The 1988 Republican National Convention was held in the

Louisiana Superdome Caesars Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and formerly Mercedes-Benz Superdome), commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium in the Southern United States, southern United States, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, 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 of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

, 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

The convention nominated

Vice President A vice president or 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 vi ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, as expected. The second spot on the ticket was not publicly known before the convention. As late as August 13, Bush had six people tabbed for consideration: House Representative

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician, professional Gridiron football, football player, and U.S. Army veteran. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party from New York, he served a ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, former

United States Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

Elizabeth Dole Mary Elizabeth Alexander Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)Mary Ella Cathey Hanford, "Asbury and Hanford Families: Newly Discovered Genealogical Information" ''The Historical Trail'' 33 (1996), pp. 44–45, 49. is an American attorney, auth ...

United States Senators The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Pete Domenici Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici ( ; May 7, 1932 – September 13, 2017) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 1973 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served six terms in ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, Alan Simpson of

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, and James Danforth "Dan" Quayle of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. Others considered were Governors Jim Thompson of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

George Deukmejian Courken George Deukmejian Jr. ( ; June 6, 1928May 8, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991. A member of the Republican Party, he was the state's first governor of Armenian descent. B ...

of California, but each declined consideration. On August 16, Quayle 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 pre ...

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 Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

broke the story. Until the

2024 Republican National Convention The 2024 Republican National Convention was an event in which delegates of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party selected the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of ...

, 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 Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American Media proprietor, media mogul, Televangelism, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic movement, charismatic minister. Rober ...

, a keynote address by

New Jersey Governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American politician, statesman, and academic administrator from the state of New Jersey. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, Kean served two terms as the 48th governor of New Jersey f ...

, and the music of the Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra. The convention manager was Bill R. Phillips, former Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee.

Site selection

Republicans were seeking a host city that could provide a convention venue accommodating 17,000 and 20,000 hotel rooms. On January 20, 1987, the site selection committee voted 6–3 in recommending New Orleans to serve as the site of the party's 1988 presidential nominating convention. The runner-up was

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

. Kansas City put forth

Kemper Arena Hy-Vee Arena, previously known as Kemper Arena, is an indoor arena located in Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to conversion to a youth sports and community gymnasium facility, Kemper Arena was previously a 19,500-seat professional sports arena. It ...

and the new

Bartle Hall The Kansas City Convention Center, originally Bartle Hall Convention Center or Bartle Hall, is a major convention center in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was named for Harold Roe Bartle, a prominent, two-term mayor of Kansas City in ...

as prospective venues, with Bartle Hall seeming the more likely of the two facilities. The city's bid, however, was challenged by its lack of the 20,000 hotel rooms sought by the Republican Party, with the city only being able to offer around 15,000 hotel rooms. A third city,

, had been ruled out of consideration because the maximum capacity configuration that the

Omni Coliseum Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey, hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Cente ...

could offer would accommodate only 15,000 seats, while the Republicans were seeking a minimum of 17,000 seats. This was the first major party presidential nominating convention to be held in New Orleans. The size of the venue, the

, excited party officials, with Party Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf declaring that its size would allow a more extravagant convention to be staged. A factor that made New Orleans appealing to the Republican Party as a location included a significant supply of big hotels near the Superdome. The location choice was also intentionally reflective of the desire of the party to make further political inroads in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. In their contract with the city, the Republican Party included the clause forbidding the city from hosting another party's convention. This would prevent the Democratic Party from being able to choose New Orleans as their site too. New Orleans had been bidding for the Democratic Convention as well, and Republicans feared that if the Democratic Convention was held in the same city that the host committee would treat them with second-preference. Therefore, they required the city to withdraw from bidding for the Democratic convention. New Orleans attempted to negotiate on this, but the Republicans would not cede. The convention was the first to be held in a domed sports stadium. A 900-by-90 feet curtain, installed by Superdome management in 1986 to enable the venue to hold events like political conventions, was utilized to partition half of the venue off.

Bids

Speakers

The convention is perhaps best known for Bush's "

thousand points of light The phrase "a thousand points of light" was popularized by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and later formed the name of a private, non-profit organization launched by Bush to support volunteerism. History The first known instance of the phrase ...

" speech accepting the nomination. Written by

Peggy Noonan Margaret Ellen "Peggy" Noonan (born September 7, 1950) is a weekly columnist for ''The Wall Street Journal'' and contributor to NBC News and ABC News. She was a primary speechwriter and Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1984 to 19 ...

and Craig R. Smith, it included the " read my lips: no new taxes" pledge that was the most popular

sound bite A sound bite or soundbite is a short clip of speech or music extracted from a longer piece of audio, often used to promote or exemplify the full-length piece. In the context of journalism, a sound bite is characterized by a short phrase or sentence ...

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

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and

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in ...

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. During the presidential roll call vote, several seconding speeches were delivered, showcasing a number of speakers from varying ethnic backgrounds. Seconding speeches were delivered by American football Coach

, Actress

, Congressman

Bob Dornan Robert Kenneth Dornan (born April 3, 1933) is an American actor, radio talk show host, combat veteran, and Republican politician from California. Dornan represented two Southern California districts in the United States House of Representatives fr ...

, restaurateur

Ninfa Laurenzo Maria Ninfa Rodriguez Laurenzo (nicknamed Mama Ninfa,
." Ninfa Laurenzo Early Childhood Center. Retrieved on Febr ...

, Kansas City (Missouri) City Council Member Joanne Collins, and Federal Maritime Commissioner

Elaine Chao Elaine Lan Chao (born March 26, 1953) is an American businesswoman and former government official who served as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and as United States secretary of transpor ...

. Other speakers included

, Arizona junior senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

Jeane Kirkpatrick Jeane Duane Kirkpatrick (née Jordan; November 19, 1926December 7, 2006) was an American diplomat and political scientist who played a major role in the foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration. An ardent anticommunist, she was a lon ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

. File:Vice President Bush Accepts the GOP Presidential Nomination at the RNC - 18 August 1988.webm, Vice President Bush's acceptance speech 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:
The presidential roll call began with Bush's name being placed into nomination by Senator

Phil Gramm William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of United States Congress, Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Gr ...

of Texas. 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 1988 conferences August 1988 in the United States 1980s political conferences George H. W. Bush Dan Quayle Articles containing video clips