'Big changes are coming to Washington'

Dick Cheney's Acceptance Speech

The following is the text of the acceptance speech that vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney delivered to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Aug. 2, 2000:

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored by your nomination, and I accept it. I thank you for giving such a warm welcome to Lynne and me and our family. And, my friends in the Wyoming delegation, I especially want to thank you for your support:

The first campaign stop that Lynne and I were privileged to make with Gov. and Laura Bush was in Casper, Wyo., our home town, where Lynne and I graduated from high school 41 years ago. The love and support and enthusiasm of the people of our home state, have buoyed our spirits and strengthened our resolve.

We are going to win this election. We will prevail. T have to tell you that I never expected to be in this position. Eight years ago, when I completed my years as secretary of defense, I loaded a U-Haul truck and drove home to Wyoming. I didn't plan on a return to public office.

Lynne and I settled into a new private life. There was time for fishing and grand

children, and we were content. But now I am glad to be back in the arena, and let me tell you why.

In the Company Of Leaders

I have been given an opportunity to serve beside a man who has the courage, and the vision, and the goodness, to be a great President: Gov. George W. Bush.

I have been in the company of leaders. I was there on Aug. 9, 1974, when Gerald Ford assumed the presidency during our gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. I saw how character and decency can dignify a great office and unite a great nation.

I was a congressman when another man of integrity lived in the White House. I saw a President restore America's confidence, and prepare the foundation for victory in the Cold War.

I saw how one man's will can set the nation on a new course. I learned the meaning of leadership from President Ronald Reagan. I left Congress to join the cabinet of President Reagan's successor.

And I'm proud to say that I'm not the only man on this ticket who has learned from the example of President George Bush. I saw resolve in times of crisis, the steady hand that shaped an alliance and threw back a tyrant. He earned the respect and confidence of the men and women of America's armed forces.

I have been in the company of leaders. I know what it takes. And I see in our nominee the qualities of mind and spirit our nation needs, and our history demands. Big changes are coming to Washington. To serve with this man, in this cause, is a chance I would not miss.

This country has given me so much opportunity. When Lynne and I were growing up, we had so any blessings. We went to good public schools, where we had fine, dedicated teachers. Our mothers, like our fathers, worked outside the home so that we could go to college.

We lived in a caring community, where parents were confident that their children's lives could be even better than their own. And that is as it should be, and as it can be again.

We can make our public schools better.

We can reform the tax code, so that families can keep more of what they earn, more dollars that they can spend on what they value, rather than on what the government thinks is important. We can restore the ideals of honesty and honor that must be a part of our national life, if our children are to thrive.

When I look at the administration now in Washington, I am dismayed by opportunities squandered. Saddened by what might have been, but never was.

These have been years of prosperity in our land, but little purpose in the White House. Bill Clinton vowed not long ago to hold onto power "until the last hour of the last day."

That is his right. But, my friends, that last hour is coming. That last day is near. The wheel has turned-and it is time, it is time for them to go.

George W. Bush will repair what has been damaged. He is a man without pretense and without cynicism. A man of principle, a man of honor. On the first hour of the first day he will restore decency and integrity to the Oval Office.

He will show us that national leaders can be true to their word and that they can get things done by reaching across the partisan aisle, and working with political opponents in good faith and common purpose. I know he'll do these things, because for the last five years I've watched him do them in Texas. George W. Bush came to the governor's office with a clear view of what he wanted to achieve. He said he would bring higher standards to public schools, and he has.

Walk into those schools today, and you will see children with better scores, classrooms with better discipline and teachers with better pay.

He pledged to reduce taxes, and he has. He did it twice, with the biggest tax reduction in state history. And not only is the budget in balance, it's running a surplus of more than a billion dollars.

He promised to reform the legal system, to get rid of junk lawsuits, and he has.- Today the legal system serves all the people, not just the trial lawyers. None of these reforms came easily.