Here is the audio clip of Edward M. Kennedy's
Address to the DNC.
It is split into two parts. Scroll
down for the full transcript.
It follows the full text transcript of
Ted Kennedy's Address to the Democratic National
Convention, also known as the And the Dream Shall
Never Die speech, delivered at New York City - August
12, 1980.
Thanks very much,
Barbara Mikulski, for your very eloquent, your
eloquent introduction. Distinguished legislator,
great spokeswoman for economic democracy and
social justice in this country, I thank you for
your eloquent introduction.
Well, things
worked out a little different from the way I
thought, but let me tell you, I still love New
York.
My fellow Democrats and my fellow Americans, I
have come here tonight not to argue as a
candidate but to affirm a cause.
I'm asking you -- I am asking you to renew the
commitment of the Democratic Party to economic
justice. I am asking you to renew our commitment
to a fair and lasting prosperity that can put
America back to work.
This is the cause that brought me into the
campaign and that sustained me for nine months
across a 100,000 miles in 40 different states.
We had our losses, but the pain of our defeats
is far, far less than the pain of the people
that I have met.
We have learned that it is important to take
issues seriously, but never to take ourselves
too seriously. The serious issue before us
tonight is the cause for which the Democratic
Party has stood in its finest hours, the cause
that keeps our Party young and makes it, in the
second century of its age, the largest political
Party in this republic and the longest lasting
political Party on this planet.
Our cause has been, since the days of Thomas
Jefferson, the cause of the common man and the
common woman. Our commitment has been, since the
days of Andrew Jackson, to all those he called
"the humble members of society -- the farmers,
mechanics, and laborers." On this foundation we
have defined our values, refined our policies,
and refreshed our faith.
Now I take the unusual step of carrying the
cause and the commitment of my campaign
personally to our national convention. I speak
out of a deep sense of urgency about the anguish
and anxiety I have seen across America.
I speak out of a deep belief in the ideals of
the Democratic Party, and in the potential of
that Party and of a President to make a
difference. And I speak out of a deep trust in
our capacity to proceed with boldness and a
common vision that will feel and heal the
suffering of our time and the divisions of our
Party.
The economic plank of this platform on its face
concerns only material things, but it is also a
moral issue that I raise tonight. It has taken
many forms over many years. In this campaign and
in this country that we seek to lead, the
challenge in 1980 is to give our voice and our
vote for these fundamental democratic
principles.
Let us pledge that we will never misuse
unemployment, high interest rates, and human
misery as false weapons against inflation.
Let us pledge that employment will be the first
priority of our economic policy.
Let us pledge that there will be security for
all those who are now at work, and let us pledge
that there will be jobs for all who are out of
work; and we will not compromise on the issues
of jobs.
These are not simplistic pledges. Simply put,
they are the heart of our tradition, and they
have been the soul of our Party across the
generations. It is the glory and the greatness
of our tradition to speak for those who have no
voice, to remember those who are forgotten, to
respond to the frustrations and fulfill the
aspirations of all Americans seeking a better
life in a better land.
We dare not forsake that tradition. We cannot
let the great purposes of the Democratic Party
become the bygone passages of history. We must
not permit the Republicans to seize and run on
the slogans of prosperity. We heard the orators
at their convention all trying to talk like
Democrats. They proved that even Republican
nominees can quote Franklin Roosevelt to their
own purpose.
The Grand Old Party thinks it has found a great
new trick, but 40 years ago an earlier
generation of Republicans attempted the same
trick. And Franklin Roosevelt himself replied,
"Most Republican leaders have bitterly fought
and blocked the forward surge of average men and
women in their pursuit of happiness. Let us not
be deluded that overnight those leaders have
suddenly become the friends of average men and
women."
"You know," he continued, "very few of us are
that gullible." And four years later when the
Republicans tried that trick again, Franklin
Roosevelt asked, "Can the Old Guard pass itself
off as the New Deal? I think not. We have all
seen many marvelous stunts in the circus, but no
performing elephant could turn a handspring
without falling flat on its back."
The 1980 Republican convention was awash with
crocodile tears for our economic distress, but
it is by their long record and not their recent
words that you shall know them. The same
Republicans who are talking about the crisis of
unemployment have nominated a man who once said,
and I quote, "Unemployment insurance is a
prepaid vacation plan for freeloaders." And that
nominee is no friend of labor.
The same Republicans who are talking about the
problems of the inner cities have nominated a
man who said, and I quote, "I have included in
my morning and evening prayers every day the
prayer that the Federal Government not bail out
New York." And that nominee is no friend of this
city and our great urban centers across this
nation.
The same Republicans who are talking about
security for the elderly have nominated a man
who said just four years ago that "Participation
in social security should be made voluntary."
And that nominee is no friend of the senior
citizens of this nation.
The same Republicans who are talking about
preserving the environment have nominated a man
who last year made the preposterous statement,
and I quote, "Eighty percent of our air
pollution comes from plants and trees." And that
nominee is no friend of the environment.
And the same Republicans who are invoking
Franklin Roosevelt have nominated a man who said
in 1976, and these are his exact words, "Fascism
was really the basis of the New Deal." And that
nominee whose name is Ronald Reagan has no right
to quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The great adventures which our opponents offer
is a voyage into the past. Progress is our
heritage, not theirs. What is right for us as
Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to
win.
The commitment I seek is not to outworn views
but to old values that will never wear out.
Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the
ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances
may change, but the work of compassion must
continue. It is surely correct that we cannot
solve problems by throwing money at them, but it
is also correct that we dare not throw out our
national problems onto a scrap heap of
inattention and indifference. The poor may be
out of political fashion, but they are not
without human needs. The middle class may be
angry, but they have not lost the dream that all
Americans can advance together.
The demand of our people in 1980 is not for
smaller government or bigger government but for
better government. Some say that government is
always bad and that spending for basic social
programs is the root of our economic evils. But
we reply: The present inflation and recession
cost our economy 200 billion dollars a year. We
reply: Inflation and unemployment are the
biggest spenders of all.
The task of leadership in 1980 is not to parade
scapegoats or to seek refuge in reaction, but to
match our power to the possibilities of
progress. While others talked of free
enterprise, it was the Democratic Party that
acted and we ended excessive regulation in the
airline and trucking industry, and we restored
competition to the marketplace. And I take some
satisfaction that this deregulation legislation
that I sponsored and passed in the Congress of
the United States.
As Democrats we recognize that each generation
of Americans has a rendezvous with a different
reality. The answers of one generation become
the questions of the next generation. But there
is a guiding star in the American firmament. It
is as old as the revolutionary belief that all
people are created equal, and as clear as the
contemporary condition of Liberty City and the
South Bronx. Again and again Democratic leaders
have followed that star and they have given new
meaning to the old values of liberty and justice
for all.
We are the Party -- We are the Party of the New
Freedom, the New Deal, and the New Frontier. We
have always been the Party of hope. So this year
let us offer new hope, new hope to an America
uncertain about the present, but unsurpassed in
its potential for the future.
To all those who are idle in the cities and
industries of America let us provide new hope
for the dignity of useful work. Democrats have
always believed that a basic civil right of all
Americans is that their right to earn their own
way. The Party of the people must always be the
Party of full employment.
To all those who doubt the future of our
economy, let us provide new hope for the
reindustrialization of America. And let our
vision reach beyond the next election or the
next year to a new generation of prosperity. If
we could rebuild Germany and Japan after World
War II, then surely we can reindustrialize our
own nation and revive our inner cities in the
1980's.
To all those who work hard for a living wage let
us provide new hope that their price of their
employment shall not be an unsafe workplace and
a death at an earlier age.
To all those who inhabit our land from
California to the New York Island, from the
Redwood Forest to the Gulf stream waters, let us
provide new hope that prosperity shall not be
purchased by poisoning the air, the rivers, and
the natural resources that are the greatest gift
of this continent. We must insist that our
children and our grandchildren shall inherit a
land which they can truly call America the
beautiful.
To all those who see the worth of their work and
their savings taken by inflation, let us offer
new hope for a stable economy. We must meet the
pressures of the present by invoking the full
power of government to master increasing prices.
In candor, we must say that the Federal budget
can be balanced only by policies that bring us
to a balanced prosperity of full employment and
price restraint.
And to all those overburdened by an unfair tax
structure, let us provide new hope for real tax
reform. Instead of shutting down classrooms, let
us shut off tax shelters. Instead of cutting out
school lunches, let us cut off tax subsidies for
expensive business lunches that are nothing more
than food stamps for the rich.
The tax cut of our Republican opponents takes
the name of tax reform in vain. It is a
wonderfully Republican idea that would
redistribute income in the wrong direction. It's
good news for any of you with incomes over
200,000 dollars a year. For the few of you, it
offers a pot of gold worth 14,000 dollars. But
the Republican tax cut is bad news for the
middle income families. For the many of you,
they plan a pittance of 200 dollars a year, and
that is not what the Democratic Party means when
we say tax reform.
The vast majority of Americans cannot afford
this panacea from a Republican nominee who has
denounced the progressive income tax as the
invention of Karl Marx. I am afraid he has
confused Karl Marx with Theodore Roosevelt --
that obscure Republican president who sought and
fought for a tax system based on ability to pay.
Theodore Roosevelt was not Karl Marx, and the
Republican tax scheme is not tax reform.
Finally, we cannot have a fair prosperity in
isolation from a fair society. So I will
continue to stand for a national health
insurance. We must -- We must not surrender --
We must not surrender to the relentless medical
inflation that can bankrupt almost anyone and
that may soon break the budgets of government at
every level. Let us insist on real controls over
what doctors and hospitals can charge, and let
us resolve that the state of a family's health
shall never depend on the size of a family's
wealth.
The President, the Vice President, the members
of Congress have a medical plan that meets their
needs in full, and whenever senators and
representatives catch a little cold, the Capitol
physician will see them immediately, treat them
promptly, fill a prescription on the spot. We do
not get a bill even if we ask for it, and when
do you think was the last time a member of
Congress asked for a bill from the Federal
Government? And I say again, as I have before,
if health insurance is good enough for the
President, the Vice President, the Congress of
the United States, then it's good enough for you
and every family in America.
There were some -- There were some who said we
should be silent about our differences on issues
during this convention, but the heritage of the
Democratic Party has been a history of
democracy. We fight hard because we care deeply
about our principles and purposes. We did not
flee this struggle. We welcome the contrast with
the empty and expedient spectacle last month in
Detroit where no nomination was contested, no
question was debated, and no one dared to raise
any doubt or dissent.
Democrats can be proud that we chose a different
course and a different platform.
We can be proud that our Party stands for
investment in safe energy, instead of a nuclear
future that may threaten the future itself. We
must not permit the neighborhoods of America to
be permanently shadowed by the fear of another
Three Mile Island.
We can be proud that our Party stands for a fair
housing law to unlock the doors of
discrimination once and for all. The American
house will be divided against itself so long as
there is prejudice against any American buying
or renting a home. And we can be proud that our
Party stands plainly and publicly and
persistently for the ratification of the Equal
Rights Amendment.
Women hold their rightful place at our
convention, and women must have their rightful
place in the Constitution of the United States.
On this issue we will not yield; we will not
equivocate; we will not rationalize, explain, or
excuse. We will stand for E.R.A. and for the
recognition at long last that our nation was
made up of founding mothers as well as founding
fathers.
A fair prosperity and a just society are within
our vision and our grasp, and we do not have
every answer. There are questions not yet asked,
waiting for us in the recesses of the future.
But of this much we can be certain because it is
the lesson of all of our history: Together a
President and the people can make a difference.
I have found that faith still alive wherever I
have traveled across this land. So let us reject
the counsel of retreat and the call to reaction.
Let us go forward in the knowledge that history
only helps those who help themselves.
There will be setbacks and sacrifices in the
years ahead; but I am convinced that we as a
people are ready to give something back to our
country in return for all it has given to us.
Let this -- Let this be our commitment: Whatever
sacrifices must be made will be shared and
shared fairly. And let this be our confidence:
At the end of our journey and always before us
shines that ideal of liberty and justice for
all.
In closing, let me say a few words to all those
that I have met and to all those who have
supported me at this convention and across the
country. There were hard hours on our journey,
and often we sailed against the wind. But always
we kept our rudder true, and there were so many
of you who stayed the course and shared our
hope. You gave your help; but even more, you
gave your hearts.
And because of you, this has been a happy
campaign. You welcomed Joan, me, and our family
into your homes and neighborhoods, your
churches, your campuses, your union halls. And
when I think back of all the miles and all the
months and all the memories, I think of you. And
I recall the poet's words, and I say: "What
golden friends I had."
Among you, my golden friends across this land, I
have listened and learned.
I have listened to Kenny Dubois, a glassblower
in Charleston, West Virginia, who has ten
children to support but has lost his job after
35 years, just three years short of qualifying
for his pension.
I have listened to the Trachta family who farm
in Iowa and who wonder whether they can pass the
good life and the good earth on to their
children. I have listened to the grandmother in
East Oakland who no longer has a phone to call
her grandchildren because she gave it up to pay
the rent on her small apartment.
I have listened to young workers out of work, to
students without the tuition for college, and to
families without the chance to own a home. I
have seen the closed factories and the stalled
assembly lines of Anderson, Indiana and South
Gate, California, and I have seen too many, far
too many idle men and women desperate to work. I
have seen too many, far too many working
families desperate to protect the value of their
wages from the ravages of inflation.
Yet I have also sensed a yearning for a new hope
among the people in every state where I have
been. And I have felt it in their handshakes, I
saw it in their faces, and I shall never forget
the mothers who carried children to our rallies.
I shall always remember the elderly who have
lived in an America of high purpose and who
believe that it can all happen again.
Tonight, in their name, I have come here to
speak for them. And for their sake, I ask you to
stand with them. On their behalf I ask you to
restate and reaffirm the timeless truth of our
Party.
I congratulate President Carter on his victory
here.
I am -- I am confident that the Democratic Party
will reunite on the basis of Democratic
principles, and that together we will march
towards a Democratic victory in 1980.
And someday, long after this convention, long
after the signs come down and the crowds stop
cheering, and the bands stop playing, may it be
said of our campaign that we kept the faith.
May it be said of our Party in 1980 that we
found our faith again.
And may it be said of us, both in dark passages
and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson
that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have
special meaning for me now:
"I am a part of all that I have met To [Tho] much is taken, much abides That which we are, we are -- One equal temper of heroic hearts Strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to
an end.
For all those whose cares have been our concern,
the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope
still lives, and the dream shall never die.
Also called the
Persian Wars, the Greco-Persian Wars were
fought for almost half a century from 492 BC -
449 BC. Greece won against enormous odds. Here
is more:
