George Bush Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention on August 18, 1988.
"I have many friends to thank tonight. I thank the voters who supported me. I thank the gallant men who entered the contest for the presidency this year, and who have honored me with their support. And, for their kind and stirring words, I thank Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey - Senator Phil Gramm of Texas - President Gerald Ford - and my friend, President Ronald Reagan.
I accept your nomination for President. I mean to run hard, to fight hard, to stand on the issues - and I mean to win.
There are a lot of great stories in politics about the underdog winning - and this is going to be one of them.
And we're going to win with the help of Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana - a young leader who has become a forceful voice in preparing America's workers for the labor force of the future. Born in the middle of the century, in the middle of America, and holding the promise of the future - I'm proud to have Dan Quayle at my side.
Many of you have asked, "When will this campaign really begin?" I have come to this hall to tell you, and to tell America: Tonight is the night.
For seven and a half years I have helped a President conduct the most difficult job on earth. Ronald Reagan asked for, and received, my candor. He never asked for, but he did receive, my loyalty. Those of you who saw the President's speech this week, and listened to the simple truth of his words, will understand my loyalty all these years.
But now you must see me for what I am: The Republican candidate for President of the United States. And now I turn to the American people to share my hopes and intentions, and why - and where - I wish to lead.
And so tonight is for big things. But I'll try to be fair to the other side. I'll try to hold my charisma in check. I reject the temptation to engage in personal references. My approach this evening is, as Sergeant Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'm."
After all, the facts are on our side.
I seek the presidency for a single purpose, a purpose that has motivated millions of Americans across the years and the ocean voyages. I seek the presidency to build a better America. It is that simple - and that big.
I am a man who sees life in terms of missions - missions defined and missions completed. When I was a torpedo bomber pilot they defined the mission for us. Before we took off we all understood that no matter what, you try to reach the target. There have been other missions for me - Congress, China, the CIA. But I am here tonight - and I am your candidate - because the most important work of my life is to complete the mission we started in 1980. How do we complete it? We build it.
The fact is prosperity has a purpose. It is to allow us to pursue "the better angels," to give us time to think and grow. Prosperity with a purpose means taking your idealism and making it concrete by certain acts of goodness. It means helping a child from an unhappy home learn how to read - and I thank my wife Barbara for all her work in literacy. It means teaching troubled children through your presence that there's such a thing as reliable love. Some would say it's soft and insufficiently tough to care about these things. But where is it written that we must act as if we do not care, as if we are not moved?
Well I am moved. I want a kinder, gentler nation.
And so I know that what it all comes down to, this election - what it all comes down to, after all the shouting and the cheers - is the man at the desk.
My friends, I am that man.
I say it without boast or bravado, I've fought for my country, I've served, I've built - and I will go from the hills to the hollows, from the cities to the suburbs to the loneliest town on the quietest street to take our message of hope and growth for every American to every American.
I will keep America moving forward, always forward - for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand points of light.
That is my mission. And I will complete it.
Thank you. God bless you."
