John Edwards 
2004 Democratic Convention 
Acceptance Speech


Thank you. Now you know why Elizabeth is so amazing, right? 
  
I am a lucky man to have the love of my life at my side. Both of us 
have been blessed with four extraordinary children: Wade, Cate who 
you heard from, Emma Clair and Jack. 
We are having such an extraordinary time, myself and my entire family, 
at this convention. And by the way, how great was Teresa Heinz Kerry 
last night?
 
My father and mother, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, are also here tonight. 

You taught me the values that I carry in my heart: faith, family, responsibility, 
opportunity for everyone. You taught me that there's dignity and honor in a 
hard day's work. You taught me to always look out for our neighbors, to never 
look down on anybody, and treat everybody with respect.
 
Those are the values that John Kerry and I believe in. And nothing makes me 
prouder than standing with him in this campaign. I am so humbled to be your 
candidate for vice president of the United States.
 
I want to talk about our next president. For those who want to know what kind 
of leader he'll be, I want to take you back about 30 years. When John Kerry 
graduated college, he volunteered for military service, volunteered to go to 
Vietnam, volunteered to captain a swiftboat, one of the most dangerous duties 
in Vietnam that you could have. As a result, he was wounded, honored for his 
valor.
 
If you have any question about what he's made of, just spend three minutes 
with the men who served with him then and who stand with him now. They 
saw up close what he's made of. 
 
They saw him reach into the river and pull one of his men to safety and save 
his life. They saw him in the heat of battle make a decision in a split second 
to turn his boat around, drive it through an enemy position, and chase down 
the enemy to save his crew. Decisive, strong: Is this not what we need in a 
commander in chief? 

You know, we hear a lot of talk about values. Where I come from, you don't 
judge somebody's values based upon how they use that word in a political 
ad. You judge their values based upon what they've spent their life doing. 
So when a man volunteers to serve his country, the man volunteers and puts 
his life on the line for others, that's a man who represents real American values. 

This is a man who is prepared to keep the American people safe, to make 
America stronger at home and more respected in the world. 
John is a man who knows the difference between right and wrong. He wants 
to serve you. Your cause is his cause. And that is why we must and we will 
elect him the next president of the United States. 
 
You know, for the last few months, John's been traveling around the country 
talking about his positive, optimistic vision for America, talking about his plan 
to move this country in the right direction. 

But what have we seen? Relentless negative attacks against John. So in the 
weeks ahead, we know what's coming, don't we? 

AUDIENCE: Yes. 

... more negative attacks -- aren't you sick of it? 

AUDIENCE: Yes. 

They are doing all they can to take the campaign for the highest office in the 
land down the lowest possible road. But this is where you come in: Between 
now and November, you, the American people, you can reject the tired, old, 
hateful, negative politics of the past. And instead you can embrace the politics 
of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is America, where 
everything is possible. 
 
I am here tonight for a very simple reason: because I love my country. And I 
have every reason to love my country. I have grown up in the bright light of America. 
I grew up in a small town in rural North Carolina, a place called Robbins.
 
My father, he worked in a mill all his life, and I still remember vividly the men 
and women who worked in that mill with him. I can see them. Some of them had 
lint in their hair; some of them had grease on their faces. They worked hard, and 
they tried to put a little money away so that their kids and their grand-kids 
could have a better life.
 
The truth is, they're just like the auto workers, the office workers, the teachers 
and shop keepers on main streets all across this country. 
My mother had a number of jobs. She worked at the post office so she and my 
father could have health care. She owned her own small business. She 
refinished furniture to help pay for my education. I have had such incredible 
opportunities in my life. I was blessed to be the first person in my family to go 
to college. I worked my way through, and I had opportunities beyond my wildest 
dreams. And the heart of this campaign -- your campaign, our campaign -- is to 
make sure all Americans have exactly the same kind opportunities that I had no 
matter where you live, no matter who your family is, no matter what the color of 
your skin is. 
 
This is the America we believe in. 

I have spent my life fighting for the kind of people I grew up with. 
For two decades, I stood with kids and families against big HMOs and big 
insurance companies. When I got to the Senate, I fought those same fights 
against the Washington lobbyists and for causes like the Patients' Bill of Rights.
 
I stand here tonight ready to work with you and John to make America stronger. 
And we have much work to do, because the truth is, we still live in a country 
where there are two different Americas... 

... one, for all of those people who have lived the American dream and don't have 
to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else who struggle to make 
ends meet every single day. It doesn't have to be that way.  We can build one 
America where we no longer have two health care systems: one for families who 
get the best health care money can by, and then one for everybody else rationed 
out by insurance companies, drug companies, HMOs. 

Millions of Americans have no health coverage at all. It doesn't have to be that way. 
We have a plan... 
 
We have a plan that will offer all Americans the same health care that your senator 
has. We can give you tax breaks to help you pay for your health care. And when 
we're in office, we will sign a real patients' bill of rights into law so that you can 
make your own health care decisions. 
 


We shouldn't have two public school systems in this country: one for the most 
affluent communities, and one for everybody else. None of us believe that the 
quality of a child's education should be controlled by where they live or the 
affluence of the community they live in. It doesn't have to be that way. 
We can build one school system that works for all our kids, gives them a chance 
to do what they're capable of doing. Our plan will reform our schools and raise 
standards. We can give our schools the resources that they need. We can provide 
incentives to put our best teachers in the subjects and the places where we need 
them the most. And we can ensure that 3 million children have a safe place to go 
when they leave school in the afternoon. 

We can do this together, you and I. 
 
John Kerry and I believe that we shouldn't have two different economies in America: 
one for people who are set for life, they know their kids and their grand-kids are 
going to be just fine; and then one for most Americans, people who live paycheck 
to paycheck. You don't need me to explain this to you do you? 

AUDIENCE: No. 

You know exactly what I'm talking about. Can't save any money, can you? 

AUDIENCE: No. 

Takes every dime you make just to pay your bills. And you know what happens 
if something goes wrong, if you have a child that gets sick, a financial problem, 
a layoff in the family -- you go right off the cliff. And when that happens, what's 
the first thing that goes? Your dreams. It doesn't have to be that way. 
We can strengthen and lift up your families. Your agenda is our agenda. 
So let me give you some specifics.
 
First, we can create good-paying jobs in this country again. We're going to get 
rid of tax cuts for companies who are outsourcing your jobs... 

... and, instead, we're going to give tax breaks to American companies that are 
keeping jobs right here in America. 
 
And we will invest in the jobs of the future and in the technologies and innovation 
to ensure that America stays ahead of the competition. And we're going to do this 
because John and I understand that a job is about more than a paycheck; it's 
about dignity and self- respect. 

Hard work should be valued in this country, so we're going to reward work, not 
just wealth. 
 
We don't want people to just get by; we want people to get ahead. 
 
So let me give you some specifics about what we're going to do. 
First, we're going to help you pay for your health care by having a tax break and 
health care reform that can save you up to $1,000 on your premiums. 
We're going to help you cover the rising costs of child care with a tax credit up 
to $1,000 so that your kids have a place to go when you're at work that they're 
safe and well taken care of. 
 
If your child -- if your child wants to be the first in your family to go to college, 
we're going to give you a tax break on up to $4,000 in tuition. 

And everyone... 
 
And everybody listening here and at home is thinking one thing right now: OK, 
how are you going to pay for it? Right?  Well, let me tell you how we're going 
to pay for it. And I want to be very clear about this. We are going to keep and 
protect the tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans -- 98 percent. We're going to 
roll back -- we're going to roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. 
And we're going to close corporate loopholes. 
 
We're going to cut government contractors and wasteful spending. We can move 
this country forward without passing the burden to our children and our grandchildren. 
 
We can also do something about 35 million Americans who live in poverty every day. 
And here's why we shouldn't just talk about, but do something about the millions of 
Americans who live in poverty: because it is wrong. And we have a moral 
responsibility to lift those families up. 
 
I mean, the very idea that in a country of our wealth and our prosperity, we have 
children going to bed hungry? We have children who don't have the clothes to 
keep them warm? We have millions of Americans who work full-time every day 
to support their families, working for minimum wage, and still live in poverty. It's wrong. 

These are men and women who are living up to their bargain. They're working hard, 
they're supporting their families. Their families are doing their part; it's time we did 
our part. 
 
And that's what we're going to do -- that's what we're going to do when John is in the 
White House, because we're going to raise the minimum wage, we're going to finish 
the job on welfare reform, and we're going to bring good-paying jobs to the places 
where we need them the most. And by doing all those things, we're going to say no 
forever to any American working full-time and living in poverty. Not in our America, 
not in our America, not in our America. 
 
Let me talk about -- let me talk about why we need to build one America. 

Because I, like many of you, I saw up close what having two Americas can do to our 
country. From the time I was very young, I saw the ugly face of segregation and 
discrimination. I saw young, African-American kids being sent upstairs in movie 
theaters. I saw "White only" signs on restaurant doors and luncheon counters. 
I feel such an enormous personal responsibility when it comes to issues of race 
and equality and civil rights. And I've heard some discussions and debates 
around America about where and in front of what audiences we ought to talk about 
race and equality and civil rights. I have an answer to that questions: 
Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. 

This is not an African-American issue. This is not a Latino issue. This is not an 
Asian-American issue. This is an American issue. It is about who we are, what 
our values are and what kind of country we live in. 

AUDIENCE: Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. 

The truth is, the truth is that what John and I want, what all of us want if for our 
children and our grandchildren to be the first generations that grown up in an 
America that's no longer divided by race. We must build one America. We must 
be one America, strong and united for another very important reason: because 
we are at war. None of us will ever forget where we were on September the 11th. 
We all share the same terrible images, the towers falling in New York, the 
Pentagon in flames, a smoldering field in Pennsylvania. We share a profound 
sadness for the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost. 

And as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that we have to do 
more to fight the war on terrorism and keep the American people safe. We can do 
that. We are approaching the third anniversary of September 11th, and one thing 
I can tell you: When we're in office, it won't take three years to get the reforms in 
our intelligence that are necessary to keep the American people safe. 
 
We will do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to make sure this never happens 
again in our America. 

And when John is president, we will listen to the wisdom of the September 11th 
commission. We will lead strong alliances. We will safeguard and secure our 
weapons of mass destruction. We will strengthen our homeland security, protect 
our ports, protect our chemical plants, and support our firefighters, police officers, 
EMTs. We will always... 
 
We will always use our military might to keep the American people safe. 
And we, John and I, we will have one clear unmistakable message for Al Qaida and 
these terrorists: You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you. 
 
John understands personally about fighting in a war. And he knows what our brave 
men and women are going through right now in another war, the war in Iraq. 
The human cost and the extraordinary heroism of this war, it surrounds us. It 
surrounds us in our cities and our towns. And we'll win this war because of the 
strength and courage of our own people. Some of our friends and neighbors, 
they saw their last images in Baghdad. Some took their last steps outside of 
Fallujah. Some buttoned their uniform for the last time before they went out and 
saved their unit. Men and women who used to take care of themselves, they 
now count on others to see them through the day. They need their mother to tie 
their shoe, their husband to brush their hair, their wife's arm to help them across 
the room. The stars and stripes wave for them. The word "hero" was made for 
them. They are the best and the bravest. And they will never be left behind. 

You understand that. And they deserve a president who understands that on the 
most personal level what they've gone through, what they've given and what 
they've given up for their country. To us, the real test of patriotism is how we 
treat the men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect our values. 

And let me tell you, the 26 million veterans in this country will not have to wonder 
when we're in office whether they'll have health care next week or next year. 
We will take care of them because they have taken care of us. 
 
But today, our great United States military is stretched thin. We've got more 
than 140,000 troops in Iraq, almost 20,000 in Afghanistan. And I visited the men 
and women there, and we're praying as they try to give that country hope. 
Like all of those brave men and women, John put his life on the line for our 
country. He knows that when authority is given to a president, much is expected in 
return. That's why we will strengthen and modernize our military. We will double 
our Special Forces. We will invest in the new equipment and technologies so that 
our military remains the best equipped and best prepared in the world. This will 
make our military stronger. It'll make sure that we can defeat any enemy in this 
new world. 



But we can't do this alone. We have got to restore our respect in the world to bring 
our allies to us and with us. 
 
It is how we won the Cold War. It is how we won two World Wars. And it is how we 
will build a stable Iraq. 
 
With a new president who strengthens and leads our alliances, we can get NATO 
to help secure Iraq. We can ensure that Iraq's neighbors, like Syria and Iran, don't 
stand in the way of a democratic Iraq. We can help Iraq's economy by getting 
other countries to forgive their enormous debt and participate in the reconstruction. 

We can do this for the Iraqi people. We can do it for our own soldiers. And we will 
get this done right. A new president will bring the world to our side, and with it a 
stable Iraq, a real chance for freedom and peace in the Middle East, including a 
safe and secure Israel. And John and I will bring the world together... 

John and I will bring the world together to face the most dangerous threat we have: 
the possibility of terrorists getting their hands on a chemical, biological weapon or 
nuclear weapon. With our credibility restored, we can work with other nations to 
secure stockpiles of the world's most dangerous weapons and safeguard this 
extraordinarily dangerous material. We can finish the job and secure the loose 
nukes in Russia. We can close the loophole in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty 
that allows rogue nations access to the tools they need to develop these weapons. 
That's how we can address the new threats we face. That's how we can keep you 
safe. And that's how we can restore America's respect around the world. 
And together, we will ensure that the image of America -- the image all of us love -- 
America, this great shining light, this beacon of freedom, democracy and human rights 
that the world looks up to, is always lit. 
 
AUDIENCE: Edwards. Edwards. Edwards. 

And the truth is -- the truth is, that every child, every family in America will be safer 
and more secure if they grow up in a world where America is once again looked up 
to and respected. That is the world we can create together. 

Tonight, as we celebrate in this hall, somewhere in America, a mother sits at the 
kitchen table. She can't sleep because she's worried she can't pay her bills. 
She's working hard trying to pay her rent, trying to feed her kids, but she just 
can't catch up. It didn't use to be that way in her house. Her husband was called 
up in the Guard. Now he's been in Iraq for over a year. They thought he was 
going to come home last month, but now he's got to stay longer. She thinks she's 
alone. But tonight in this hall and in your homes, you know what? She's got a lot 
of friends. 
 
We want her to know that we hear her. 

It is time to bring opportunity and an equal chance to her door. We're here to 
make America stronger at home so that she can get ahead. And we're here to 
make America respected in the world again so that we can bring him home. 
And American soldiers don't have to fight this war in Iraq or this war on terrorism 
alone. So, when you return home some night, you might pass a mother on her 
way to work the late shift, you tell her: Hope is on the way. 
 
When your brother calls and says he's spending his entire life at the office and he 
still can't get ahead, you tell him: Hope is on the way. 
When your parents call and tell you their medicine's going through the roof, they 
can't keep up, you tell them: Hope is on the way. 
And when your neighbor calls and says her daughter's worked hard and she 
want's to go to college, you tell her: Hope is on the way. 
And when your son or daughter, who is serving this country heroically in Iraq calls, 
you tell them: Hope is on the way. 
When you wake up and you're sitting at the kitchen table with your kids, 
and you're talking about the great possibilities in America, your kids should know 
that John and I believe, to our core, that tomorrow can be better than today. 

Like all of us, I have learned a lot of lessons in my life. 
Two of the most important are that, first, there will always be heartache and struggle; 
we can't make it go away. But the second is that people of good and strong will can 
make a difference. One is a sad lesson, and the other is inspiring. 
We are Americans and we choose to be inspired. We choose hope over despair, 
possibilities over problems, optimism over cynicism. We choose to do what's right 
even when those around us say, "You can't do that," we choose to be inspired, 
because we know that we can do better, because this is America where everything 
is still possible. 
 
What we believe -- what John Kerry and I believe is that you should never look down 
on anybody. We ought to lift people up. We don't believe in tearing people apart. 
We believe in bringing them together. What we believe -- what I believe -- is that the 
family you're born into and the color of your skin in our America should never 
control your destiny. 
Join us in this cause. 
 
Let's make America stronger at home and more respected in the world. Let's ensure 
that once again, in our one America -- our one America -- tomorrow will always be 
better than today. 
 
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. 

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