Video: 'Dukakis Nomination Acceptance Speech 1988 DNC'

(Thursday, July 21, 1988, scheduled for 10:06 p.m. EDT; during the 1988 Democratic National Convention) — Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts accepted the Democratic presidential nomination tonight at The Omni in Atlanta, with a pledge to lead the nation to “the next American frontier.”

Dukakis had won the nomination the previous evening, July 20, 1988, defeating civil rights activist Jesse Jackson 2,877 to 1,219 votes.

Dukakis had picked Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas to be his running mate and Bentsen was officially nominated earlier tonight by voice vote, rather than a roll call.

The Dukakis-Bentsen ticket would oppose the Republican ticket of Vice President George Bush and Senator Dan Quayle (nominated in August 1988) in the United States presidential election, 1988.