1992 Republican National Convention

Infobox National Political Convention

---

caption = President George H. W. Bush and family at the podium.
image_size = 250
year = 1992
party = Republican
date = August 17 - August 20
venue = Astrodome
city = Houston, Texas
presidential_nominee = George H. W. Bush
presidential_nominee_state = Texas
vice_presidential_nominee = Dan Quayle
vice_presidential_nominee_state = Indiana

The 1992 National Convention of the Republican Party (GOP) of the United States was held in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, from August 17 to August 20 1992. The convention re-nominated President George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Vice President Dan Quayle of Indiana.

The convention is most notable in that it featured the last major address of former President Ronald Reagan's long political career. In his address, Reagan told Americans that

whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you—and especially for the young people here—is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here.

Lagging in the polls by double digits to the Clinton-Gore team after a highly successful Democratic Convention, and with Ross Perot temporarily out of the race, the Republican Party worked hard to rally its base of social conservatives. The convention is also remembered for the perception it reinforced of a Republican Party committed to social conservative values. This perception was emphasized by Pat Buchanan's famous opening night "culture war" speech where he argued that a great battle of values was taking place in the United States. Some considered the speech to be racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and generally intolerant in character. Others disagreed. Arguably, the speech ended up alienating more moderate Republican voters and many speculate caused them to move over to the Bill Clinton camp, while Ross Perot was out of the race at this point. However, polls by ABC News and the Los Angeles Times showed an increase in Bush support in the days following Buchanan's speech.

Republican National Committee chairman Rich Bond when talking about the Democrats also stated that "we are America, they are not America". Marilyn Quayle dismissed Bill Clinton's claim to a new generation of leadership by saying, "Not everyone demonstrated, dropped out, took drugs, joined in the sexual revolution or dodged the draft." [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/weekinreview/29purd.html?ei=5090&en=de1677dcd5ed25d1&ex=1251518400&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=all&position= The New York Times > Week in Review > The War Within: What They're Really Fighting About ] ] The Clinton campaign criticized and used it to their advantage to portray Bush and the GOP as being out of touch and too far to the right for the general public in the post-Cold War era.

The convention energized the Republican base, giving the Bush-Quayle ticket a short-lived bounce in the polls [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DF113FF935A1575BC0A964958260& THE 1992 CAMPAIGN; Bush's Gains From Convention Nearly Evaporate in Latest Poll - New York Times ] ] . The bounce faded, and the race returned to a lopsided double digit Clinton-Gore lead. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D8133DF931A3575AC0A964958260 THE 1992 CAMPAIGN; The Race in Different Polls - New York Times ] ] However, the race narrowed considerably when Ross Perot rebooted his insurgent campaign. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DC113DF935A35753C1A964958260 THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Poll; Poll Finds Hostility to Perot And No Basic Shift in Race - New York Times ] ]

The official Tally

President:

* George H.W. Bush 2166
* Patrick J. Buchanan 18
* former ambassador Alan Keyes 1

Vice President:

Vice President Dan Quayle was renominated by voice vote.

See also

*1992 Democratic National Convention
*United States presidential election, 1992

References

External links

* [http://65.126.3.86/reagan/html/reagan08_17_92.shtml Ronald Reagan's address to the 1992 Republican National Convention]
* [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/maryfisher1992rnc.html Complete text, audio and video of Mary Fisher's Whisper of AIDS Speech to the Republican National Convention]

sequence
prev=1988
New Orleans, Louisiana
list=Republican National Conventions
next=1996
San Diego, California