The Stories in George Bush's Acceptance Speech

There is a body of communication research which explores turning points in relationship development—those moments when communi-cation partners perceive that their relationship is changing dramatically in either tone or intensity. The relationship between a political candidate and the public is also built upon a series of turning points—com-munication events within a campaign which have the power to alter the tone and intensity of the campaign.1A candidate's speech accepting the party's nomination can be such a moment. When George Herbert Walker Bush addressed the Republican Convention in Houston on August 20, 1992, Republicans hoped the speech would function as a turning point in the ritualistic campaign drama. Bush's refusal to begin his campaign before the convention heightened anticipation for the speech. The Washington Post reported Housing Secretary Jack Kemp's judgment that the speech "must set the tone and tenor for the fall cam-paign."2 USA Today claimed that Bush needed in the speech to "recap-ture his aura as a leader."3 The (London) Times wrote that the speech needed to galvanize divided and dispirited Republican troops, and the Wall Street Journal predicted that it would be "the most closely listened to acceptance speech in our lifetime."4 Even Bush, who trailed Clinton by as much as twenty percentage points in the polls, acknowledged that the speech was the beginning of the fight of his life.5 Therefore, while some might argue that an acceptance speech is only a ritualistic relic, the speech Bush was to give in Houston had the potential to be power-ful.6

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