The 1988 Republican National Convention was held in the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Sain ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, from August 15 to August 18, 1988. It was the second time that a major party held its convention in one of the five states known as the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...

, coming on the heels of the

1988 Democratic National Convention The 1988 Democratic National Convention was held at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia, from July 18 to 21, 1988, to select candidates for the 1988 presidential election. At the convention Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was nominated for pr ...

, which was held in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, Georgia. Much of the impetus for holding the convention in the Superdome came from the Louisiana Republican National Committeewoman Virginia Martinez of New Orleans, who lobbied on behalf of her adopted home city as the convention site as a member of the RNC Executive Committee. 1988 RNC 2924

The convention nominated

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

George Bush for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, as expected. The second spot on the ticket was not publicly known before the convention; James Danforth "Dan" Quayle,

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

, was selected as Bush's vice presidential running mate. The revelation of Quayle's selection as

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a p ...

did not come until the second day of the convention, when

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

broke the story. As of 2020, it was the last time a major party's presidential candidate announced his vice presidential choice during his party's convention. The convention featured speeches by Joe Paterno, Pat Robertson, a keynote address by New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, and the music of the Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra. Actress

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

attended the conference at age 88.

Speakers

The convention is perhaps best known for Bush's " thousand points of light" speech accepting the nomination. Written by Peggy Noonan and Craig R. Smith, it included the " read my lips: no new taxes" pledge that was the most popular sound bite coming out of the convention. The successful speech gave him a " bounce" that he was able to capitalize on to win the 1988 presidential election. President Ronald and

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in Ne ...

were honored on August 15. Reagan made a major speechReagan's speech
at the 1988 Convention on the opening night of the convention, as he would for the last time in 1992. Other speakers included Bob Dole, Elizabeth Dole, Arizona junior senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two te ...

, Jeane Kirkpatrick and former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. File:President Reagan's Remarks at the Republican National Convention on August 14, 1988.webm, President Reagan's Remarks at the Republican National Convention on August 14, 1988 File:President Reagan's Address to the Republican National Convention, August 15, 1988.webm, President Reagan's Address to the Republican National Convention, August 15, 1988 File:Nancy Reagan's Address to the Republican National Convention on August 15, 1988.webm, Nancy Reagan's Address to the Republican National Convention on August 15, 1988 File:Celebration after President Reagan's Speech at Republican National Convention on August 15, 1988.webm, Celebration after President Reagan's Speech at Republican National Convention on August 15, 1988

Voting

The Balloting: With rumblings of opposition to the Quayle nomination, it was decided to have it ratified by voice vote, something that the Republicans had never done before, but would become standard practice in the decades to come.

References

External links

George Bush's nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC
(video) at ''C-SPAN''
George Bush's nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC
(audio)
Video of Quayle nomination acceptance speech for Vice President at RNC (via YouTube)

George Bush's nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC
(text) at ''The American Presidency Project''
Republican Party platform of 1988
at ''The American Presidency Project''
Video (with audio) of Thomas Kean's Keynote Address at Republican National Convention

Text of Thomas Kean's Keynote Address at Republican National Convention
{{Authority control Republican National Conventions Republican National Convention, 1988 1988 United States presidential election 1988 in Louisiana Caesars Superdome 1988 conferences August 1988 events in the United States

Speakers

Voting

See also

References

External links