1976 Republican National Convention

thumb|[[Hy-Vee Arena|Kemper Arena, site of the 1976 Republican National Convention]]

The 1976 Republican National Convention was a United States political convention of the Republican Party that met from August 16 to August 19, 1976, to select the party's nominees for President of the United States and vice president. Held in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, the Republican National Convention nominated President Gerald Ford for a full term, but only after narrowly defeating a strong challenge from former governor of California Ronald Reagan.

The convention nominated U.S. Senator Bob Dole from Kansas for vice president over incumbent Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who did not seek nomination for a full term. The keynote address was delivered by Howard Baker, then a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Other notable speakers included Minnesota Representative Al Quie, retired Lieutenant Colonel and former Vietnam War prisoner of war Raymond Schrump, former Democratic Texas Governor John Connally, Providence, Rhode Island mayor Vincent Cianci, and Michigan Senator Robert P. Griffin. It was the last national convention by either of the two major parties to feature a seriously contested nomination between candidates.

History

Kansas City, Missouri had not hosted a major party convention since the 1928 Republican National Convention that nominated Herbert Hoover. Its premier venue, Kemper Arena, was diminutive by national standards but it was new, and the city aggressively courted the convention planners of both parties. The proposed rules change was defeated by a vote of 1180 to 1069, and Ford gained the momentum he needed to win the presidential nomination. The balloting was still close, however, as Ford won with 1187 votes to 1070 votes for Reagan (and one for Elliot Richardson of Massachusetts).

Conservatives succeeded in inserting several key planks into the party platform, some of which were implicitly critical of the President's own policies. Reagan and Senator Jesse Helms successfully had a "moral foreign policy" plank inserted. In light of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the 1976 Republican platform became the first to advocate a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, despite the fact that Roe v. Wade had been a 7–2 decision, and 5 of the 7 (Burger, Stewart, Brennan, Blackmun, and Powell) had been appointed to the Supreme Court by Republican presidents.

Balloting

Presidential

thumb|right|350px|First ballot vote for the presidential nomination by state delegations

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! colspan="3" | RNC presidential nominee vote, 1976

! style="width: 17em" |Candidate

! style="width: 5em" |Votes

! style="width: 7em" |Percentage

| Gerald Ford

| style="text-align:right;"| 1,187

| style="text-align:right;"| 52.57%

| Ronald Reagan

| style="text-align:right;"| 1,070

| style="text-align:right;"| 47.39%

| Elliot Richardson

| style="text-align:right;"| 1

| style="text-align:right;"| 0.04%

|- style="background:#eee; text-align:right;"

|| Totals

|| 2,258

|| 100.00%

Vice presidential

Ford selected Kansas Senator Robert J. Dole as his running mate, as unelected incumbent Vice President Rockefeller had announced the previous fall that he would not be a candidate for a full term in 1976.

After Ronald Reagan lost the presidential ballot to incumbent Gerald Ford, 103 of his delegates walked out of the convention, and the remainder decided to scatter their votes among 30 people. Bob Dole prevailed by an overwhelming margin.

Bob Dole – 1,921 (85.04%)
Jesse Helms – 103 (4.56%)
Ronald Reagan – 27 (1.20%)
Phil Crane – 23 (1.02%)
John Grady – 19 (0.84%)
Louis Frey Jr. – 9 (0.40%)
Anne Armstrong – 6 (0.27%)
Howard Baker – 6 (0.27%)
William F. Buckley Jr. – 4 (0.18%)
John Connally – 4 (0.18%)
David C. Treen – 4 (0.18%)
Alan Steelman – 3 (0.13%)
Bob Bauman – 2 (0.09%)
Bill Brock – 2 (0.09%)
Paul Laxalt – 2 (0.09%)
Elliot Richardson – 2 (0.09%)
Richard Schweiker – 2 (0.09%)
William E. Simon – 2 (0.09%)
Jack Wellborn – 2 (0.09%)
James Allen – 1 (0.04%)
Ray Barnhardt – 1 (0.04%)
George H. W. Bush – 1 (0.04%)
Pete Domenici – 1 (0.04%)
James B. Edwards – 1 (0.04%)
Frank S. Glenn – 1 (0.04%)
David Keene – 1 (0.04%)
James McClure – 1 (0.04%)
Nancy Palm – 1 (0.04%)
Donald Rumsfeld – 1 (0.04%)
John W. Sears – 1 (0.04%)
Roger Staubach – 1 (0.04%)
Steve Symms – 1 (0.04%)
Abstaining – 103 (4.56%)

Reagan's concession speech

thumb|thumbtime=06:22|right|300px|"Reagan's impromptu concession speech has been called a "defining moment of the Reagan Revolution."

There was no scheduled time slot for the runner-up to deliver a formal concession speech; however, when Ford and Reagan met on the dais after Ford's acceptance speech, the president insisted that the former governor accompany him to the podium to deliver a few remarks.

Reagan gave an eloquent and stirring speech that overshadowed Ford's own acceptance address, despite being little more than five minutes long. Some delegates later stated that they left the convention wondering if they had voted for the wrong candidate. A contemporary media account stated that if a motion to reconsider the nomination had been in order, it might have passed.

Aftermath

Ford and Dole went on to lose to Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in the 1976 election. Reagan defeated Carter in the 1980 election to become president, and won again in 1984, beating Democratic challenger Mondale. Dole ran for president in 1980, 1988, and 1996, gaining the nomination the last time, but losing to Bill Clinton by a large margin.

References

External links

Republican Party platform of 1976 at The American Presidency Project
Ford nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC (transcript) at The American Presidency Project
NPR's "1976: Reagan Takes on a GOP Incumbent" page
Gerald Ford Presidential Library's 1976 Republican Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech
Video of Ford nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC (via YouTube)
Audio of Ford nomination acceptance speech for President at RNC
Video of Dole nomination acceptance speech for Vice President at RNC (via YouTube)
Highlights of CBS News coverage of the 1976 Republican National Convention, August 17, 1976, C-SPAN