WASHINGTON — With America embroiled in its longest armed conflict, Mitt Romney became the first Republican since 1952 to accept his party’s nomination without mentioning war.
The Romney strategy reflects the weak public support for the Afghanistan war and fatigue over a decade of terrorism fears. But it was still a remarkable shift in tone.
Candidates Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon criticized the handling of the Vietnam War. Ronald Reagan warned that a weak nation would tempt the Soviet Union. Even President Gerald Ford, in 1976, a year after the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, said, “not a single American is at war anywhere on the face of this Earth tonight.”
Republican strategist Tony Fratto said it was odd, personally, to hear a major Republican speech with no mention of the issue that has so dominated the past decade.
“It’s more reflective of what Americans are interested in hearing from their candidates right now,” he said. The Associated Press
