Thank you. The delegates of this convention, you ladies and gentlemen and those who are viewing, I know that I am breaking precedent to come here tonight; and I assure you at this late hour I'm not going to give you my acceptance address tonight. I'll wait for the scheduled time. But in watching at the hotel, the television, and seeing the rumors that were going around and the gossip that was taking place here, I felt that it was necessary to break with tradition, just as probably in this campaign we're going to break with tradition a lot of times.
Let me as simply as I can straighten out and bring this to a conclusion. It is true that a number of Republican leaders, people in our party, officeholders, felt, as I'm sure many others have felt, that a proper ticket would have included the former President of the United States, Gerald Ford, as second place on the ticket.
And it is true, also, that we have gone over this and over this and over this and he and I have come to the conclusion - and he believes deeply that he can be of more value as the former President campaigning his heart out, which he has pledged to do, and not as a member of the ticket. So, I respect him very much for the decision he came to. He is loyal to this party and to this country. And he's told me that he and Betty will be there, wherever they need to be in the campaign to help.
I then believed that because of all of the talk and how something might be going tonight, that it was time for me to advance the schedule a little bit. And I talked to a man we all know, and a man who was a candidate, a man who has great experience in government, and a man who told me that he can enthusiastically support the platform across the board. I have asked and I am recommending to this convention that tomorrow when the session reconvenes that George Bush be nominated.
Thank you very much. Shall I say good night? All right. Only have one more thing to say: It's past the witching hour; it's late. God bless you, good night. And we'll see you tomorrow night.
