Video: '1976 Gerald Ford Republican Convention Acceptance Speech'

(Thursday, August 19, 1976, 10:45 p.m. CDT) — President Gerald R. Ford of Michigan accepted the Republican nomination for President tonight at the 1976 Republican National Convention meeting at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.

Ford won the nomination today at 12:29 a.m. CDT by narrowly defeating Former California Governor Ronald Reagan by 1,187 to 1,070 votes on the first ballot. It was the last national convention by either of the two major parties to feature a seriously contested nomination between candidates.

Senator Bob Dole of Kansas was nominated Vice President today over Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina by a vote of 1,921 to 103 (click here to watch Dole’s acceptance speech).

Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had announced that he did not wish to be a candidate for the office in 1976, in no small part because it was believed that Rockefeller was not acceptable to the G.O.P. conservative base.

Ford and Dole would oppose the Republican ticket of Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in the United States presidential election, 1976.

Video: 'Ronald Reagan's Remarks at the Republican National Convention Kansas CIty, MO 8/19/1976'