With the deepest regret and with an understanding of the circumstances which brought you to your decision that I accept your resignation.

What matters most, in this critical hour, is our ability to act--and to act in a way that enables us to control events, not to be paralyzed and overwhelmed by them.

And above all, he is a man who, if the responsibilities of the great office that I hold should fall upon him, as has been the case with eight Vice Presidents in our history, we could all say, the leadership of America is in good hands.

I intend to take every step necessary to achieve that goal.

As additional efforts prove necessary, I shall be prepared to take those steps.

And so in presenting him to you, I present a man who represents his own country with great distinction,

In other words, we have in our company tonight--and I wish all of you could know him as I have known him, as my wife has known him--a world statesman of the first rank,

I am determined that our future Federal marine effort will continue that leadership to the benefit of our Nation and all mankind.

That allows me to say something that in all the years I have been in the Oval Office has meant more to me than almost anything else in terms of telling me what America really is.

But we need people who understand how to bring it about.

John Chafee, without question, is a man who was born to be in public service.

They can give great leadership to Illinois and to the Nation.

Let me say, the third time will be the charm.

And I will say to you simply, what I want for the next 4 years is that the next 4 years will be the best 4 years in this Nation's history.

And there are times when he must have the strength to say 'no' for the sake of the American taxpayer.

The campaigning that I can do this year is somewhat limited, due to the rather extraordinary requirements of the office of the Presidency at this time.

Give us the tools and we will do the job.

There isn't one that inspires me more than you do.