GOP NATIONAL CONVENTION : Quayle Text: ‘Proud’ of Service in Guard

Here is a partial text of the speech by Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle as he accepted the GOP vice presidential nomination:

Mr. Chairman, fellow Republicans, I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America.

Just think, 82 days from now, George Bush and I are going to win one for you, win one for America’s future, and, yes, win one for the Gipper!

My friends, I am standing here tonight because of the decision made by a great man and a great leader, George Bush. Two days ago, he asked me if I would join him as his running mate. I am deeply grateful for George’s confidence in me, and I am humbled by the task ahead.

Children Are His Strength, Pride

I would like to add a very personal note. I am also standing here tonight because of the decision my wife, Marilyn, and I made nearly 16 years ago to be married. Marilyn and our children, Tucker, Benjamin and Corinne, are my strength, my pride, my joy and my love. They are and always will be my total life.

Many this week have asked, who is Dan Quayle? The people of Indiana know me and now the nation will. Since 1980, I have been a United States senator from Indiana--and proud of it.

Before that, I was a member of the United States House of Representatives--and proud of it.

And, as a young man, I served six years in the National Guard. And, like the millions of Americans who have served in the Guard and who serve today--I am proud of it.

In Indiana they call us Hoosiers, and if you saw the movie “Hoosiers” you have a feeling for what life is like in the small towns of our state.

My hometown of Huntington is a little bigger than the town in the movie, and the high school I graduated from, it was a little bigger than the one that fielded the basketball team in the film. Still, I identify with that movie “Hoosiers” because it reflects the values I grew up with in our small town. We believe very strongly in hard work, in getting an education, and in offering an opportunity to our families. Yes, we love basketball, we love underdogs, but most important, we love our country.

So tonight, I am one humble Hoosier, whose efforts to devote part of his life to public service have led him here.

I would have been quite happy spending my life in Huntington, in the newspaper business, watching my kids grow up, seeing a community with plenty of opportunity to go around. But I looked around me in the mid-’70s and I saw threats to the future of my family and to the values that could once be taken for granted in our country.

Beyond my town, there were communities torn by crime and drugs, and there were neighborhoods where the very word “opportunity” didn’t exist because there were no jobs.

I decided to try to change these things: to make opportunity replace despair, and to make the future just as good as the past for the families of the many Huntingtons of our land.

Tough to Turn Dreams Into Reality

That was in 1976, when I was first elected to the House of Representatives. But with both houses of Congress and the White House in the hands of liberal Democrats, it was a lot tougher than I ever imagined to turn my determination into reality.

In those Jimmy Carter years, the people running things thought government was the answer, instead of part of the problem. They thought high taxes and big government spending would solve anything. I think you know the rest. None of their policies worked and the American people knew it.

In 1980, they voted for a bold new course for the country; a course that brought us more jobs for working Americans, more security for a peace-loving people, more respect from friends and foes around the globe, more opportunity for women and minorities, and a renewed belief that America is a land where you can make your dreams come true.

The Reagan-Bush revolution has already been written on the pages of history. Now, George Bush and Dan Quayle are going to add several bold chapters to the story of the greatest nation God ever put on this earth.

When I think of America under the leadership of George Bush, three words come to my mind: Freedom. Family. Future.

Freedom first, because without it, nothing else is possible.

When I was a boy, my grandfather used to say to me and I say to you tonight that America is the greatest nation on earth because America is free. This is true today and it will always be true.

Next, family. George Bush understands, you understand and I understand that the family has always been at the very heart of civilization. We know the importance of the family to a child growing up. We know the help a family can be to a kid out of school, out of hope and out of luck. And, we know the importance of family where one generation helps take care of another, young and old.

Future Symbolizes Hope

And then, there is the future. That word symbolizes hope and opportunity. To make sure hope and opportunity are always there, we need a strong economy so there will be good jobs for all who seek them. We need an investment in our national defense that brings us long-term security in the world.

We do not need the future the Democratic Party sees. . . .

The future under George Bush means peace and economic opportunity for all and I can tell you, you have his track record to go on. The tax cuts the Republicans have brought America have resulted in 17 million new jobs being created.

Let me tell you something--George Bush will not raise your taxes, period. And let me tell you something else--Michael Dukakis will. He has a track record, too, and that is what it tells us--higher taxes.

As the new jobs opened up during our current economic expansion, not everyone had the necessary skills for them. Some had lost their jobs and others could not find their first one.

In 1983, the Jobs Training Partnership Act became law. I was the author of that legislation and I’m proud of it. It established a nationwide training program that has a partnership of government and the private sector. Today, because of the Job Training Partnership Act, hundreds of thousands of graduates of these programs have jobs with a future. . . .

We cannot have a secure economy at home if we do not have a peaceful and secure world. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I know well that it is the rebuilding of our defense that persuaded the Soviet Union to return to the negotiating table to get us a treaty that, for the first time, actually reduces nuclear arms.

Today, our relationship with the Soviet Union is the best it has been since the end of World War II. George Bush will keep it that way, and I will be right there with him.

Freedom is the most precious commodity our nation has. Let me say again, all else rests on it. We have worked hard for more than 200 years to preserve freedom. In the Soviet Union, people are trying to get out. In the United States, people are trying to get in. Our freedom is the beacon that draws them.

A great American novelist, the late Thomas Wolfe, once wrote: “This is a fabulous country--the only fabulous country. The one where miracles not only happen, they happen all the time.”

Miracles do happen all the time in America because we live in freedom and because the energy and imagination of our people makes their dreams come true every day.

I am privileged to be the first person of my generation to be on a national ticket. I don’t presume to talk for everyone of my generation, but I know that a great many will agree with me when I express my thanks to the generation of George Bush for bringing us to an era of peace and freedom and opportunity.

My generation has a profound debt to them, and we will pay it by making sure that our children and the generations that follow will have the same freedom, the same family values and a future bright with opportunity for all.