1984 Republican National Convention

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President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush at the podium on August 23, 1984.

The 1984 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened on August 20 to August 23, 1984, at the Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas, Texas. The convention nominated the incumbent Ronald Reagan of California for President of the United States and incumbent George H. W. Bush of Texas for Vice President.

It was the thirty-third GOP presidential nominating convention, the first Republican convention held in Texas (indeed, the first Republican convention in the South outside Florida), and the first and only convention of either party held in Dallas.

Reagan's popularity had rebounded after the early 1980s recession, and he became the first incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to run without serious opposition in the primary. The keynote address on August 20 was delivered by Katherine Ortega, Treasurer of the United States. Other speakers included Elizabeth Dole, United States Secretary of Transportation; Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (who delivered her now-famous "Blame America First" speech); and Congressman Jack Kemp of Buffalo, New York.

The convention also included a valedictory address by retiring U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Goldwater was widely credited as the political founder of the New Right in the United States, of which Reagan was the political heir, and indeed Reagan had gained notice for his "A Time for Choosing" speech supporting Goldwater in October of 1964.

The so-called Yippies made their last headlines during the convention. On the Wednesday of the convention a group of protesters calling itself the "Corporate War Chest Tour" conducted a paint-splattering spree against businesses in downtown Dallas. One protester, Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade member Gregory Lee Johnson, burned an U.S. flag, and was arrested for flag desecration. Johnson challenged the arrest, arguing that burning the flag was protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The case of Texas v. Johnson was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled on June 21, 1989 in Johnson's favor and invalidated flag desecration statutes throughout the country.