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The '1992 National Convention' of the Republican Party 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.

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 and Ross Perot camps.
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."^[1]
The Clinton campaign was quick to criticise such rhetoric 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 significant boost in the polls, though it still trailed Clinton-Gore by several points. However, the surge proved to be short-lived as Ross Perot re-entered the race and Clinton maintained a steady lead through to Election Day.

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See also

External links

See also

★ 1992 Democratic National Convention

★ United States presidential election, 1992

External links

★ Ronald Reagan's address to the 1992 Republican National Convention