Richard Nixon photo

Remarks at a Surprise Celebration on the Anniversary of the President's Nomination.

August 08, 1969

THANK YOU very much, Mr. Chairman.

Well, I think that after the references that the chairman has very appropriately made to Mrs. Nixon, that she ought to come up here, too.

The chairman has made reference to that trip abroad, and except, of course, for Romania, we were in countries where it was very warm. As a matter of fact, when I was speaking to Prime Minister Gandhi in India, she said to me, "You came at the wrong time of day"--we motorcaded through New Delhi at noon--"and the wrong time of year, the hottest time of year." Yet hundreds of thousands of people stood there in 115-degree heat.

Well, I just want you to know that it was easy for me because once we finished the motorcade, I went into meetings in air-conditioned rooms, and my wife, Pat, went out to the hospitals, the children's homes, and so forth, in the stifling heat. That really showed, it seems to me, that the women in our family have a lot more stamina than the men in the family, because they did it.

Also, as I listened to Chairman Morton speak about how we got here, I was very interested in that letter that was written, as he said, in Les Arerids' office, and that he and others signed. He said that Les wrote it. I thought I had written it. [Laughter]

I do want you to know, though, that as far as his speech today was concerned, his very generous remarks, I did not write that, and I am most grateful, and I am most grateful for all of you being here.

I look across this crowd. I see members of the Cabinet. I see Governors. I see people who worked in the campaign office. I just wish I could thank all of you personally again for that long year, not only the year after August 8th--what has happened in that year--but the period before.

I see a few who started in the snows of New Hampshire and went through Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Oregon, in all that primary period. I see, of course, others who were with us during those long days of the campaign.

However difficult you may think, and however much strain there is on a 9-day trip around the world to seven countries, there is nothing that equals the excitement, there is nothing that equals the satisfaction, and there is nothing, also, that equals the strain of a presidential campaign.

We went through it; we survived; we won. Now, it was close. I seem always to be involved in things that are close. But I can assure you, and I want to say something in the presence of the Members of the House and the Senate, that we won a close election. We did not win the House or the Senate. We had a 3 to 2 majority against us in both. But since that, we haven't lost any. We have won the close ones, and we are going to continue to win the close ones, and we are going to win them even bigger in the years ahead.

Finally, if I could add simply these words, many times when some of you have been at the White House you have thanked me and you have thanked Pat, my wife, for inviting you. We just say that we want to thank you for making it possible for us to invite you to the White House.

We also want you to know that from the time of that convention, when we stood there before that huge audience and recognized that we were going to carry the banner of one of the great political parties in the campaign, through a very exciting period of traveling to States across this Nation, and now from an additionally exciting period of traveling all over this land, we are very proud that we have had the backing of such fine people.

There isn't anybody here who has asked for anything as a result of that backing. I have asked you to do things and you have done them. That is in a tradition that is at the very highest level of American political life.

I would simply say finally that, in addition to those things that Rogers Morton has mentioned, some of which we will take credit for and some of which probably will be credited to others, but however it may be, we are glad that they happened if they are for the good.

One thing that really can't be measured in words, can't be measured in programs, has happened to America and to America's position in the world that we can all be thankful for, and I don't take credit for it personally. Perhaps it is simply the fact that I was here at a time when America's position in the world was bound to change.

When we came in, America had deep problems in the world. We still have many of those problems. We are trying to solve them. But one of the problems in the world was that Americans, particularly those in leadership positions, found it difficult to go abroad--difficult without running into very serious demonstrations.

As I look at this recent trip, as I look to the visit to Manila, Djakarta, Thailand, Saigon, India, Pakistan, and then to Romania in the heart of Eastern Europe, as I look at all of Asia and to the center of Eastern Europe and think of the hundreds of thousands--yes, millions--of people that we saw, not once in that period of time was there a significant demonstration of hostility to the United States of America. This makes us very proud.

This is not just due to a man. It is not just due to a new administration. It is due to a new spirit that we may have helped to create, but also a new spirit that we are very proud to represent. We are proud to be here representing a great party, representing the United States of America at this time in history.

I can only say that on August 8th I realized we carried a great responsibility to live up to the high hopes that all of you had for us. Now we are going to continue that responsibility, to make America worthy of the trust that millions in this world have in it, millions all over the world; the trust that they have in our leadership, because without our leadership there cannot be real peace in the world, there cannot be the survival and the chance for freedom in the world; and also to make us live up to, at home, the trust that millions here have in their leadership in the White House.

We haven't satisfied all. Some are disgruntled. Some believe we should do more. Some believe we should do less in some fields. But I can assure you we are going to do our best, and with the kind of support we have had, we are going to succeed--succeed in making all of us proud of our country and proud of our party, and of that day a year ago where it all began.

Thank you very much.

They said I should open the present. Has it been checked by the Secret Service? [Laughter] It is rather heavy.

That is my badge. [Laughter and applause]

Does that mean that I am a permanent delegate to national conventions from now on?

REPRESENTATIVE ROGERS C. B. MORTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. President, the delegate from our host State of Florida at the Miami convention also has something. I don't think you have to unwrap it.

CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM C]. CRAMER. Mr. President, as chairman of the Host Committee, I want to present you a souvenir which I have been waiting for a year to do because you are the one person who didn't get one, of the thousands who were there. I am making up for it today. Come back again.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you. We were glad of the convention and so glad that Florida came through in 1968 as it did-also in 1960 and in 1956 and 1952.

CONGRESSMAN CRAMER. We are looking forward to the next one.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you very much. We do appreciate your coming. Who thought of these balloons?

[Laughter] Ev, it is like Kankakee. I Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 10:20 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House.

During the ceremony Representative Morton, chairman of the Republican National Committee, presented the President a clock with a 1968 convention badge and ribbon on the dial. Representative Cramer presented him with a china plate containing the Florida flag and State seal and the signatures of Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr., of Florida, William Murfin, Florida Republican State chairman, and himself.

Introductory remarks by Chairman Morton follow: Mr. President, distinguished Members of the Cabinet, distinguished Members of the Congress, honored guests:

A year ago today we were, most of us here, in Miami working diligently and totally for your nomination to become the Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States.

Later that evening, our mission was accomplished, and we achieved a great goal.

This has been a very exciting year for you and for us. You have united our party as it has never been united before and, Mr. President, your actions since you have become President have continued to bring us closer together.

In November, the great hopes and dreams of the Republican Party came true as you were elected the 37th President of the United States. Your election, sir, is perhaps one of the great political achievements in the history of our country.

But I would like to pause just for a moment, if I may, in paying a special tribute to one of the principal architects of your campaign, of your great victory; a tribute to a very brilliant, a very wonderful man--our good friend, your 1968 campaign manager and now the Attorney General of the United States, John Mitchell.

1The President, directing his final remarks to Senator Everett McK. Dirksen of Illinois, was referring to some balloons released from the roof of the gallery bordering the Rose Garden just as they had been at rallies during the President's campaign in 1968.

It has been a long time since Les Arends sat down next to some of us in the House of Representatives and said, "Let's write Dick a letter. I think he ought to be President." I would like to pay my personal thanks to Les Arends, who sat down next to me and suggested that we write this letter. Les was a tireless worker, as were other Members of the Congress throughout the campaign.

Mr. President, we did share a victory of a year ago, but we also are now sharing other victories, current victories, victories of the day. The success on the extension of the surtax, the bringing of the tax reform bill to the surface and passing it through the House of Representatives is an example of the kind of victory that I am talking about.

There are many other successes and accomplishments. Your recent highly successful visit to Romania, as well as your earlier trip to Europe, accomplished a great step forward in the relations of our country with the rest of the world. Through your calm approach, through your rectitude, through your great personal example of leadership, and through your deliberate action against some of the most difficult problems of our time, you have raised the prestige of the United States throughout the world, and the feeling of well-being among its people to the highest level it has been in many years.

In Vietnam, our troops are beginning to return. You have taken courageous action to curb inflation. We have a balanced budget.

Under your leadership order is being restored, not through force and fear, but through justice and understanding. You have made great strides, Mr. President, toward the essential reorganization of the government.

Tonight you will present to the Nation your plan for a comprehensive program of redesign for a confused welfare system, for a greater utilization of the Nation's manpower, for a concept we have all long believed in, for revenue sharing with the States, for a drastic and meaningful reorganization of the Office of Economic Opportunity.

These are bold, new steps toward a new Federalism, a new participation of the people of this great country in the pluralism that is essential to our democracy. These steps will bring a life on this planet into higher order.

Personally, Mr. President, you have brought great dignity to the Presidency. Your family, sir, is a model for the Nation. Mrs. Nixon's historic visit to Vietnam is a source of inspiration and example to the mothers and families of this great country. Your determination to be open and straightforward with the American public has established an unparalleled degree of credibility in this country.

With your life, which you are dedicating to us, your fellow Americans, there is a prime example of what man can be and what man can achieve when he has faith in God, faith in his country, and faith in the destiny of mankind.

Mr. President, those who are here commemorating your nomination in Miami, and who have made a personal commitment to the service of your administration, have been richly rewarded. It is with a great sense of pride, sir, that I have the opportunity to speak for millions of Republicans, bringing their deep appreciation to you and to Mrs. Nixon.

We look forward with confidence and excitement to the days ahead, and to the anniversary which we will celebrate here year after year through August 8, 1976-

Mr. President, I am sorry that your running mate in Miami, my former Governor and close friend, is not here. He is out working for you and for the country. But we who participated in the convention at Miami have also here a present, a token of our esteem and appreciation, to our great friend, to your able Vice President, Ted Agnew.

We give you this token of our affection and esteem from those of us who participated and those who were so excited about your nomination a year ago.

Richard Nixon, Remarks at a Surprise Celebration on the Anniversary of the President's Nomination. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239956

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