Transcript of Dick Cheney's Convention Speech
Aug. 2 -- Dick Cheney addressed the convention — and the nation — for the first time as the vice-presidential nominee. Read a full transcript of his remarks here.
Dick Cheney:
Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens:
I am honored by your nomination, and I accept it.
I thank you for giving such a warm welcome to Lynne and me and our family.
And, my friends in the Wyoming delegation, I especially want to thank you for your support.
The first campaign stop that Lynne and I were privileged to make with Governor and Laura Bush was in Casper, Wyoming ... our home town, where Lynne and I graduated from high school 41 years ago.
The love and support and enthusiasm of the people of our home state, have buoyed our spirits and strengthened our resolve.
We are going to win this election.
We will prevail.
I have to tell you that I never expected to be in this position.
Eight years ago, when I completed my years as secretary of defense, I loaded a U-Haul truck and drove home to Wyoming.
I didn’t plan on a return to public office. Lynne and I settled into a new private life. There was time for fishing and grandchildren, and we were content.
But now I am glad to be back in the arena, and let me tell you why.
I have been given an opportunity to serve beside a man who has the courage, and the vision, and the goodness, to be a great president:
Governor George W. Bush.
I have been in the company of leaders.
I was there on August 9, 1974, when Gerald Ford assumed the presidency during our gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. I saw how character and decency can dignify a great office and unite a great nation.
I was a congressman when another man of integrity lived in the White House.
I saw a president restore America’s confidence, and prepare the foundation for victory in the cold war.
I saw how one man’s will can set the nation on a new course.
I learned the meaning of leadership from President Ronald Reagan.
I left Congress to join the cabinet of President Reagan’s successor.
And I’m proud to say that I’m not the only man on this ticket who has learned from the example of President George Bush.
I saw resolve in times of crisis … the steady hand that shaped an alliance and threw back a tyrant. He earned the respect and confidence of the men and women of America’s armed forces.
I have been in the company of leaders. I know what it takes.
And I see in our nominee the qualities of mind and spirit our nation needs, and our history demands.
Big changes are coming to Washington.
To serve with this man, in this cause, is a chance I would not miss.
This country has given me so much opportunity.
When Lynne and I were growing up, we had so many blessings.
We went to good public schools, where we had fine, dedicated teachers. Our mothers, like our fathers, worked outside the home so that we could go to college. We lived in a caring community, where parents were confident that their children’s lives could be even better than their own.
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