Presidential conventions are now more symbol than substance. But they still offer a unique showcase for speechifying and honing party platforms. Here’ are some do’s and don’ts for nominees and their parties.
Put the best speakers in prime time: “You take a popular, outgoing president, Ronald Reagan, who is one of the more articulate men in our lifetime, and relegate him to a place where no one watches him, and you put Pat Buchanan, who still lives in the far-right world of Genghis Khan, and you put him in prime time. It was outrageous. It was among the worst things we did, and it hurt us. “
— Sigmund Rogich, assistant to President George H.W. Bush, on the 1992 Republican convention
Check the sound system: “When [Nelson] Rockefeller was giving his speech as the outgoing vice president, the microphone shut off in the middle of his speech. He was convinced that I had arranged to have the microphone turned off while he was giving his speech to the delegates in Kansas City, his swan song as vice president. I didn’t; I didn’t have anything to do with it. It was a technical problem. But all this led to a confrontation underneath the speaker’s platform, a lot of yelling and screaming by Nelson Rockefeller at me personally.”
— Dick Cheney, chief of staff to President Gerald Ford, on the 1976 Republican convention
Don’t announce the vice presidential pick: “I think the way we announced [Dan Quayle’s] selection was a mistake. Nobody should ever do that again, where you spring it on the press at the convention, because then that’s all they’ve got to write about is anything they can find. And that wasn’t Dan’s fault. It was really our fault, but we couldn’t do it any other way. We didn’t know who it was until the day of the convention, because that’s the way the vice president [George H.W. Bush] wanted to make the selection. “
— James Baker, campaign chairman for George H.W. Bush, on the 1988 Republican convention
If you do announce the VP nominee, do it in a surprising way: “We decided — or recommended to Reagan, and he agreed — that he take the unprecedented step of going down to the convention. You know historically, at least in modern times, the candidate only appears on the floor for his acceptance speech. We recommended that he go down to the convention floor and break the news, and I drove down with him. He came out on the platform and announced it, and the place goes wild. They thought it was terrific.”
— Peter Hannaford, a campaign adviser to Ronald Reagan, on the 1980 Republican convention
If it’s not your convention, go on vacation: “Vice President Bush and I went up to Wyoming to get away from the Democratic convention. We spent about three or four days up there fishing, so we didn’t have to listen to Ann Richards talking about silver foot in the mouth and all that. It was really a very good thing to have done.”
— Baker, Bush’s campaign chairman, on the 1988 Democratic convention
