To challenge the popular Reagan administration in 1984, the Democratic Party nominated Walter F. Mondale for president. Mondale selected New York congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making her the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket. In her acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, Ferraro discussed how a Democratic administration would differ from that of the Republicans.

Let no one doubt, we will defend America’s security and the cause of freedom around the world. But we want a President who tells us what America’s fighting for, not just what we are fighting against.

We want a President who will defend human rights, not just where it is convenient, but wherever freedom is at risk—from Chile to Afghanistan, from Poland to South Africa. To those who have watched this administration’s confusion in the Middle East, as it has tilted first toward one and then another of Israel’s long-time enemies and wonder: “Will America stand by her friends and sister democracy?” we say: America knows who her friends are in the Middle East and around the world. America will stand with Israel always.

Finally, we want a President who will keep America strong, but use that strength to keep America and the world at peace. A nuclear freeze is not a slogan: It is a tool for survival in the nuclear age. If we leave our children nothing else, let us leave them this Earth as we found it: whole and green and full of life.

Source: Geraldine Ferraro, Vice Presidential Nomination Acceptance Address, July 19, 1984.