Speeches by spouses of nominees at United States presidential nominating conventions
Open-knowledge reference entry
Since 1992, speeches by spouses of presidential nominees have become a standard feature of major party United States presidential nominating conventions, and speeches by spouses of vice presidential nominees have also become a somewhat frequent feature as well.
There were several earlier instances where the wives of presidential nominees spoke at conventions, though it would not become a standard feature of convention's until after Barbara Bush's speech at the 1992 Republican convention. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first candidate's spouse to address a nominating convention, doing so at the 1940 Democratic convention. In her speech, Roosevelt delivered a speech highlighting the extraordinary stakes that should warrant her husband being granted a third term. It would not be until 1972 Republican convention that a second candidate's wife would deliver a speech to a convention, with Pat Nixon delivering brief welcoming remarks at that convention. Barbara Bush's remarks at the 1992 RNC, however, set a standard followed at subsequent conventions of the nominee's spouse delivering a lengthier speech that paints a humanizing portrait of nominee as a private individual. During the following election in 1996, both party's had the spouses of their presidential nominee address their conventions. Speeches by the spouse of party presidential nominees thereafter became a standard and expected aspect of major party presidential conventions. It would not be until the 2024 Republican convention that major party presidential nominee's spouse would again receive abstain from delivering such a speech at their respective nominating convention.
Early instances
Before 1996, speeches by nominee's spouses were not a regular component of presidential nominating conventions.
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This entry incorporates text from “Speeches by spouses of nominees at United States presidential nominating conventions” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.