Remarks on Accepting the Presidential Nomination of the Republican National Convention on August 23, 1972.
"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.
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.
Representative Gerald R. Ford was permanent chairman of the 1972 Republican National Convention; Senator Robert Dole was chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Anne Armstrong was secretary of the 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. 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. 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 4 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.
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 4 years ago.
I think he is the best man for the job today.
And I am not going to change my mind tomorrow.
I ask you, my fellow Americans, to join our new majority not just in the cause of winning an election, but in achieving a hope that mankind has had since the beginning of civilization. Let us build a peace that our children and all the children of the world can enjoy for generations to come."
