American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"Nixon" (1995)

GOP Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address

Audio mp3 delivered by Anthony Hopkins

Nixon: When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war in Vietnam with no end in sight, when the richest nation in the world can't manage it's own economy, when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness, when a nation that has been known for a century for equality of opportunity is torn by unprecedented racial violence, when the President of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home without fear of a hostile demonstration, then it is time for new leadership for the United States of America.

As we look at America, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame, millions of Americans crying out in anguish. Did we come all the way for this? Did American boys die in Normandy and Valley Forge for this? I pledge to you that the current wave of violence will not be the wave of the future.

Now let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.

  A new voice is being heard across America today. It is not the voice of the protesters or the shouters. It is the quiet voice of the majority of Americans who've been forgotten, the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators. They're the good people. They work hard and they save and they pay their taxes.

And who are they? Let me tell you who they are. They're in this audience by the thousands. They're the white Americans and black Americans, Mexican Americans, and Italian Americans. They're the great silent majority. And they have become angry, finally, angry, not with hate, but angry, my friends, because they love America and they don't like what's happened to American these last four years.

Let us understand North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that!

I say to you tonight -- I say to you tonight we must have a new feeling of responsibility, of self-discipline. We must look to renew state and local government. We must have a complete reform of the big, bloated Federal Government. Those of us in public service know we can have full prosperity in peace time. Yes we can cut the defense budget. We can reduce our conventional forces in Europe. We can restore the natural environment. We can improve health care and make it more available to all people. And yes we can have a complete reform of this government.

We can have a new American Revolution!

See also: Nixon's 1960 Republican National Convention Acceptance Address

Additional: Nixon's 1968 GOP Acceptance Address