us, all of us, rededicate ourselves to keeping burning the golden torch of promise which john fitzgerald kennedy set aflame. [applause] and let none of us stop to rest until we have written into the law of the land all the suggestions and then let us continue to supplement the program with the kind of laws that he would have us write. [applause] tonight we offer ourselves on our record and by our platform as a party for all americans. and all american parties are all american. [applause] this land of reasonable men has no place for any partisanship or previous prejudice. [applause] the need of all can never be met by a party of the few. the needs of all cannot be met by a business party. for a labor party. -- or a labor party. not by a war party or a peace party. not by a southern party or another in -- or a northern party. our needs will meet our needs only if we are served by a party that serves all our people. [applause] we are members together of such a party. the democratic party of 1964. we have written a proud record of accomplishments for all americans. if any ask what we have done, just

unleashed all of the very ambitious young democrats, not the least of which is going to be john fitzgerald kennedy, then he takes this back a little bit in 1960 and there is this minor effort at the convention in los angeles to win the nomination. and it doesn't work. and then there is this bad time, i think, for stevenson, who doesn't--is not appointed secretary of state, which is what he wanted and truly believed that he could excel at instead, he becomes the ambassador to the united nations and that's not a good job for him. c-span: there's a scene that you talk about in the book and then we'll jump all around here trying to get to the bottom of this... >> guest: as long as we know which adlai stevenson we're talking about. c-span: yes. we're talking about the former governor... >> guest: yeah. c-span: ... the man who ran for president. the scene outside of john f. kennedy's house in georgetown... >> guest: yeah. c-span: ... when they came out after the election to talk about the un ambassadorship. what was that about? >> guest: yeah. well, by that time kennedy--stevenson wouldn't trade. i have

john f. kennedy. >> senator john fitzgerald kennedy, 43-year-old massachusetts' senator. >> it was so interesting, by the time we got to wyoming, wyoming only had phone votes. we had 10 1/2 votes out of 15 votes. my brother bob asked me to speak to the chairman. the chairman said, you must be crazy. are you saying to me that it will be four votes? that will be the difference? i said, yes. he say, if it comes down to those four, you've got them. you've got them. it came down to that. >> mr. chairman, the vote by majority for senator kennedy. >> really, to say extraordinary is not adequate, obviously, to describe the emotion. it was euphoric. after my brother got the nomination, it was that kind of reaching out to people of all beliefs, that was very much a part of his campaign. we had all been a part of the journey of the campaign, spent a lot of time in it. so we had a sense that we were going to win, but at least at that time, we probably didn't know how difficult it was going to be. they were all down there for the election night. there was euphoria in the early part of the evening and as the resul

us, all of us, rededicate ourselves to keeping burning the golden torch of promise which john fitzgerald kennedyet aflame. [applause] and let none of us stop to rest until we have written into the law of the land all the suggestions and then let us continue to supplement the program with the kind of laws that he would have us write. [applause] tonight we offer ourselves on our record and by our platform as a party for all americans. and all american parties are all american. [applause] this land of reasonable men has no place for any partisanship or previous prejudice. [applause] the need of all can never be met by a party of the few. the needs of all cannot be met by a business party. or a labor party. not by a war party or a peace party. not by a southern party or another in -- or a northern party. our needs will meet our needs only if we are served by a party that serves all our people. [applause] we are members together of such a party. the democratic party of 1964. we have written a proud record of accomplishments for all americans. if any ask what we have done, just let them look at what w