Mario Cuomo’s 1984 Democratic Convention Speech: ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’

Mario Cuomo’s 1984 Democratic Convention Speech: ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’

The late Gov. Mario Cuomo (D-NY), who passed away on Thursday, will be remembered by progressives for the stirring keynote address he delivered at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, in which he laid out a forceful liberal message against President Ronald Reagan.

“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 speech helped make Cuomo a national star for many liberals, who hoped he would run for president in both the 1988 and 1992 campaign cycles, something he ultimately never did.

Watch this highlight video from Cuomo’s most famous speech:

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