July 16, 1984: The Democratic National Convention gets underway, at the George Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The building was named for the Mayor who was elected in 1975, and assassinated in 1978.
For President, the Convention nominated Walter Mondale, who had been Vice President under Jimmy Carter, and a Senator from Minnesota before that. For Vice President, it nominated the 1st woman ever chosen for either slot on a major party's ticket, Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York.
On that Monday night, the keynote address was delivered by Governor Mario Cuomo of New York. Born in Queens, New York City in 1932, he was the son of immigrants from Salerno, in southern Italy, who ran a grocery store in South Jamaica -- later to be part of Ferraro's District.
He briefly played minor-league baseball before a beaning convinced him to go to St. John's University and get his law degree. He became a labor and housing rights lawyer, was elected the State's Secretary of State under Governor Hugh Carey in 1974, and, after a failed run for Mayor of New York City in 1977, was elected Lieutenant Governor under Carey in 1978, and then Governor in 1982.
Mondale thought he was the best choice for the role, as he believed Cuomo could win him the support of Italian Americans as well as the so-called "Cuomo majority," a coalition of black, Hispanic, white liberal, and labor unionist voters that supported his gubernatorial campaign. Others hoped Cuomo could win over Democrats who had voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 (already known as "Reagan Democrats," similar to "Democrats for Nixon" and "Democrats for Eisenhower), as well as independent voters.
Still, he had to be talked into it, by the most popular man in the party, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was angry that Mondale hadn't asked him to deliver the keynote address; the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Charles Manatt; and 2 of Cuomo's leading advisors, son Andrew and communications director Tim Russert, later to be Governor himself and moderator of NBC's Meet the Press, respectively. Andrew and Tim shared Mario's concern that a poor performance would hurt his career, but agreed with Mondale, Ted and Manatt that he was the best choice.
The Governor warned people not to expect a barnburner -- or, in his word, a "tub-thumper": "It won't be a tub-thumper but rather a methodical attempt to deal with the issues. I'm not good at bringing people to their feet. I'm going to try to bring people to their senses."
A few days earlier, President Reagan had used the Puritan clergyman John Winthrop's description of America as "a city upon a hill," invoking Jesus' Sermon On the Mount. Reagan altered to say, "Why, this country is a shining city on a hill."
Cuomo decided to challenge this, and invoked the title of Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities:
In many ways we are a shining city on a hill. But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this city's splendor and glory.
A shining city is perhaps all the President sees from the portico of the White House and the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well.
But there's another city. There's another part to the shining city: The part where some people can't pay their mortgages, and most young people can't afford one; where students can't afford the education they need, and middle-class parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate.
In this part of the city, there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can't find it. Even worse: There are elderly people who tremble in the basements of the houses there. And there are people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, where the glitter doesn't show. There are ghettos where thousands of young people, without a job or an education, give their lives away to drug dealers every day.
There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces that you don't see, in the places that you don't visit in your shining city. In fact, Mr. President, this is a nation -- Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more "A Tale of Two Cities" than it is just a "Shining City on a Hill."
Maybe, maybe, Mr. President, if you visited some more places. Maybe if you went to Appalachia, where some people still live in sheds. Maybe if you went to Lackawanna, where thousands of unemployed steel workers wonder why we subsidized foreign steel. Maybe, maybe, Mr. President, if you stopped in at a shelter in Chicago, and spoke to the homeless there. Maybe, Mr. President, if you asked a woman who had been denied the help she needed to feed her children, because you said you needed the money for a tax break for a millionaire, or for a missile we couldn't afford to use.
The novels of Dickens still reminded people of poverty, over a century after they were written, thanks to film versions of stories like A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist. But there were still millions of Americans who remembered the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the last Republican President who dared by as conservative as Reagan was, Herbert Hoover:
You know, the Republicans called it "trickle-down" when Hoover tried it. Now they call it "supply-side." But it's the same shining city for those relative few who are lucky enough to live in its good neighborhoods. But for the people who are excluded, for the people who are locked out, all they can do is stare from a distance at that city's glimmering towers.
He closed by talking about how Reagan, the former actor, had been using stagecraft as statecraft, including releasing the "Morning In America" TV campaign commercial 11 days earlier:
We need a platform we can all agree to so that we can sing out the truth for the nation to hear, in chorus, its logic so clear and commanding that no slick Madison Avenue commercial, no amount of geniality, no martial music will be able to muffle the sound of the truth.
He got a standing ovation. The speech became legend overnight, and Cuomo was beginning to be thought of as a future President.
Ferraro gave her acceptance speech on Thursday night, and then Mondale gave his. What he said was, "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes. And so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."
What he should have said was, "He acts like a tough guy. The movie cowboy. The man who stands for law and order. The truth is, Ronald Reagan doesn't have the courage to tell you the truth about taxes. He's not man enough to tell you the truth. I just did." But trying to be tougher than his opponent simply wasn't Fritz's way, and that's a big reason why he lost.
In the end, he was right: President Ronald Reagan did raise taxes in his 2nd term, as he had in his 1st. And because of his defense spending, the deficit still went up, until President Bill Clinton really raised taxes on the rich, and the deficit was slowly but surely eliminated.
As for Cuomo, while he was easily re-elected Governor in 1986 and 1990, he almost singlehandedly ended the tradition of Governors of New York being automatically considered candidates for President. Among previous Governors, Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt were elected President; George Clinton, Daniel Tompkins and Levi Morton were elected Vice President; DeWitt Clinton, Horatio Seymour, Samuel Tilden, Charles Evans Hughes, Alfred E. Smith and Thomas E. Dewey were failed major-party nominees for President; and William Seward, David B. Hill, Averell Harriman and Nelson Rockefeller were defeated for nomination at Party Conventions.
Cuomo didn't run for President in 1988. He was preparing to run in 1991, but, as usual, the New York State government's budget was late, and the deadline coincided with the filing deadline for the 1992 New Hampshire Primary. Cuomo had a plane idling on the tarmac at the airport in Albany, waiting to whisk him away to the other State Capitol, Concord, so he could file the papers for his candidacy before that deadline. He chose to get his budget done. And in 1994, he was defeated by State Senator George Pataki in his bid for a 4th term. Neither Pataki nor any later Governor has made a serious run for President through the 2020 election.
Mario Cuomo died on New Year's Day, January 1, 2015. At the time, the Governor of New York was Andrew Cuomo. Mario had lived to see Barack Obama be launched toward the Presidency thanks to the next great keynote address at a Democratic Convention, in 2004, and to see Obama elected and re-elected President.
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July 16, 1984 was a Monday. This was also the day that Sade released her debut album, Diamond Life. I have a separate entry for that event.
These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 9-8 at Yankee Stadium. This was a wild one. Joe Cowley started for the Yankees, Dickie Noles for the Rangers. It was 4-2 Yankees after just 1 inning, because Dave Winfield hit a grand slam home run. It was 5-4 Yankees after 8. Former Yankee Mickey Rivers and Buddy Bell hit homers off Cowley. In the top of the 9th, the Rangers scored 4 runs, on 2 doubles, a single and 2 walks, to take an 8-5 lead.
In the bottom of the 9th, Dave Schmidt was brought in to relieve Noles. He gave up a leadoff triple to Omar Moreno, then threw a wild pitch to bring him home. Willie Randolph reached on an error by his opposite number at 2nd base, Wayne Tolleson, a future Yankee. With Butch Wynegar up, a passed ball by catcher Donnie Scott got Randolph to 2nd. Wynegar flew out, but Don Mattingly singled Randolph home. Winfield reached on another error by Tolleson. Ken Griffey Sr. singled Mattingly home to tie it. And Roy Smalley singled Winfield home to win it.
Mike Armstrong, who got the last out in the top of the 9th, was named the winning pitcher. Mattingly ended up going 4-fot-5 with 2 RBIs.
* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 13-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Sid Fernandez outpitched former Met -- and future Met nemesis -- Mike Scott. George Foster went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Darryl Strawberry, Wally Backman and Mike Fitzgerald each got 3 hits.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 3-for-3 with a solo home run. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Mike Schmidt went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mark Thurmond allowed 4 hits over 8 innings, and Goose Gossage finished the 4-hit shutout. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California. (The team is now named the Los Angeles Angels, and the ballpark is named Angel Stadium of Anaheim.) Jim Slaton pitched a 7-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rod Carew did not play.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 11-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Robin Yount went 0-for-3. Paul Molitor was injured and did not play.
The NFL, the NBA and the NHL were out of season. This was during the brief experiment with Spring pro football, the United States Football League. The USFL title game had been played the day before, and the Philadelphia Stars beat the Arizona Wranglers, 23-3 at Tampa Stadium.
