The 1984 DNC in San Francisco vs Today. Not a Lot Has Changed

Delegates watching Geraldine Ferraro speak at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Calif.  Image: wikimedia UCLA Library Special Collections.

A lot has changed since the Democratic National Convention was hosted in San Francisco in 1984, and then again, many things have stayed the same.

The Candidates

The candidates have changed, in 1984 Walter Mondale was nominated for president and Geraldine Ferraro was the VP on the ticket. The two Dem candidates were a man from Minnesota and a woman who was a former District Attorney.  Oh wait, that hasn’t changed much.

The VP pick that year along with being a former DA was also a former public school teacher.  Geraldine Ferraro said in her speech.

“Americans want to live by the same set of rules. But under this administration, the rules are rigged against too many of our people.

It isn’t right that every year, the share of taxes paid by individual citizens is going up, while the share paid by large corporations is getting smaller and smaller. The rules say: Everyone in our society should contribute their fair share.

It isn’t right that this year Ronald Reagan will hand the American people a bill for interest on the national debt larger than the entire cost of the federal government under John F. Kennedy.”

I’m not sure much has changed there.

The DNC 1984 Protests

Dead Kennedys Jul 18, 1984. OpenSFHistory – Greg Gaar

In San Francisco, the 1984 DNC was hosted at the newly built Moscone Center, and the protests were held around a stage at the Civic Center with bands like the Dead Kennedy’s performing.

Dead Kennedys Jul 18, 1984. OpenSFHistory – Greg Gaar

In 1984 the protests were largely about the incumbent President’s administration.  Ronald Reagan’s Cold War policies, the destruction of the Environmental Protection Agency, proposed deep cuts in Social Security, and Republican attacks on the Equal Rights Amendment (which gave women fair pay for their work).

Against Reagan’s covert war in Central America, his opposition to every nuclear arms control agreement, and his policies in the Middle East supporting Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, and Israel’s fight against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

DNC 2024 protests

The protests at the DNC in 2024, stayed largely peaceful, although there were some violent clashes between police and protesters which led to 56 arrests at a much smaller unsanctioned protest outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago.

Today’s protests are largely condemning the DNC for not speaking out about the war in Gaza at the convention, and ignoring calls for a ceasefire in Palestine while sending massive military aid to Israel, and just humanitarian aid to Palestine.

Seemingly nothing much has changed there in terms of US policy.  The US government, after 40 years, is still giving one side bullets, and the other side bandaids.

The Speeches

By far the most famous speech from the 1984 DNC was by Mario Cuomo.

Cuomo talked about inequality in America, while the rich under Reagan were doing fine, the poor and middle class were suffering. He said, “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.”

Cumo continued, “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.”

Nothing much has changed there.

Tim Walz at DNC 2024

Tim Walz, given that the Democrats are the incumbents, spoke more about Democratic accomplishments…

“We cut taxes for the middle class. We passed paid family and medical leave. We invested in fighting crime and affordable housing. We cut the cost of prescription drugs and helped people escape the kind of medical debt that nearly sank my family. And we made sure that every kid in our state gets breakfast and lunch every day. So while other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.

We also protected reproductive freedom, because in Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make. And even if we wouldn’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: Mind your own damn business. And that includes I.V.F. and fertility treatments.”

Sounds like the problems of massive government debt, a shrinking middle class, trillions spent supporting foreign wars, crushing inflation, protecting women’s reproductive rights, and the general unaffordability of housing, healthcare, and education…have all been solved since…

In 1984, at 73, Reagan was the oldest person to be nominated by a major party for president, a record that stood until 2020.  The Republicans again have an elderly candidate in Trump at 78 years old.

But in 1984, Reagan won re-election in a landslide victory, carrying 525 electoral votes, 49 states, and 58.8% of the popular vote.  In the later years of that administration, Reagan had Alzheimer’s disease and was quickly becoming unfit for office.  His administration covered it up at the time, until he was eventually replaced by his VP, George Bush Senior.