July 14, 1964 | Eisenhower Addresses Republican National Convention

July 14, 1964 - Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Republicans tonight in San Francisco that they must unite behind their convention’s choice of a Presidential candidate or “drown in a whirlpool of factional strife.”
In the role of the party’s elder statesman, Eisenhower appealed to supporters of Senator Barry Goldwater and Governor William Scranton to “have done with scurrilous and misleading labels.”
The former President was cheered to the rafters when he appeared on the speaker’s rostrum, his arms outstretched in characteristic salute. He was interrupted 40 times during his unity appeal and was given a standing ovation lasting almost two minutes at the conclusion of his remarks.
But the convention hall fairly exploded when the general told the delegates that they should not let themselves be divided by “those outside our family, including sensation-seeking columnists and commentators who couldn’t care less about the good of our party.”
There was a deafening roar of boos directed at the press stands flanking the speakers’ platform, and many on the convention floor jumped up and shook their fists at those in the glassed-in television booths.
The nearest approach to that demonstration came when Eisenhower called for more effective local law enforcement and stiffer sentences for offenders.
Eisenhower called on all Republicans to condemn “radicalism of any kind, whether of the right or the left” and to repudiate the support of any groups that “malign the character of fellow Americans.”

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