Republican candidate for president. (speech by Senator Dick Lugar)(Transcript)

DICK LUGAR, United States Senator from Indiana

Delivered in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 19, 1995

Twenty-eight years ago, I came to you, my friends and neighbors in my home town, to say that I would like to serve as your mayor to unite the real city of Indianapolis, and to forge a new standard of excellence that would inspire a nation whose cities were in crisis.

Today, surrounded by so many achievements of great Hoosiers who shared our vision and built to fulfill those dreams, I come to you with a new vision for our country.

I come to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States.

As President of the United States, I will establish a new foundation for American optimism and strength. Together, we will exercise and enjoy the American Advantage.

That advantage is our unique ability to build a new economic future for ourselves and our families; to assert strong and creative American leadership in the world; and to reinvigorate our traditional values of religious faith, of family, honesty, and integrity.

Americans want a leader they can trust!

The essence of presidential leadership is to make important changes in our country without dividing our country.

Our nation remains a place of hope, freedom, and opportunity.

American prosperity requires that America be secure. To achieve this, we must have a President who understands and knows how to deal with the world around us; a President who can and will act decisively to use American power and influence to ensure America's safety well into the next century.

American prosperity and security, if they are to last and have meaning, require American spiritual renewal.

We must rediscover and recommit to the values of faith and family, of integrity or personal responsibility.

We must, most importantly, teach these to our children by what we say and by how we act.

The President must lead the way, by his own words, by his own commitment, and his own example. These are the things we must do and these are the reasons I run.

These changes will never happen under President Clinton. These changes will happen under President Lugar.

Let me be just as candid about frequent comments on my candidacy. The conventional wisdom of generous columnists seems to be that Dick Lugar would be a good President. That he is intelligent, has broad experience, exercises courage and prudence appropriately. But they add that such a person is rarely nominated or elected.

A part of the conventional wisdom I …