1. Speech Title exactly as it is to be printed: “Culture War Speech”
  2. Exact Date and Place of Speech Delivery: 17 August, 1992, Astrodome, Houston, Texas
  3. Complete Name of Speaker, with year of birth and year of death: Patrick Joseph Buchanan (1938-    )
  4. Complete name of editor or compiler of electronic text, with indication of role: Eric C. Miller (compiler and editor).D of electronic edition: 11 July 2013.
  5. Languages: English (100%).
  6. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Buchanan, Patrick, b. 1938, Culture War Speech, Address to the 1992 Republican National Convention. E816.
  7. Indication of editing functions:  Eric C. Miller obtained speech text from Buchanan.org (www.buchanan.org).  Eric C. Miller checked and edited Speech Text A against video recording (Speech Text B).

Statement of Editorial Procedures:

The copy-text is Buchanan 1992 (=A), the text provided by Buchanan.org.  Copy text (=A) has been checked against the video version of the speech (=B) by Eric C. Miller. This selection was based on the plausible efficacy of the delivered speech at the Republican Convention. Applause lines have been removed from the copy-text. The Buchanan 1992 address (=A) represents the written transcript of the speech offered by Buchanan. This version is followed for paragraphing, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Paragraph numbers have been added in square brackets.

The text of this edition has been thoroughly checked and proofread.

All double quotation marks are rendered with “, all single quotation marks with apostrophe ‘.

This copy text is not subject to end-of-line hyphenation.

Special characters and characters with diachronic marks: none.

Departures from the copy-text and general editorial procedures are as follows (reference numbers specify paragraph in which the departure occurs):

Notes:

What a terrific crowd this is. What a terrific crowd. This may even be larger than the crowd I had in Ellijay, Georgia. Don’t laugh. We carried Ellijay. B; Nothing A:

2 Listen, my friends, we may have taken B; Well, we took A

3 great Republican comeback victory B; great comeback victory A

4 liberals and radicals B; radicals and liberals A

5 Where do they find these leaders B; Nothing A

6 discredited liberalism of the 1960s and the failed liberalism of the 1970s B; failed liberalism of the 1960s and ‘70s A

7 statesmen of modern time, Ronald Reagan B; statesmen of modern time A

8 peacetime economic recovery B; peacetime recovery A

9 squalid Marxist regime B; Marxist regime A

10 Fellow Americans, we ought to remember – B; Have they forgotten? A

11 freed the slaves and saved the Union B; preserved the Union A

12 than when the Gipper was at the helm. B; Nothing A

15 Let us look at the record and recall what happened. Under President George Bush, more human beings escaped from the prison house of tyranny to freedom than in any other four-year period in history. And for any man to call this a record of failure is the cheap political rhetoric of politicians who only know how to build themselves up by tearing America down and we don’t want that kind of leadership in the United States. B; Nothing A

16 also an office that Theodore Roosevelt called America’s “bully pulpit.” B; also America’s bully pulpit A

20 Christian schools, or private schools, or Jewish schools, or Catholic schools B; Christian schools, or Catholic schools A

21 marriage and the family as institutions B; marriage as an institution A

23 abide B; tolerate A

24 we authorize to send fathers and sons and brothers and friends into battle. B; we empower to send sons and brothers, fathers and friends, to war A

25 graduation B; class A

26 Let me ask the question to this convention. B; Nothing A

27 My fellow Americans B; My friends A

28 National Taxpayers Union B; Taxpayer’s Union A

29 I’m not kidding about Teddy. How many other 60-year-olds do you know who still go to Florida for spring break? B; Nothing A

30 You know, at that great big costume party they held up in New York B; In New York A

32 birds and rats and insects B; insects, rats and birds A

34 I’ll get you the figure tomorrow. B; Nothing A

35 This party is my home; this party is our home; and we’ve got to come home to it. B; The party is our home; this party is where we belong. A

37 against putting our wives and daughter and sisters into combat units of the United States Army. B; against putting American women in combat. A

38 against would-be Supreme Court justices like Mario Cuomo B; against Supreme Court justices A

39 And so, to the Buchanan Brigades out there, we have to come home and stand beside George Bush. B; And so, we have to come home, and stand beside him. A

41 The ride ended in a 9:00 PM speech in a tiny town in Southern Georgia called Fitzgerald. B; The ride ended with a 9:00 PM speech in front of a magnificent southern mansion, in a town called Fitzgerald. A

42 There were those workers at the James River Paper Mill, in Northern New Hampshire in a town called Groveton – tough, hearty men. None of them would say a word to me as I came down the line, shaking their hands one by one. They were under a threat of losing their jobs at Christmas. And as I moved down the line, one tough fellow about my age just looked up and said to me, “Save our jobs.” B; There were the workers at the James River Paper Mill, in the frozen North Country of New Hampshire–hard, tough men, one of whom was silent, until I shook his hand. Then he looked up in my eyes and said, “Save our jobs!” A

43 My friends, these people are our people. B; My friends, even in tough times, these people are with us. A

47 Hours after that riot ended, I went down to the Army compound in south Los Angeles, where I met the troopers of the 18th Cavalry who had come to save the city of Los Angeles. An officer of the 18th Cav said, “Mr. Buchanan, I want you to talk to a couple of our troopers.” And I went over and I met these young fellows. They couldn’t have been 20-years-old. And they recounted their story. B; Hours after the violence ended I visited the Army compound in south LA, where an officer of the 18th Cavalry, that had come to rescue the city, introduced me to two of his troopers. They could not have been 20 years old. He told them to recount their story. A

48 And the mob threatened and cursed, but the mob retreated because it had met the one thing that could stop it: force, rooted in justice, and backed by moral courage. B; When the troopers arrived, M-16s at the ready, the mob threatened and cursed, but the mob retreated. It had met the one thing that could stop it: force, rooted in justice, backed by courage. B: A