1984 Democratic National Convention

1984 Democratic National Convention
1984 presidential election
Nominees
Mondale and Ferraro
Convention
Date(s) July 16–19, 1984
City San Francisco, California
Venue Moscone Center
Keynote speaker Mario Cuomo
Candidates
Presidential nominee Walter Mondale of
Minnesota
Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro of
New York
The Moscone Center was the site of the 1984 Democratic National Convention

The 1984 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select candidates for the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was nominated for President and Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York was nominated for Vice President. Ferraro became the first woman to be nominated by either major party for the Presidency or Vice-Presidency. In another first, the 1984 Democratic Convention was chaired by the female governor of Kentucky, Martha Layne Collins.[1] The Democratic National Committee Chairman at the time, Charles T. Manatt, led the convention.

Events of the Convention

Walter Mondale was nominated for President and Geraldine Ferraro was nominated for Vice President.

New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave a well-received keynote speech. Mondale's major rivals for the presidential nomination, Senator Gary Hart and Rev. Jesse Jackson, also gave speeches.

Jackson's speech referred to the nation as a "quilt" with places for "[t]he white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the business person, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled".[2] It was the first time anyone mentioned lesbians and gays in a national convention address.[3] Jackson also attempted to move the party's platform farther to the left at the Convention, but without much success. He did succeed in one instance, concerning affirmative action.[4]

"AIDS poster boy" Bobbi Campbell gave a speech at the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights, dying of AIDS complications a month later.[5]

Voting

President

The candidates for U.S. president earned the following numbers of delegates:[6]

Democratic National Convention presidential vote, 1984
Candidate Votes Percentage
Walter Mondale 2,191 (56.41%)
Gary Hart 1,200 (30.92%)
Jesse Jackson 465 (12.00%)
Thomas Eagleton 18 (0.46%)
George McGovern 4 (0.10%)
John Glenn 2 (0.05%)
Joe Biden 1 (0.03%)
Martha Kirkland 1 (0.03%)
Totals 3,882 100.00%

Jesse Jackson unsuccessfully called for the suspension of the party's electoral rules to give him a number of delegates closer to the 20% average share of the vote he garnered during the primaries. The system tended to punish shallow showings as yielding no delegates at all, hence Jackson's smaller delegate count than would be expected (12%).[4]

Vice-President

Geraldine Ferraro was nominated by acclamation on a voice vote. She became the first woman to receive a major party nomination in the US.

See also

References

  1. Ferraro, Geraldine (1986). Ferraro: My Story. New York: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-05110-5.
  2. House, Ernest R. (24 July 1988). "Jesse in 1984: Whites Wept, Blacks Frowned". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. Reid, Joy-Ann (8 September 2015). Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide (Amazon Kindle ed.). William Morrow. p. 50. ASIN B00FJ3A98G.
  4. 1 2 "The Jackson Factor". The Economist. 1984-07-21. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  5. GLBT Historical Society (July 15, 1984). Bobbi Campbell speech (1984). YouTube. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  6. Our Campaigns - US President - D Convention Race - Jul 16, 1984
Preceded by
1980
New York, New York
Democratic National Conventions Succeeded by
1988
Atlanta, Georgia
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