♪ coverage of the democratic national committee and continues tonight with former secretary of state hillary clinton, democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris and former president barack obama. watch live coverage tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span, live oreaming at c-span.org listen with the free c-span radio app. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> for only the third time in u.s. history, a major political party is nominating a woman to be their vice presidential candidate. the first time was in 1984, when democrats chose geraldine ferraro. 24 years later, republicans nominated then alaska governor sarah palin.

here are their speeches. when nominated, geraldine ferraro was representing queens, new york, for three terms as a member of the u.s. house. earlier, as a public school teacher she took night classes , at the university to earn a law degree and later work as an assistant district attorney. she went on to lose two primary races for the u.s. senate and was the u.s. ambassador to the un human rights commission. geraldine ferraro accepted the vice presidential nomination in san francisco. ♪

♪ [applause] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause]

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen of the convention --

[cheering] [applause] ladies and gentlemen of the convention, ladies and gentlemen of the convention, my name is geraldine ferraro. [cheering] [applause]

i stand before you to proclaim tonight america is a land where dreams can come true for all of us. [applause] [cheering] 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, junior, 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] [cheering] my heart is filled with pride. my fellow citizens, i proudly accept your nomination for vice president of the united states. [applause] [cheering]

[chanting] you are wonderful. [chanting]

and i am proud to run with a man who will be one of the great century, wal this ter f. mondale. [applause] 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 is within our reach if we are willing to reach for it. [applause] tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from italy has been chosen -- has been chosen to run for president in the new land my father came to love. [applause] 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 blessings.

those are the beliefs i learned from my parents, and those are the values i taught my students as a teacher in the public schools of new york city. [applause] at night i went to law school and became an assistant strict attorney. i put my share of criminals behind bars. 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 the political experts said a democrat could not win my home

district in queens. i put my faith in the people in and the values that we shared. together we prove the political experts wrong. i this campaign, mondale and have put our faith in the people, and we are going to prove the experts wrong again. [applause] [cheering] we are going to win. [applause] [cheering]

we are going to win because americans across this country believe in the same basic dream. visited elmore, town --a, a small [cheering] yay, elmore. the small town where chris mondale was raised. 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. no matter where they live, their future depends on education, and their parents are willing to do

their part to make those schools as good as they can be. [applause] [cheering] in elmore, there are family farms. in queens, small businesses. but the men and women who run them all take pride in supporting their families through hard work and initiative. on the fourth of july in elmore, they hang flags out on main street. , they fly them over grand avenue. but all of us love our country and stand ready to defend the freedoms that it represents. [applause]

americans want to live by the same set of rules. but under this administration, the rules are raised against too many of our people. it is not right that every year the sheriff's taxes paid by individual citizens tax is going -- the share of taxes paid by individual citizens tax is going share by large corporations is getting smaller and smaller. [applause] the rules say everyone in our society should contribute their fair share. it is not right that this year, ronald reagan will hand the american people a bill for interest on the 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 is not right that a woman $.59 on the one dollar -- on the dollar for the same work as a man. [applause] [cheering]

if you play by the rules, you pay for afair day's fair day's work. [applause] it is not right that if trends continue by the year 2000, nearly all 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 do not put women and children first. [applause] it is not right that young people today fear they will not

get the social security they paid for and that older americans fear they will lose what they have already learned. social security is a contract between the last generation and the next, and the rules say you do not break contract. [applause] [cheering] we are going to keep faith with older americans. [applause] we hammered out a fair compromise in the congress to save social security. every group sacrifice to keep the system sound.

it is time ronald reagan stopped scaring our senior citizens. [applause] it is not right that young couples question whether to bring children into a world of 50,000 nuclear warheads. [applause] that is the vision for which americans have struggled with for more than two centuries and our future does not 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]

[cheering] and when reverend jesse jackson ran for the office of president of the united states. [cheering] 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] [cheering]

we will place no limits on achievement. if we can do this, we can do anything. [applause] [cheering] 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] [cheering]

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] [cheering] 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] [chanting]

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

to those concerned about the strength of american 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. [cheering] [applause] to those working americans who , utilities, and large special interests have a lot in the white house, we say, join us.

let's select a people's president let's have a , and government by and for the american people again. [cheering] to an administration that would savage student loans and of a new at the dawn technological age, we say, you fit the definition of a cynic. you know the price of everything but the value of nothing. , [cheering] to our students and their parents, we say, we will insist on the highest standards of

excellence because the jobs of the future require skilled minds. to young americans who may be called to our country's service, we say, we know your generation will proudly answer 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 that unknown soldier who represents all the brave, young americans who died in vietnam. [applause] let no one doubt we will defend

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. [cheering] 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, from poland to south africa. [applause] to those who have watched this administration's confusion in

tilteddle east as it has first toward one and then another of israel's longtime 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] [cheering] finally, 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. [cheering] if we leave our children nothing else, let us leave them this earth as we found it, whole, green, and full of life. [applause] i know in my heart that walter mondale will be that president. [applause] a wise man once said, everyone

of us is given the gift of life, and what a strange gift it is. if it is preserved jealously and it impoverish is and --imps -- impoverish is overishes and saddens, but if used 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]

tonight, my husband john and our three children are in this hall with me. donna and laura, and to my son john junior, 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] a♪ ♪ [cheering] ♪

♪

>> senator palin, the only woman to earn the republican party's vice presidential nomination was governor of alaska before being tapped as john mccain's running mate. she grew up in alaska, she earned a bachelors in communications from the university of idaho and won elections to the city council and became mayor. the governor accepted the 2008 nomination at the republican national convention in st. paul, minnesota. [cheering] [applause]

>> thank you. thank you. [cheering] thank you.

thank you so much. [cheering] thank you. thank you so much. thank you so much. thank you.

thank you so much. mr. chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, i will be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of the united states. [cheering] [applause]

i accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend america, and i accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against competent opponents at a crucial hour for our country, and i accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions and met far graver challenges and knows how tough fights are won, the next president of the united states, john f. mccain. [cheering] [applause] it was just a year ago when all

the experts in washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves, with their usual certitude, they told us all was lost and there was no hope for this candidate, who said he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. [applause] --pollsters and abundance -- the --pundits overlooked one thing, the caliber of the man himself, the determination and resolve and the shared gut of senator john mccain -- sheer gut of senator john mccain. [applause] the voters knew better, and maybe that is because they realized there is a time for politics and a time for leadership.

a time to campaign and a time to put our country first. [applause] [cheering] our nominee for president is a true profile in courage and , people like that are hard to come by. he is a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in iraq who now have brought victory within sight. [applause] [cheering] and as a mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man one to as commander in chief.

[applause] thank you. [cheering] [chanting] [applause] i am just one of many moms who will say an extra prayer tonight for our sons and daughters going into harm's way. our son is 19, and one week from tomorrow, september 11, he will deploy to iraq with the army infantry in the service of his country. my nephew casey also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the persian gulf. my family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. [cheering] [chanting]

track is the eldest of our five children. in our family, it is two boys and three girls in between. my strong and kindhearted daughters, bristol, willow and piper. [applause] [cheering] and we were so blessed in april, todd and i welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy. [applause]

you know, from the inside, no family ever seems typical, and that is how it is with us. our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys. sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge, and children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. to the families of special needs -- [cheering] to the families of special needs children all across this country, i have a message for you. --for years, you

fought to make america a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. i pledge to you, if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the white house. [cheering] [applause] todd is a story all by himself. he is a lifelong commercial fisherman and production operator in alaska's north slope, and a proud member of the united steelworkers union. todd is a world champion snow machine racer, so in his ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package, and we met in high school, and two decades and five children later, he is still

my guy. [cheering] my mom and dad both work at the elementary school in our small town, and among the many things i owe them is a simple lesson i have learned, that this is america, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity. and my parents are here tonight. [applause] [cheering] i am so proud to be the daughter of chuck and sally. [applause]

long ago, a young farmer and a haberdashery from missouri followed an unlikely path. he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. and a writer observed, we grow good people in our small town, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity. i know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised harry truman. i grew up with those people. they are the ones to do some of the hardest work in america, who grow our food, run our factories and fight our wars. they love their country in good times and bad, and they are always proud of america. [cheering]

[applause] i have the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. i was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the pta. [cheering] [laughter] [chanting] i love those hockey moms. you know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick. [laughter] [cheering] so i signed up for the pta because i wanted to make my

kids' public education better. when i ran for city council, i andnot need focus groups voter profiles because i knew those voters and their families, too. before i became governor of the great state of alaska -- [cheering] i was mayor of my hometown. and since our opponents in this , presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. [cheering] [chanting] i guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community that you haveept

actual responsibilities. [cheering] [applause] i might add, i might add that in small towns, we do not quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people are not listening. [cheering] [applause] we tend to prefer candidates who do not talk one way in scranton and another way in san francisco. [cheering]

as for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, john mccain is the same man. [cheering] [laughter] [applause] well, i am not a member of the prominent political establishment. and i have learned quickly these last few days that you are not a -- that if you are not a member in good standing of the washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. [booing] but, but -- [booing]

now, here is a little news flash -- [chanting] here is a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators. i am not going to washington to seek their good opinion. i am going to washington to serve the people of this great country. [cheering] [applause]

americans expect us to go to washington for the right reason and not just to mingle with the right people. politics is not just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. the right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to lead this nation better than we found it. [cheering] no one expects us all to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern with integrity and goodwill and clear convictions, and a servant's heart. i pledge to all americans that i will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the united states. [cheering]

[applause] this was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office when i took on the old politics as usual in juneau, when i stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, then the oil companies and the good old boys. suddenly, i realized that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interest and powerbrokers. that is why true reform is so hard to achieve, but with the support of the citizens of alaska, we shook things up, and in short order, we put the government of our state back on the side of the people. [cheering]

i came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. and today that ethics reform is , the law. while i was at it, i got rid of a few things in the governor's office i did not believe our citizens should have to pay for. that luxury jet was over-the-top. [cheering] i put it on ebay. [cheering] i love to drive myself to work, and i thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef, although, i have got to admit, sometimes my kids sure miss her. [laughter] i came to office promising to

control spending by request if possible, but by veto if necessary. [applause] senator mccain also promises to use the power of veto in the defense of the public interest, and as a chief executive, i can assure you it works. [applause] [cheering] our state budget is under control. we have a surplus, and i have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending nearly nearly half $1 billion in vetoes. [applause] we suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by congress. i told the congress thanks, but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere. [applause] [cheering]

if our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves. when oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, i sent a large share of that revenue back where it longs, directly to the people of alaska. -- where it belongs, directly to the people of alaska. [applause] and despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of like things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. as governor, i insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people. [applause] i thought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in north american history.

and when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead america to energy independence. [applause] that pipeline, with the last section is laid and it's valves opened, it will lead america one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart. the stakes for our nation could not be higher. when a hurricane strikes in the gulf of mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our strategic petroleum reserve. and families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil. with russia wanting to control a

vital pipeline in the caucuses and to divide and intimidate our european allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers. [applause] >> to confront the threat that iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world's energy supplies or that terrorists might strike again at the facility in saudi arabia or that venezuela might shut off its oil discoveries and deliveries of that source americans, we need to produce , more of our own oil and gas. [applause] take it from a gal who knows the north slope of alaska. we've got lots of both. [applause]

our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of america's energy problems, as if we did not know that already. [laughter] the fact that drilling will not solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all. [applause] starting in january, in a mccain/palin administration, we are going to lay more pipelines and build more nuclear plants and create jobs with clean coal and move forward on solar, wind,

geothermal, and other alternative sources. we need -- [applause] we need american sources. we need american energy, brought to you by american ingenuity and produced by american workers. [applause] i have noticed a pattern with our opponents, and maybe you have too. we have all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers, and there is much to like and admire about our opponents, but listening to him speak, it is easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform. [applause]

this is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars america is fighting and never use the word victory except when he is talking about his own campaign. [applause] but when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out and those styrofoam columns are hauled back to some studio lot -- [applause]

when that happens, what exactly is our opponent's plan? what does he actually seek to accomplish after he is done healing the planet? the answer is to make government bigger and take more of your money and give you more orders from washington and to reduce the strength of america in a dangerous world. [booing] america needs more energy. our opponent is against producing it. victory in iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay. he wants to meet them without preconditions. [booing]

al qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on america, and he is worried someone will not read them their rights. [applause] government is too big. he wants to grow it. congress spends too much money. he promises more. taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. his tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan. let me be specific. the democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes and raise payroll taxes and raise

investment income taxes and raise the death tax and raise business taxes and increase the tax burden on the american people by hundreds of billions of dollars. [booing] >> my sister and her husband just built a service station that is now open for business, like millions of others who run small businesses. how are they -- [applause] how are they going to be better off if taxes go up? or maybe you are trying to keep your job at a plant in michigan or in ohio or you are trying to create jobs from clean coal from pennsylvania or west virginia. [applause] you are trying to keep a small farm in the family right here in

minnesota. how are you -- [applause] how are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the american economy? here is how i look at the choice americans face in this election. in politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like john mccain, who use their careers to promote change. [applause] they are the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners or on self designed

presidential seals. [applause] among politicians, there is the idealism of speechmaking in which crowds are strongly summoned to support great things and then there is the idealism of those leaders like john mccain who actually do great things. [applause] they are the ones who are good for more than talk, the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and to defend america. senator mccain's record of actual achievements and reform helps explain why so many special interests and lobbyists and committee chairmen in congress have fought the prospect of a mccain presidency from the primary election of 2000 to this very day. our nominee does not run with the washington herd.

he is a man who is there to serve his country, not just his party, a leader not looking for a fight, but sure is not afraid of one either. [applause] harry reid, the majority of the current do-nothing senate, he not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. he said, i cannot stand john mccain. ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we have chosen the right man. [applause]

clearly, what the majority leader was driving at is that he cannot stand up to john mccain, and that is only one more reason to take the maverick out of the senate, put him in the white house. [applause] my fellow citizens, the american presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery. [laughter] [applause] this world of threats and dangers is not just the community and does not just need an organizer.

though both senator obama and senator biden have been going on lately about how they are always fighting for you, let us face the matter squarely. there is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you. [applause] there's only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. that man is john mccain. [applause]

in our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man and others equally brave served and suffered for their country. it is a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six by four cell in hanoi to the oval office. [applause] but if senator mccain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made. it is the journey of an upright and honorable man, the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this great country, only he was among those who came home. to the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the

compassion that comes from having once been powerless. the wisdom that comes even to the captive by the grace of god. the special confidence of those who have seen evil and have seen how evil is overcome. a fellow -- [applause] >> a fellow prisoner of war, a man named tom of lancaster, ohio -- [applause]

tom recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as lieutenant commander john mccain was led down the hallway by the guard day after day, and the story is told, when mccain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward tom's door and flashed a grin and a thumbs up, as if to say, we are going to pull through this. my fellow americans, that is the kind of man america needs to see us through the next four years. [applause]

a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. but for a lifetime, john mccain has inspired with his deeds. [applause] if character is a measure in the -- in this election, and hope the same, and change the goal we share, i ask you to join our cause. join our cause and help america elect a great man as the next president of the united states. thank you, and god bless america. [applause]

[applause]

[applause]

>> thank you. [applause]

don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the united states? [applause] what a beautiful family. [applause]

[applause] ♪

[applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] has covered every minute of every political convention since 1984. our video library includes those and many more hours of conventions. at the democratic national convention is underway, watch

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