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 a candidate for the 1984 United States presidential election. At the convention Walter Mondale was nominated for President and Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President. Ferraro became the first woman to be nominated by either 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]
[edit] Events of the Convention
New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave a well-received keynote speech. The speech is available online at American Rhetoric's top 100 speeches, number eleven. Mondale's major rivals for the nomination, Senator Hart and Rev. Jackson, also gave speeches.
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.[2]
[edit] Voting
[edit] President
The candidates for U.S. president earned the following numbers of delegates:[3]
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%).[2]
[edit] Vice-President
Geraldine Ferraro was nominated as the first woman to receive a major party nomination by acclamation on a voice vote.
[edit] See also
- ^ Ferraro, Geraldine. (1986). Ferraro: My Story. Bantam, New York, New York. ISBN 0553051105.
- ^ a b "The Jackson Factor". The Economist. 1984-07-21. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11993033. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
- ^ Our Campaigns - US President - D Convention Race - Jul 16, 1984
