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    "label": "WHSF: Contested, 53-45",
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    "title": "WHSF: Contested, 53-45",
    "description": "This file contains:\n\nFrom Khachigian to Price, Jr. RE: \"Thoughts for Acceptance Speech\" 2 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 8/15/1972",
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    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/13/1471/26147113/content/presidential-libraries/nixon/RN-RET/2546065/Contested-Box-53/Contested-53-45.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "Richard Nixon Presidential Library\nContested Materials Collection\nFolder List\nBox Number\nFolder Number\nDocument Date\nNo Date\nSubject\nDocument Type\nDocument Description\n53\n45\n8/15/1972\nCampaign\nMemo\nFrom Khachigian to Price, Jr. RE: \"Thoughts\nfor Acceptance Speech\" 2pg\nMonday, June 25, 2012\nPage 1 of 1\nDOCUMENT WITHDRAWAL RECORD [NIXON PROJECT]\nDOCUMENT\nDOCUMENT\nNUMBER\nTYPE\nSUBJECT/TITLE OR CORRESPONDENTS\nDATE\nRESTRICTION\nN-1\nmemo\nKhachigian to Price re: Thoughts\n8/15/72\nJ\n[DUC#143]\nfor Acceptance speech\".\nN-2\nclawson to Price re: \"saturday\n6/16/72\nJ\nmemo\n[DOCHI44]\nEvening post\".\nFILE GROUP TITLE\nSTAFF SECRETARY\nBOX NUMBER\n135\nFOLDER TITLE\nPresidential Speeches July 1972 August 1972 [II]\nRESTRICTION CODES\nA. Release would violate a Federal statute or Agency Policy.\nE. Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or\nB. National security classified information.\nfinancial information.\nC. Pending or approved claim that release would violate an Individual's\nF. Release would disclose investigatory Information complied for law\nrights.\nenforcement purposes.\nD. Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted Invasion of privacy\nG. Withdrawn and return private and personal material.\nor a libel of a living person.\nH. Withdrawn and returned non-historical material.\nNATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION\nNA FORM 1421 (4-85)\nPresidential Materials Review Board\nReview on Contested Documents\nCollection:\nStaff Secretary\nBox Number: 135\nFolder:\nPresidential Speeches July 1972 - August 1972 [II]\nDocument\nDisposition\n143\nReturn Private/Political\n144\nRetain Open\n[Ilem N-1\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nWASHINGTON\nAugust 15, 1972\nMEMORANDUM FOR:\nRAYMOND K. PRICE, JR.\nFROM:\nKEN KHACHIGIAN the\nSUBJECT:\nTHOUGHTS FOR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH\nBasically, here are my thoughts as to the direction of the\nAcceptance speech after McGovern's last two national performances.\nFrankly, I would like to see McGovern on the air giving those types\nof speeches from now till November.\nI can't put my finger on it, but it is the whining, whimpering,\npetulance that seems to me to make the guy sound like, as someone\nsaid, a common scold. There is no lift to his speeches, no basic\noptimism, no relief from the onslaught of national decay.\nTIME magazine had an interesting introductory piece this week\nsaying that there was, this summer, \"a new summer sweetness, an\nease, or apathy, and in some parts of the country a distinct savor of\ncontentment. \" TIME also said, however, that there were still signs\nof an \"undercurrent of malaise. \"\nTIME is probably right on both counts. As far as the contentment\ngoes, I think RN is right on the money -- the sense of contentment is\ngoing to rub off by osmosis to RN's benefit.\nThe malaise, or alienation, or whatever you want to call it is\nquite another thing. This is the string McGovern is playing, and he will\npress it by touching the deepest chords of resentment he can find.\nThe antidote to this is, as I see it, quite fundamental. It requires\nan upbeat, optimistic (though not pollyannish), \"bully pulpit\" approach\nwhich will confront the dark thoughts and the sense of foreboding that\nMcGovern is seeking out.\nPeople can be convinced that this disquieting mood is not cause for\npolitical upheaval, but rather just the opposite: it is cause to keep the\nsturdy hand at the rudder, the deft statesmanship, and, yes, the pro-\nfessional President.\nPage 2\nDiscontent can be channeled toward the up-tightness of\nMcGovern or it can be channeled toward the steadiness of RN.\nThat is our choice to some extent, and the President can make\nthis fairly clear in the Acceptance speech.\nThe question is do we dwell on our sins, or do we accept\nour sins and dwell on our virtues (or, as someone said, on the\n\"better angels of our nature\").\nFrankly, the President needs to stir a lot of people out of the\nlethargy which causes them to feel sorry for themselves and\nfor the country. That might be the case if we let it slide without\nconfrontation. The national character is just as debatable an issue\nas the economy or Vietnam. RN has the advantage on this one, and\nhe should use every ounce of moral suasion at his command to mark\na retreat from the steady drumbeat of negativism which pervades\nMcGovernism -- the sickly admission that we don't have self-confidence\nand that we have lost our direction.\nAs far as I am concerned, this should be the central theme coming\nout of Miami Beach. Few people can do it as well as RN -- and believe\nme, there are millions of Americans waiting for their national leader\nto convince them that they aren't as bad off as everyone seems to say\nthey are."
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