year of the Reagan Economic Boom!

So much for 'voodoo' economics! If that's some sort of voodoo, then bring it on!

Eric The(Reaganite)Hun[>]:)]

Post from grimshaw -

So, grimshaw, you insist that it was Ronald Reagan who consulted the astrologist and not Nancy, as we've all heard?

Give us some reference material on President Reagan's dependence upon astrology, that doesn't mention Nancy in the story!

'Wrote some nasty speeches toward the USSR'?

I suppose that's why when Albania's Communist Party fell and the newly freed Albanian people elected their first representatives to the legislature, one of the first things that the legislature did was to commission a statue for the front of the Assembly Building.

The statue? Oh yes, it was a statue of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, arm in arm.

The inscription underneath?

'The Liberators'

Now, what do the Albanian people seem to know that has escaped you so thoroughly?

Eric The(Reaganite/Thatcherite)Hun[>]:)]

Using a speechwriter is a matter of time management, not intelligence.  

Compare the responsibilities of the POTUS in Lincoln's time with those of the POTUS in our times.  A president now has to manage many more people, many more government agencies, and much, much more money, plus keep track of a much more complicated system of international relations.  

BTW, I don't think that the complexity of our current government is a good thing (and I remember when Reagan wanted to eliminate the Department of Education), but there it is.

Roosevelt I = T. Roosevelt
Roosevelt II makes my flesh creep.

Albania?  It was Stalin (or perhaps Kruschev) who said that Albania didn't matter as it had "more goats than people."  Anybody else here ever listen to radio Tirhana on SW back in the old days of Albanian communism?  Nobody could spout inflammatory rhetoric like those guys.  One got the feeling they found Stalin to be a lily-livered bootlick to global capitalists.  Hoxha was a nutjob, plain and simple.

Reagan did write many of his own speeches before he was President.

GunLvr

Well, Hon, I really have no referance material on the astrology confessions of Nancy, but when they came out Reagan was a drooling fool, and no one could ask him if it was true anyway. Kinda like Iran/Contra. "I don't recall". Are you saying Nancy was lying?

Reagan was not even President in 1991 when the Republics petitioned for freedom. Albania was not a member of the USSR. I saw a Ronald McDonald statue in a McDonalds play room, but they say he's been exaggerated too.

The Russians that I know from the time that I spent in Tashkent in 98 and 99 seemed to feel that the mob was more to be credited than any outside statesman and his rhetoric. Maybe you read in "Glory to Ronny" handbook that the downfall of communism is among his credits, but how do you account for the writing of the new democratic documents the Republics now have? Did Ronny write them?

Post from grimshaw -

So the most popular President in the 20th Century was a 'drooling fool.' How dare you call this President a 'drooling fool'! That's unforgiveable!

Did you read the statements of the former Soviet officials that I posted at the beginning of this thread?

I don't think your trip on the Tashkent Express Tour '98-'99 qualifies you to deny what these former Soviets officials say.

I don't think it qualifies you to deny what Lady Thatcher said.

I mean they were all present and clued in when these very events were happening!

BTW, don't feel the need to read any of my religious posts anytime soon. The 'King of Kings' once said that anyone who called another a 'fool' was in danger...

Eric The(YouKnowTheRestOffHISQuote!)Hun[>]:)]

Let's see now.  

Ended the Cold War without a shot being fired.  (Well no shots to speak of.)

Strange, but I knew that you, [b]5subslr5[/b], would get this right!

Tell me, were you a part of that 600 ship Navy that President Reagan requested, fought for, and got?

Or did your seafaring adventures come afterward?

Eric The(Landlubber)Hun[>]:)]

Sorry for calling Reagan a drooling fool. He has Alzheimers, and my comment was uncalled for.
 You know I used to be a Reagan man, but I learned the hard way what his politics were really about. I once admired him very much. Under the trickle down theory the rich get richer immediately in the hopes that in their abundance the money would go to wages for everyone later on. It has ended in near elimination of the middle class(income above $100,000 per family is now considered middle class).

It was my pleasure, and a source of pride, that the first time I was able to vote in a Presidential election, it was for Ronald Reagan. That must have been for his second term, since I was born in 1965.

History records Reagan as one of the greatest Presidents we've ever had.   I wholeheartedly agree.  He was the last STATESMAN to hold the office, rather than a politician.   His total belief in the American Way and the freedoms that it represents was very, very encouraging, and his optimism was reflected in the times that followed, and the prosperity that came with it.

There are those who were disgruntled with the results of 'reaganomics', but they're the sore losers who lost in competition with others who won.  More Americans rose to become millionaires in the Reagan years than at any other time in history, and the benefit of those years carried well into the 90's of their own momentum.

It was a great decade, the 80's.  Due in great measure to Reagan and the policies of his administration.

Carter:  Carter is a good man, but he wasn't up to the task of being a particularly good President.  He screwed up too much and too big.
However, he may be the best EX-President we've ever had.  

Bush, Sr:  Competent, but uninspiring.  Made a few very critical mistakes.  'Read my lips...'
Knew how to use military force very well.  He's to blame for signing the 1986 Firearms Owners Protection Act, which banned further production of civilian transferrable machineguns.  I really hate THAT part!

Clinton:  Popular, yes, but what a dickhead!  Socialist bastard.  Probably is RELATED to Boris Yeltsin.   Highly intelligent, but WRONG HEADED. Morals of a horny cat.

Bush, Jr. :  Man, I'm glad he's doing so well in office.  He's managed to shut up almost all the loudmouths who criticized him early on, and I thik it's great.   He's on the right track to become one of the great Presidents in history, and he has the highest approval rating of any President, EVER, and has held it for many months.   His straight-laced, highly moral approach is such a refreshing change from the amoral humpfest that characterized Clinton's time in orifice.  (office).    

CJ

Well said, CMJohnson, nice breakdown.  But you left out one thing.  Clinton was and is a Sociopath.

Reagan was a great President.  He restored faith in America.  I was only 8 in '76, but I remember the change.  People were PROUD to be American again.

We are experiencing much the same lift with Pres. Bush.  We will be lucky indeed, if history favors him, as it did Reagan.

grimshaw, you sound like a cynical, bitter looser who made bad choices in life, and needs a scapegoat.  Use Clinton, he was much more crooked, and evil to boot!

Weren't Big Wheels out n the late 60's early 70's.  It seems I had one about 1971-2 or so. [8D]

Frampton!!! [@:D]

And Regan banned the private owenership of MGs made after 1986!