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17.Geraldine Ferraro: 1984 Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address

Ladies and gentlemen of the convention:

My name is Geraldine Ferraro. I stand before you to proclaim tonight:
America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us. 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.
My heart is filled with pride. My fellow citizens, I proudly accept your
nomination for Vice President of the United States.
And I am proud to run with a man who will be one of the great presidents
of this century, Walter F. Mondale. 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're willing to reach for it. Tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from
Italy has been chosen to run for [Vice] President in the new 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
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.
At night, I went to law school. I became an assistant district attorney,
and 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 crime.
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 and
the values that we shared. Together, we proved the political experts
wrong. In this campaign, Fritz Mondale and I have put our faith in the
people. And we are going to prove the experts wrong again. We are going to
win. We are going to win because Americans across this country believe in
the same basic dream.
Last week, I visited Elmore, Minnesota, the small town where Fritz Mondale
was raised. And soon Fritz and Joan will visit our family in Queens. Nine
hundred people live in Elmore. In Queens, there are 2,000 people on one
block. You would think we would be different, but we're 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 schools as
good as they can be. 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 4th of
July in Elmore, they hang flags out 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.
Americans want to live by the same set of rules. But under this
administration, the rules are rigged against too many of our people. It
isn't right that every year the share of taxes paid by individual citizens
is going up, while the share paid by large corporations is getting smaller
and smaller. 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 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.
It isn't right that a woman should get paid 59 cents on the dollar for the
same work as a man.
If you play by the rules, you deserve a fair day's pay for a fair day's
work. 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. It isn't right that young people
today fear they won't get the Social Security they paid for, and that
older Americans fear that 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.
We are going to keep faith with older Americans. We hammered out a fair
compromise in the Congress to save Social Security. Every group sacrificed
to keep the system sound. It is time Ronald Reagan stopped scaring our
senior citizens.
It isn't right that young couples question whether to bring children into
a world of 50,000 nuclear warheads. That isn't the vision for which
Americans have struggled for more than two centuries. And 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; and when Reverend Jesse Jackson ran for the office of
President of the United States.
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. We will place no limits on achievement. If we can do this, we can
do anything.
Tonight, we reclaim our dream. We are going to make the rules of American
life work fairly for all Americans again. 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. 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.
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.
The issue is not what America can do for women, but what women can do for
America.

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.
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.
To those working Americans who fear that banks, 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 government by and for the
American people again.
To an Administration that would savage 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.
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 remembered the bravery and sacrifice of Americans at
Normandy. And we finally paid tribute -- as we should have done years ago
-- to that unknown soldier who represents all the brave young Americans
who died in Vietnam. 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's fighting for, not just what we are fighting
against.
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. To those who have watched this
administration's confusion in the Middle East, as it has tilted first
toward one and then another of Israel's long-time enemies and wonder:
"Will America stand by her friends and sister democracy?" We say: America
knows who her friends are in the Middle East and around the world. America
will stand with Israel always.
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. If we leave our
children nothing else, let us leave them this Earth as we found it: whole
and green and full of life.
I know in my heart that Walter Mondale will be that president.
A wise man once said, "Every one of us is given the gift of life, and what
a strange gift it is. If it is preserved jealously and selfishly, it
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.
Tonight, my husband, John, and our three children are in this hall with
me. To my daughters, Donna and Laura, and my son, John Junior, I say: My
mother did not break faith with me, and I will not break faith with you.
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.
　