Remarks on President Reagan’s 1984 Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech
“It’s morning again in America. Today, more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country’s history.
With interest rates and inflation down, more people are buying new homes and our new families can have confidence
in the future. America today is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we want to return to where we were less
than four short years ago?
-Script, Campaign Ad for President Reagan 1984
When President Reagan composed his acceptance speech in August, strong economic winds were blowing
at his back with second quarter growth in 1984 cranking in at 7.4 percent, inflation at 3.2 percent, and as of July
1, the U.S. economy had experienced the strongest four quarters of growth in a generation. According to Reagan
biographer Steven Hayward, the polls looked strong with some saying, “It looks so good it’s frightening.” After
Reagan’s speech on Normandy beach in France, observing the 40th anniversary of D-Day landings, his stock was
up.
So he took a much less aggressive approach to campaigning than he did in 1980. But he warned his
audience that the job was not finished.
“We came together in a national crusade to make America great again, and to make a new beginning. Well, now it’s all
coming together. With our beloved nation at peace, we’re in the midst of a springtime of hope for America. Greatness
lies ahead of us.”
-Ronald Reagan, Acceptance Speech, August 23, 1984
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
“It’s morning again in America,” you might recall, was the ad that became the campaign’s signature theme.
Those who were critical of the idea described it as “the political equivalent of mood music.” Some say the light
message of the campaign was responsible for Reagan’s poor showing in his first debate with Walter Mondale.
Either way, Reagan’s speech in Dallas on August 23, 1984 to accept his party’s re-nomination for the
presidency, was the perfect opportunity to electrify America. By then, he was ready to throw down the gauntlet by
saying, “America is presented with the clearest political choice of half a century. The distinctions between our two
parties and the different philosophy of our political opponents are at the heart of this campaign.”
These differences had not been articulated throughout the campaign. Where was his sustained case against
the Democratic Congress, or the argument that he couldn’t govern unless the Democratic Congress was booted
out of power? Where was his demand for the line-item veto? Some described his campaign as a “marvel of antipartisanship.” True. Could he have demanded more of the electorate?
Perhaps. But there was another message aired during the campaign - a “bear in the woods” – a sensitive
issue that was skillfully addressed. The ad, “Bear in the Woods,” was voiced by Hal Riney - who also voiced the
“Morning in America” commercial – featured an image of a bear prowling through the woods while the narrator
said, “There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don’t see it at all. Some people
say the bear is tame. Others say it’s vicious and dangerous. Since no one can be sure who’s right, isn’t it smart to
be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear?” The spot ends with the bear retreating from Reagan’s silhouette.
Score one big one for the Reagan administration over the Soviets.
Looking Back at Past Republican Conventions
“I began political life as a Democrat, casting my first vote in 1932 for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. That year, the
Democrats called for a 25-percent reduction in the cost of government by abolishing useless commissions and offices
and consolidating departments and bureaus, and giving more authority to State governments. As the years went by and
those promises were forgotten, did I leave the Democratic Party, or did the leadership of that party leave not just me
but millions of patriotic Democrats who believed in the principles and philosophy of that platform?”
-Ronald Reagan, Acceptance Speech, August 23, 1984
Despite giving an acceptance speech in 1936 that reminded voters how a Democratic president
had taken office in a terrible economic time and had failed to turn the economy around, Alf Landon’s run failed to
dethrone FDR. Landon said, “Judged by the things that make us a nation of happy families, the New Deal has fallen
far short of success. The proof of this is in the record. The record shows that in 1933 the primary need was jobs for
the unemployed. The record shows that in 1936 the primary need still is jobs for the unemployed.”
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Despite giving an acceptance speech in 1936 that reminded voters how a Democratic president
had taken office in a terrible economic time and had failed to turn the economy around, Alf Landon’s run failed to
dethrone FDR. Landon said, “Judged by the things that make us a nation of happy families, the New Deal has fallen
far short of success. The proof of this is in the record. The record shows that in 1933 the primary need was jobs for
the unemployed. The record shows that in 1936 the primary need still is jobs for the unemployed.”
Surprisingly in 1940, a liberal Democrat broke ranks with FDR to challenge his government programs and
garner the Republican nomination. That man was Indiana businessman Wendell Willkie who split with President
Franklin Roosevelt and argued in his acceptance speech that FDR had “distorted” reformist liberalism. He also
chided Roosevelt for failing to do more to make America competitive with Hitler’s Third Reich. He said, “Today great
institutions of freedom, for which humanity has spilled so much blood, lie in ruins. In Europe those rights of person
and property —the civil liberties—which your ancestors fought for, and which you still enjoy, are virtually extinct. And
it is my profound conviction that even here in this country, the Democratic Party, under its present leadership, will
prove incapable of protecting those liberties of yours.”
By 1948, Thomas Dewey couldn’t overcome Truman’s “Give ‘em hell, Harry” slogan but came close.
He delivered a stirring acceptance speech saying, “We have found the means to blow this world of ours apart,
physically. We have not yet found the spiritual means to put together the world’s broken pieces, to bind up its
wounds, to make a good society, a community of men of good will that fits our dreams.”
A Republican prevailed in 1952, with General Dwight D. Eisenhower reminding his audience throughout
his acceptance speech that he was the Supreme Allied Commander in WWII by using repeated war metaphors. He
called for a “Republican crusade” to rid the nation of waste and corruptions following nonstop Democratic rule.
“Today is the first day of this great battle. The road that leads to Nov. 4 is a fighting road. In that fight I will keep
nothing in reserve.”
As former Vice-President, Richard Nixon worked the room in 1968, delivering a powerful acceptance speech
at the RNC, appealing to the “Silent Majority” of Americans discomfited by the turbulent times. Recall when he
said, “As we look at America, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. We hear sirens in the night. We see
Americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. We see Americans hating each other; fighting each other; killing
each other at home. And as we see and hear these things, millions of Americans cry out in anguish. Did we come all
this way for this?”
When President Gerald Ford accepted the nomination at the 1976 Convention, Reagan stole the show with
his impromptu address at the podium when he said, “This is our challenge; and this is why here in this hall tonight,
better than we have ever done before, we have got to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out
and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we have ever been, but we carry the message
they are waiting for. We must go forth from here united, determined that what a great general said a few years ago
is true: There is no substitute for victory, Mr. President.”
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
A Reagan Landslide Victory in 1984
Reagan’s victory was a testament to the President’s personal popularity but also arguably a ratification of
public support for his economic program, especially tax cuts. Reagan won a majority of independents and more
than a fifth of the Democratic vote.
But Reagan’s reelection was more a personal triumph than a partisan endorsement. He had run a campaign
with few issues that gave few clues as to his direction in a second term. And his coattails were short, as Democrats
kept control of the House of Representatives. Republicans clung to control of the Senate in 1984, but the midterm
elections of 1986 would put Democrats back in the majority.
Still, on that hot August night in 1984 when Americans listened to their 40th president and heard the
message that reminded them why they wanted him to be in charge, he gave them the good stuff. He talked about
“Miss Liberty’s torch” and “the lamp beside the golden door” and how it was the entrance to “America and still is.”
He reminded us that “the glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity is still golden in
this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be
denied the promise that is America.”
“In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal,” he said. “America’s is.”