tv. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> follow us on twitter. to keep up with the latest industry news. each week until the 2016 election, we bring you archival coverage of presidential races. next, new york congresswoman geraldine ferraro accepts the vice presidential nomination at the 1984 democratic convention in san francisco. walter mondale selected her as his running mate. she became the first woman nominated by a major party for the presidency or vice presidency. the mondale ticket lost the general election to republan incumbents ronald reagan and george h.w. bush, with reagon winning 49 states and receiving 49% of the vote. ♪ this is a little over a half hour.

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[chanting] rep. ferraro: hello! [cheers] [applause]

[cheers] rep. ferraro: ladies and gentlemen of the convention -- [applause]

[cheers] rep. ferraro: ladies and gentlemen of the convention -- [cheers] rep. ferraro: ladies and gentlemen of the convention, my name is geraldine ferraro. [cheers] [applause] i stand before you to proclaim tonight, america is a land where dreams can come true for all of us.

[cheers and applause] as i stand before the american people and think of the honor this great convention has bestowed upon me, i recall the words of dr. martin luther king jr., who made america stronger by making america more free. he said, "occasionally in life there are moments which cannot be completely explained by words. their meaning can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart." tonight is such a moment for me. [applause]

my heart is filled with pride. my fellow citizens, i proudly accept your nomination for vice president of the united states. [cheers and applause] rep. ferraro: woo! [applause] [chanting]

[chanting "gerry"] rep. ferraro: so wonderful. [rhytmic clapping] [chanting "gerry"] rep. ferraro: and i am proud to run with the man who will be one of the great presidents of this century, walter mondale. [applause]

rep. ferraro: tonight the daughter of a woman whose highest goal was a future for her children talks to our nation's oldest party about a future for us all. tonight, the daughter of working americans tells all americans that the future that is within our reach if we are willing to reach for it. [applause] tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from italy -- [applause]

has been chosen to run for president in a land my father came to love. our faith that we can shape a better future is what the american dream is all about. the promise of our country is that the rules are fair. if you work hard and play by the rules, you can earn your share of america's blessing. those are the beliefs that i learned from my parents. those are the values that i taught my students as a teacher in the public schools of new york city. [applause] at night i went to law school.

i became an assistant district attorney. i put my share of criminals behind bars. [applause] i believe if you obey the law, you should be protected, but if you break the law, you must pay for your crimes. [applause] when i first ran for congress, all of the political experts said a democrat could not win my home district in queens. i put my faith in the people and the values that we shared. together, we proved the political experts wrong. [applause] in this campaign, we have put

our faith in the people. we are going to prove the experts wrong again. [applause] [cheering] rep. ferraro: we are going to win. [applause] we are going to win because americans across this country believe in the same basic dream. last week i visited minnesota. a small town where -- [applause] a small town where mondale was raised, and soon they will visit

our family in queens. [applause] 900 people live in elmore. in queens, there are 2000 people on one block. [laughter] you would think we would be different, but we are not. children walk to school in elmore past grain elevators. in queens they pass by subway stops. but no matter where they live, their future depends on education. and their parents are willing to do their part to make those as -- those schools as good as they can be. [applause] in elmore, there are family farms.

in queens, small businesses. but the men and women that run them all take pride in supporting their families through hard work and initiative. on the fourth of july in elmore, they hang flags on main street. in queens, they fly them over grand avenue. but all of us love our country and stand ready to defend the freedom that it represents. [applause] americans want to live by the same set of rules. let's under this administration, -- but under this administration, the rules are rigged against too many of our

people. it is not right that the share of taxes paid by individual citizens is going up, while the share paid by large corporations is getting smaller and smaller. [applause] the rules say everyone in our society should contribute their fair share. it isn't right that this year, ronald reagan will hand the american people a bill for interest on a national debt larger than the entire cost of the federal government under john f. kennedy. our parents left us a growing economy. the rules say we must not leave our kids a mountain of debt. [applause]

it isn't right that a woman gets paid $.59 on the dollar for the same work as a man. [cheering] [applause] if you play by the rules, you deserve a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. [applause] it isn't right that if trends continue, by the year 2000, nearly all of the poor people in

america will be women and children. the rules of a decent society say when you distribute sacrifice in times of austerity, you don't put women and children first. [applause] it isn't right that young people today fear they won't get the social security they paid for. and that older americans fear they will lose what they have already earned. social security is a contract between the last generation and the next. and the rules say you don't break contracts. [cheering]

[applause] boot we are going to keep faith with older americans. [applause] we hammered out a fair compromise in congress to save social security. every group sacrificed to keep the system sound. it is time ronald reagan stop scaring our senior citizens. [cheering] [applause] it isn't right that young

couples question whether to bring children into a world of 50,000 nuclear warheads. [applause] that isn't a vision for which americans have struggled for more than two centuries. our future doesn't have to be that way. change is in the air. just as surely as when john kennedy beckoned america to a new frontier. when sally ride rocketed into space. [applause] and when reverend jesse jackson ran for the office of president of the united states. [applause]

by choosing a woman to run for our nation's second-highest office, you send a powerful signal to all americans. there are no doors we cannot unlock. [applause] we will place no limits on achievement. if we can do this, we can do anything. [applause]

tonight, we reclaim our dream. we are going to make the rules of american life work fairly for all americans again. [applause] to an administration that would have us debate all over again whether the voting rights act should be renewed, and whether segregated schools should be tax-exempt, we say, mr. president, those debates are over. [applause] on the issue of civil rights

, voting rights, and affirmative action for minorities, we must not go backwards. we must and we will move forward to open the doors of opportunity. [applause] to those who understand that our country cannot prosper unless we draw on the talents of all americans, we say we will pass the equal rights amendment. [cheering] [applause] [chanting]

the issue is not what america can do for women, but what women can do for america. [cheering]

to the americans who will lead our country into the 21st century, we say we will not have a supreme court that turns the clock back to the 19th century. [applause] to those concerned about the strength of american and family values, as i am, i say we are going to restore those values. love, caring, partnership -- by including and not excluding those whose beliefs differ from our own. because our own faith is strong,

we will fight to preserve the freedom of faith for others. [applause] to those working americans who fear that bank utilities and large special interests have a lock on the white house, we say join us. let's elect a people's president and let's have a government for and by the american people again. [applause] to an administration that would

sabotage student loans and education at the dawn of a new technological age, we say you fit the classic definition of a cynic. you know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. [cheering] to our students and our parents, we say we will sit on the -- insist on the highest standards of excellence. the jobs of the future require skilled minds. to young americans that may be called to our country's service, we know your generation will probably answer our country's call as each generation before you.

-- will probably answer -- proudly our country's call as each generation before you. this past year, we remember the bravery and sacrifice of americans at normandy. and we finally pay tribute, as we should have done years ago, to the unknown soldier that represents all the young brave americans that died in vietnam. [applause] let no one doubt, we will defend america's security and the cause of freedom around the world. but we want a president who tells us what america is fighting for, not just what we are fighting against. [applause]

we want a president who will defend human rights, not just where it is convenient, but wherever freedom is at risk. from chile to afghanistan, to from poland to south africa. [applause] to those who have watched this administration's confusion in the middle east as it is tilted first toward one, then another of israel's long-term enemies, and wonder, will america stand by her friends? we say, america knows who her friends are in the middle east and around the world.

america will stand with israel always. [applause] finally, we want a president who will keep america strong. but use that strength to keep america and the world at peace. a nuclear freeze is not a slogan. it is a tool for survival in the nuclear age. [applause] if we leave our children nothing else, let us leave them this

earth as we found it, whole and green and full of life. [applause] i know in my heart that walter mondale will be that president. [applause] a wise man once said, every one of us is given the gift of life, and what a strange gift it is. jealously, itrved

impoverishes and saddens, but if it is spent for others, it enriches and beautifies. my fellow americans, we can debate policies and programs. but in the end, what separates the two parties in this election campaign is whether we use the gift of life for others or only ourselves. [applause] my husband john and our three children are in this room with me. to my daughters donna and laura, and my son john jr., i say, my mother did not break faith with me, and i will not break faith with you. [applause]

to all the children of america, i say the generation before ours kept faith with us. and like them, we will pass on to you a stronger, more just america. thank you. [applause] [cheering] ♪ ["new york, new york" playing]

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>> madam secretary, we pledge our 72 delegates to the next president of the united states. ♪ >> i am a history buff. things,oy seeing how how they work. artifacts is a fantastic show. >>'s sounds like something i

would really enjoy. tv, it american history gives you that perspective. >> i am a c-span fan. next on american history tv, richard norton smith talks about rankings of matters in chief and the challenges of ranking presidential failure. he looks at james buchanan, ulysses s. grant, and warren g. harding. he also discusses presidents usually regarded as successful. the free library of philadelphia posted this one hour and 15 minute event. host: i am so pleased to introduce tonight our speaker, distinguished presidential historian, richard norton smith. early in his career, he was a white house intern and then a political speech writer. he has a long record of acclaimed books on presidential