Which makes some of the lines in Nixon's acceptance speech ironic, but if you look beyond that you'll be surprised at how much of this speech remains relevant today, from Nixon's concerns about the economy and foreign policy to his comment that one didn't fight discrimination against a group by in turn discriminating against another group. We are the United States of America, Nixon said, not the Divided States. Indeed - Mitt Romney could have used that line intact last night.
Here's Nixon's acceptance speech from August 23, 1972, given from the largest, most grandious podium I've ever seen at a convention. I mean, compare that to the laughably little ones they use today. That thing has the state seal of every state in the country. They have television monitors down at the bottom, because it's so tall and so steep that people sitting at the base can't see Nixon up top. Some people thought it was a little, shall we say, imperial. Predictably, I love it. ◙
