Since 1832, the presidential nominating convention, held every four years, has been a rallying cry for political parties and candidates. These conventions are highlighted by speeches from keynotes, surrogates, spouses, family members, rising stars, running mates and, since 1932, acceptance speeches from the party’s presidential nominee.
That year, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the first in-person nomination acceptance speech during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Broadcast live on the radio, it set the stage for future speeches over the last 90-plus years.
“Acceptance speeches by presidential nominees are important because they ‘officially’ launch the general election bid,” says Tammy Vigil, associate professor of media science at Boston University and author of Connection with Constituents and the forthcoming US Political Ritual and the Covid Pandemic: The 2020 Democratic and Republican Conventions.
“Ideally, they should unify the party, introduce the main arguments and topics for the general election, outline—in broad strokes—the planks in the party’s platform, and provide a rhetorical vision of the nation and its future.”
Barbara Perry, an author and professor of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, where she co-directs the Presidential Oral History Program, says party conventions are like “a four-day pep rally,” where candidates not only share their platforms but also aim to unify the party, especially after contentious primary seasons.
Convention speeches also introduce future leaders of the party, humanize candidates, present policies, act as swan songs or tributes, and sometimes attack the opposing party, Perry adds. Memorable party convention speeches often introduce campaign taglines, as well. “You hear the theme or title of the platform the nominee will stand for,” she says.
From FDR’s “New Deal” to JFK’s “New Frontier” to Ronald Reagan’s “Challenge” to George H.W. Bush’s “Read my lips: no new taxes,” here are seven memorable speeches throughout history that marked new eras or mandates.
1. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932: the 'New Deal'
Memorable line: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms."
In 1932, Roosevelt broke tradition by delivering the first in-person acceptance speech during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He traveled seven hours by plane from Albany, New York, to make the first nationally broadcast acceptance address live at the DNC.
“His speech is noteworthy because he understood the opportunity he had to seize the historic moment—foregoing a separate celebration for his nomination during a time when most of the country was reeling from the effects of the Great Depression—and how to capitalize on the new communication technology of radio to reach the public in a more direct fashion than was previously possible,” Vigil says. “FDR showed great rhetorical savvy.”
Roosevelt also introduced a phrase that continues to resonate.
“It was FDR in ’32 who said, ‘I pledge to you a New Deal for America,” Perry adds. “To this day, we call his presidency the New Deal. We call it the New Deal court, we call it New Deal legislation, New Deal policy.”
2. John F. Kennedy, 1960: the 'New Frontier'
Memorable line: "We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier—the frontier of the 1960s—a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats. Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom promised our nation a new political and economic framework. Franklin Roosevelt's 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 the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook—it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security."
Following eight years of Republican leadership under Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign focused on change. Playing off FDR’s New Deal, his acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles looked to a “New Frontier.”
“Why should we pick somebody who's going to go backward when we can elect someone who will move us forward?” Perry says. Facing then-Vice President Richard Nixon, Kennedy highlighted a stark contrast between himself, Nixon and Eisenhower.
“Nixon was just a few years older than Kennedy, and they were both World War II vets,” Perry says. “But Eisenhower, at the time, was our oldest president. He was 70 years old and had been very ill. Kennedy, despite his then-unknown medical conditions, cut the figure of a war hero—tan, ready, energetic. He wanted to make a distinction: I am for the ’60s. We're going to move out of these quiescent ’50s led by this dullard, Eisenhower. I am 43, and I am going to lead us into the future.”
3. Richard Nixon, 1968: 'The Forgotten Americans'
Memorable line: “It is the voice of the great majority of Americans, the forgotten Americans, the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators. … This I say to you tonight is the real voice of America.”
Richard Nixon’s acceptance speech at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, was a pivotal moment in his political comeback, according to Perry. Following his losses to Kennedy in 1960 and Pat Brown in the 1962 California gubernatorial race, Nixon aimed to rebrand himself and address his image as “Tricky Dick.”
“Nixon may not have been a great orator, but he was very effective,” Perry says. “In that speech, Nixon needed to humanize himself as the new Nixon because of his past losses. Then he made this dramatic comeback.”
Perry points to the literary quality of his acceptance speech. “He spoke about an unnamed child in a city rife with guns and violence, laying out his law-and-order theme. Then he transitioned to talking about a little boy listening to the train whistles in California—and you realize it's Nixon himself. He spoke about his father, his mother and the loss of his brother to TB—all in an attempt to humanize Nixon. And it worked.”
4. Ronald Reagan, 1976: 'They Will Know Whether We Met Our Challenge'
Memorable line: Speaking about being asked to write a letter for a time capsule to be opened in 100 years: “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 will have the freedom 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 a hundred years later free? Who kept our world from nuclear destruction?’ And if we fail, 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.”
The 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City marked the last time the presidential nominee was chosen during the convention. That year, incumbent President Gerald Ford faced former California Governor Ronald Reagan in a contentious primary season.
Ford secured the nomination, but Reagan’s off-the-cuff speech following Ford’s acceptance was not only the most memorable from the convention but also set his eventual two-term presidency in motion.
Perry says the speech and its time capsule imagery launched Reagan to secure the 1980 nomination over Ford.
“It was that poetic, literary, yet simple and accessible messaging that Ronald Reagan and his speech writers were just perfect at,” she says.
Vigil says the speech was very consequential. “It helped put the GOP on a much more staunchly conservative political path at a time when the party was struggling with its identity,” she says.
5. George H.W. Bush, 1988: 'Read My Lips: No New Taxes'
Memorable line: “My opponent won't rule out raising taxes, but I will, and the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again, and I'll say to them, "Read my lips: no new taxes."
George H.W. Bush served as vice president under Ronald Reagan and secured his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans in 1988.
During the convention, he delivered several memorable lines, including envisioning a “kinder, gentler nation,” "a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky," and "read my lips: no new taxes."
Perry says his vow not to raise taxes helped him get elected, although Bush then raised taxes in 1990, which contributed to his loss of a second term.
6. Barack Obama, 2004: 'United States of America'
Memorable line: "Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us—the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America."
Barack Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston set the tone for the convention and the then-largely unknown senator from Illinois's future political career.
Vigil notes that keynote addresses like Obama’s are crucial for establishing the party’s topics and previewing the party platform and the candidate’s stances on critical issues.
“Obama’s 2004 speech arguably launched him into the public consciousness nationally," Vigil says, "and set him up for his successful 2008 run."
