 Madam Chairman, delegates to this convention, and fellow citizens, thank you for that warm and generous welcome. Nancy and I have been enjoying the finest of southern hospitality since we arrived here yesterday. And believe me, after that reception, I don't think the Big Easy has ever been bigger than it is tonight. And with all due respect to Cajun cuisine, cooking, and New Orleans jazz, nothing could be hotter than the spirit of the delegates in this hall, except maybe a victory celebration on November 8th. In that spirit, I think we can be forgiven if we give ourselves a little pat on the back for having made Republican a proud word once again and America a proud nation again. Nancy and I are so honored to be your guest tonight to share a little of your special time. And we thank you. Now, I want to invoke executive privilege to talk for a moment about a very special lady who has been selfless not just for our party, but for the entire nation. She is a strong, courageous, and compassionate woman. And wherever she's gone, here in the United States as well as abroad, whether with young or old, whether comforting the grieving or supporting the youngsters who are fighting the scourge of drugs, she makes us proud. I've been proud of her for a long time, but never more so than in these last eight years. With your tribute to Nancy today, you warmed my heart as well as hers. And believe me, she deserved your tribute. And I am deeply grateful to you for what you have done. When people tell me that I became president on January 20th, 1981, I feel I have to correct them. You don't become president of the United States. You are given temporary custody of an institution called the presidency, which belongs to our people. Having temporary custody of this office has been, for me, a sacred trust and an honor beyond words or measure. That trust began with many of you in this room, many conventions ago. Many is the time that I've said a prayer of thanks to all Americans who place this trust in my hands. And tonight, please accept again our heartfelt gratitude Nancy's in mind for this special time that you've given in our lives. Just a moment ago, you multiplied the honor with a moving tribute. Being only human is a part of me that would like to take credit for what we've achieved. But tonight, before we do anything else, let us remember that tribute really belongs to the 245 million citizens who make up the greatest and the first three words in our constitution. We, the people. It is the American people who endured the great challenge of lifting us from the depths of national calamity, renewing our mighty economic strength, and leading the way to restoring our respect in the world. They're an extraordinary breed, we call Americans. So if there's any salute deserved tonight, it's to the heroes everywhere in this land who make up the doers, the dreamers, and the lifebuilders without which our glorious experiment in democracy would have failed. So this, this convention brings back so many memories to a fellow like me. I can still remember my first Republican convention, Abraham Lincoln giving a speech that sent tingles down my spine. No, I have to confess I wasn't actually there. The truth is, way back then, I belonged to the other party. But surely we can remember another convention eight years ago. We gathered in Detroit in a troubled time for our beloved country. And we gathered solemnly to share our dreams. And when I look back, I wonder if we dare be so bold to take on those burdens. But in that same city of Detroit, when the 20th century was only in its second year, another great Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, told Americans not to hold back from dangers ahead, but to rejoice. Our hearts lifted with the faith that to us and to our children it shall be given to make this republic the mightiest among the peoples of mankind. Teddy said those years ago, in 1980, we needed every bit of that kind of faith. That year was our dream that together we could rescue America and make a new beginning to create a new that shining city on a hill. The dream we shared was to reclaim our government, to transform it from one that was consuming our prosperity into one that would get out of the way of those who created prosperity. It was a dream of again making our nation strong enough to preserve world peace and freedom and to recapture our national destiny. We made a determination that our dream would not be built on a foundation of sand. Something called trust me government, but we would trust instead the American spirit. And yes, we were unashamed in believing that this dream was driven by a community of shared values of family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom. And on the night of July 17th, 1980, we left with a mutual pledge to conduct a national crusade to make America great again. We had faith because the heroes in our midst had never failed us before. Tom Payne knew what these Americans with character of steel could do when he wrote, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. And my fellow citizens, while our triumph is not yet complete, the road has been glorious indeed. Eight years ago, we met at a time when America was in economic chaos, and today we meet in a time of economic promise. We met then in international distress and today with global hope. Now I think we can be forgiven if we engage in a little review of that history tonight. As the saying goes, just a friendly reminder. I've been doing a little remembering of my own because of all that inflated rhetoric by our friends in Atlanta last month. But then inflation is their specialty. Before we came to Washington, Americans had just suffered the two worst back to back years of inflation in 60 years. Those are the facts. And as John Adams said, facts are stubborn things. Interest rates had jumped to over 21% the highest in 120 years, more than doubling the average monthly mortgage payments for working families, our families. When they sat around the kitchen table, it was not to plan summer vacations. It was to plan economic survival. Facts are stubborn things. Industrial agriculture production was down, and productivity was down for two consecutive years. The average week, you missed me, the average weekly wage plunged 9%. The median family income fell five and a half percent. Facts are stubborn things. Our friends on the other side had actually passed the single highest tax bill in the 200-year history of the United States. Auto loans, because of their policies, went up to 17%. So our great factories began shutting down. Fuel costs jumped through the atmosphere more than doubling. Then people waited in gas lines as well as unemployment lines. Facts are stupid things. Stubborn things, I should say. And then there was the Misery Index. That was an election year gimmick they designed for the 1976 campaign. They added the unemployment and inflation rates, and it came to 13.4% in 1976. And they declared that our candidate, Jerry Ford, had no right to seek re-election with that kind of Misery Index. But four years later in the 1980 campaign, they didn't mention the Misery Index. You suppose it was because it was no longer 13.4% in those four years that it had become almost 21%. And last month in Atlanta at their convention, there was again no mention of the Misery Index. Why? Because right now it's less than 9.2%. Facts are stubborn things. When we met in Detroit in that summer of 1980, it was a summer of discontent for America around the world. Our national defense had been so weakened. The Soviet Union had begun to engage in reckless aggression, including the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The U.S. response to that was to forbid our athletes to participate in the 1980 Olympics and to try to pull a rug out from under our farmers with a grain and soybean embargo. And in those years, on any given day, we had military aircraft that couldn't fly for lack of spare parts and ships that couldn't leave port for the same reason or for lack of a crew. Our embassy in Pakistan was burned to the ground and the one in Iran was stormed and occupied with all Americans taken as hostages. The world began to question the constancy and resolve of the United States. Our leaders answered not that there was something wrong with our government, but that our people were at fault because of some malaise of facts are stubborn things. When our friends last month talked of unemployment, despair, hopelessness, economic weakness, I wondered why in earth they were talking about 1978 instead of 1988. Now we hear talk that it's time for a change. Well, ladies and gentlemen, another friendly reminder. We are the change. We rolled up our sleeves and went to work. In January of 1981, we focused on hope, not despair. We challenged the failed policies of the past because we believe that a society is great not because of promises made by its government, but only because of progress made by its people. And that was our change. We said something shocking. Taxes ought to be reduced, not raised. We cut the tax rates for the working folks of America. We indexed taxes, and that stopped a bracket creep, which kicked average wage earners into higher tax brackets when they had only received a cost of living pay raise. And we initiated reform of the unfairness in our tax system. And what do you know? The top 5% of earners are paying a higher percentage of the total tax revenue at the lower rates than they ever had before. And millions of earners at the bottom of the scale have been freed from paying any income tax at all. That was our change. So, together, we pulled out of a tailspin and created 17.5 million good jobs. That's more than a quarter of a million new jobs a month every month for 68 consecutive months. America is working again just, and just since our 1984 convention, we have created over 11 million of those new jobs. Now, just why would our friends on the other side want to change that? Why do they think putting you out of work is better than putting you to work? New homes are being built, new car sales reach record levels, exports are starting to climb again, factory capacity is approaching maximum use. You know, I've noticed they don't call it Reaganomics anymore. As for inflation, well, that too has changed. We changed it from the time it hit 18% in 1980 down to between 3.5% and 4%. Interest rates are less than half of what they were. In fact, in fact, nearly half of all mortgages taken out on family homes in 1986 and more than a third of those in 1987 were actually old loans being refinanced at the new lower rates. Young families have finally been able to get some relief. These too were our changes. We rebuilt our armed forces. We liberated Grenada from the communists and helped return that island to democracy. We struck a firm blow against Libyan terrorism. We've seen the growth of democracy in 90% of Latin America. The Soviets have begun to pull out of Afghanistan. The bloody Iran-Iraq war is coming to an end. And for the first time in eight years, we have the prospects of peace in Southwest Africa and the removal of Cuban and other foreign forces from that region. And in the 2,765 days of our administration, not one inch of ground has fallen to the communists. Today, we have the first treaty in world history to eliminate an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles. We're working on the Strategic Defense Initiative to defend ourselves and our allies against nuclear terror. And American and Soviet relations are the best they've ever been since World War II. And virtually all this change occurred and continues to occur in spite of the resistance of those liberal elites who loudly proclaimed that it's time for a change. They resisted our defense buildup. They resisted our tax cuts. They resisted cutting the fat out of government. And they resisted our appointments of judges committed to the law and the Constitution. And it's time for some more straight talk. This time it's about the budget deficit. Yes, it's much too high, but the president doesn't vote for a budget and the president can't spend a dime. Only the Congress can do that. They blame, they blame the defense increases for the deficit. Yet defense spending today in real dollars is almost exactly what it was six years ago. In a six year period, Congress cut defense spending authority by over 125 billion dollars. And for every one dollar reduction in defense outlays, they added two dollars to domestic spending. Now if they had passed my first budget, my first spending plan in 1982, the cumulative outlays and deficits would have been two hundred and seven billion dollars lower by 1986. Every, every single year I've been in office. I have supported and called for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. And the liberals have said no every year. I called for the line item veto, which 43 governors had to cut fat in the budget and the liberals have said no. Every year I've attempted to limit their wild spending sprees and they've said no. They would have us believe that runaway budget deficits began in 1981 when we took office. Well, let me tell you something. The fact is when they began their war on poverty in the middle 60s from 1965 through 1980 in just those 15 years, the budgets increased to five times what they had been and the deficits went up to 52 times what they had been before their war on poverty. Now don't we know that if they were elect if they're elected their answer will be the one they've relied on in the past and that is higher taxes. The other party has controlled the other party has controlled the House of Representatives for 52 out of the last 56 years. They've controlled the Senate also for 46 of those years. Where we really need a change is to elect Republican majorities in both houses and then George Bush can have a team that will protect your tax cuts, keep America strong, hold down inflation and interest rates, appoint judges to preserve your rights and yes reduce the budget deficit. Early in the first term we set out to reduce federal regulations that had been imposed on the people on business and on liberal and or local and state governments. Today I'm proud to say that we have eliminated so many unnecessary regulations that government required paperwork imposed on citizens businesses and other levels of government has been reduced by an estimated 600 million man hours of paperwork a year and George was there headed up that task force that eliminated those regulations. In 1980 and before it took seven weeks to get a social security card. Now it takes 10 days. It only takes 10 days to get a passport. It used to take 43 days. It took 75 days to get an export license. Now it's only 17 days and for some countries only five. It took over a hundred days to process a claim for a department of housing and urban development title one loan. A hundred days it now takes less than one fourth of that 22 days. I think these specifics suggest there is a new level of competent management in the departments of our government. George played a major role in everything that we have accomplished in these eight years. Now early on we had a foreign policy problem. Our NATO allies were under the threat of Soviet intermediate range missiles and NATO had no equivalent deterrent. Our effort to provide a deterrent Pershing and ground launch cruise missiles on the NATO line resulted in political problems for our NATO allies. There was objection on the part of many other people to deployment of our missiles. George represented us in Brussels with the heads of the NATO countries and they agreed when he finished to take the missiles. This this subsequently persuaded the Soviets to sign the INF treaty and begin removing their SS 20s. None of our achievements happened by accident but only because we overcame liberal opposition to put our programs in place and without George Bush to build on those policies everything we've achieved will be at risk. All the work sacrifice and effort of the American people could end in the very same disaster that we inherited in 1981 because I feel so strongly about the work that must continue and the need to protect our gains for the American family and for national security. I want to share with you the qualities we should seek in the next president. We need someone who's big enough and experienced enough to handle tough and demanding negotiations with Mr. Gorbachev because this is no time to gamble with on-the-job training. We need someone who's prepared to be president and who has the commitment to stand up for you against massive new taxes and who will keep alive the hope and promise that keeps our economy strong. It'll take somebody who has seen this office from the inside who senses the danger points will be cool under fire and knows the range of answers when the tough questions come. Well that's the George Bush that I've seen up close. When the staff and cabinet members have closed the door and when the two of us are alone someone who's not afraid to speak his mind and who can cut to the core of an issue. Someone who never runs away from a fight never backs away from his beliefs and never makes excuses. This office is not mine to give. Only you the people can do that but I love America too much and care too much about where we will be in the next few years. I care that we give custody of this office to someone who will build on our changes not retreat to the past. Someone who will continue the change all of us fought for to preserve what we have and not risk losing it all. America needs George Bush and Barbara Bush as first lady. With George Bush I'll know as we approach the new millennium our children will have a future secure with a nation at peace and protected against aggression. We'll have a prosperity that spreads the blessings of our abundance and opportunity across all America. We'll have safe and active neighborhoods drug-free schools that send our children soaring in the atmosphere of great ideas and deep values and a nation confidently willing to take its leadership into the uncharted reaches of a new age. So George I'm in your corner I'm ready to volunteer I'm ready to volunteer a little advice now and then and offer a pointer or two on strategy if asked. I'll help keep the facts straight or just stand back and cheer but George just one personal request go out there and win one for the Gipper. As you can imagine as you can imagine I'm sorely tempted to spend the rest of this evening telling the truth about our friends who met in Atlanta but then why should I have all the fun. So over the next few moments let's talk about the future this is the last republican convention I will address as president maybe you'll see your way to inviting me back sometime but like so many of us as I said earlier I started out in the other party but 40 years ago I cast my last vote as a democrat it was a it was a party in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised the return of power to the states it was a party where Harry Truman committed a strong and resolute America to preserving freedom FDR had run on a platform of eliminating useless boards and commissions and returning autonomy and authority to local governments and to the states that party changed and it will never be the same they left me I didn't leave them it was our republican party that gave me a political home when I signed up for duty I didn't have to check my principles at the door and I soon found out that the desire for victory did not overcome our devotion to ideals and what ideals those have been our party speaks for human freedom for the sweep of liberties that are at the core of our existence we do not shirk from our duties to preserve freedom so it can unfold across the world for yearning millions we believe that lasting peace comes only through strength and not through the good will of our adversaries we have a healthy skepticism of government checking its excesses at the same time we're willing to harness its energy when it helps improve the lives of our citizens we have pretty strong notions that higher tax receipts are no inherent right of the federal government we don't think that inflation and high interest rates show compassion for the poor the young and the elderly we respect the values that bind us together as families and as a nation for our children we don't think it's wrong to have them committed to pledging each day to the one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all and we have so many requirements in their classrooms why can't we at least have one thing that is voluntary and that is allow our kids to prepare quietly to their faith to say a prayer to start the day as congress does and for the unborn quite simply shouldn't they be able to live to become children in those classrooms those are some of our principles you in this room and millions like you watching and listening tonight are selfless and dedicated to a better world based on these principles you aren't quitters you walk not just precincts but for a cause you stand for something the finest warriors for free government that i have known nancy and i thank you for letting us be a part of your tireless determination to leave a better world for our children and that's why we're here isn't it a better world i know i've said this before but i believe that god put this land between the two great oceans to be found by special people of the from every corner of the world who had that extra love of freedom that prompted them to leave their homeland and come to this land to make it a brilliant like beam of freedom to the world it's our gift to have visions and i want to share that of a young boy who wrote to me shortly after i took office in his letter he said i love america because you can join cub scouts if you want to you have a right to worship as you please if you have the ability you can try to be anything you want to be and i also like america because we have about 200 flavors of ice cream truth truth through the eyes of a child freedom of association freedom of worship freedom of hope and opportunity and the pursuit of happiness in this case she's choosing among 200 flavors of ice cream that's america everyone with his or her vision of the american promise that's why we're a magnet for the world for those who dodged bullets and gave their lives coming over the berlin wall and others only a few of whom avoided death coming in tiny boats on turbulent oceans this land its people the dreams that unfold here in the freedom to bring it all together well those are what make america soar up where you can see hope billowing in those freedom wins when our children turn the pages of our lives i hope they'll see that we had a vision to pass forward a nation as nearly perfect as we could where there's decency tolerance generosity honesty courage common sense fairness and piety this is my vision and i'm grateful to god for blessing me with a good life and a long one but when i pack up my bags in washington don't expect me to be happy to hear all this talk about the twilight of my life twilight not in america here it's a sunrise every day fresh new opportunities dreams to build twilight that's not possible because i confess there are times when i feel like i'm still little dutch reagan racing my brother down the hill to the swimming hole under the railroad bridge over the rock river you see there's a sweet there's no sweeter day than each new one because here in our country it means something wonderful can happen to you and something wonderful happened to me we lit a prairie fire a few years back those flames were fed by passionate ideas and convictions and we were determined to make them run all the burn i should say all across america and what times we've had together we fought for causes we love but we can never let the fire go out or quit the fight because the battle is never over our freedom must be defended over and over again and then again there's still a lot of brush to clear out at the ranch fences that need repair and horses to ride but i want you to know that if the fire is ever dim i'll leave my phone number and address behind just in case you need a foot soldier just just let me know and i'll be there as long as words don't leave me and as long as this sweet country strives to be special during its shining moment on earth twilight you say listen to hg wells hg wells says the past is but the beginning of a beginning and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn well that's a new day our sun lit new day to keep alive the fire so that when we look back at the time of choosing we can say that we did all that could be done nevertheless thank you good night god bless you and god bless