Alma Brown, widow of late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown

DON FOWLER, CO-CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: We all loved Ron Brown. He was a magnificent person in every respect.

Come on up.

And to you, Michael, and Tracey, we thank you for sharing your father with us in such a magnificent way. And Alma, our honorary chair for this 1996 Democratic National Convention...

(APPLAUSE)

... it gives me immense pleasure in memory of Ron to present this gavel to you and say we love you, we love Ron. Thank you so much for your great service to this party and this country.

(APPLAUSE)

A. BROWN: Thank you.

You know everyone's been asking me all week, all last week, all day today, "Alma, are you nervous?"

And I said no. I'm not going to be nervous because I'm going to be with the Democrats. I know I'm going to be in a...

(APPLAUSE)

I know I'm going to be in a room full of love and support and encouragement, so there's no way I could ever be nervous with the Democrats.

(APPLAUSE)

As you know, Ron would be here with us this evening were it not for that terrible accident that took his life and the lives of 34 other outstanding Americans. And I'd like to ask if we could please just take a moment of silence and remember each of them.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

Thank you.

I'm very excited and truly honored to have been asked to serve by President Clinton as the honorary chairman for the 1996 Democratic National Convention.

(APPLAUSE)

A little over four years ago, Ron presided over one of the most successful conventions in history. That convention helped Governor Clinton become President Bill Clinton.

(APPLAUSE)

While Ron may not be with us, I know he's looking down with that little smile of his -- you all remember that little smile?

(APPLAUSE)

And he's mapping out a winning campaign strategy.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

And he's going to cheer us on all the way.

BROWN: He's going to make sure that he's doing whatever he can up there to make sure that President Clinton and Vice President Gore are re-elected in November, as I know all of you are going to do.

(APPLAUSE)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you on behalf of my family, for my children, for Ron's mother, all of our friends and all of our family for your wonderful, wonderful expressions of support that you've either mailed to us or you've called. I just know how much it means to all of us and to the kids in particular.

And that outpouring of love and encouragement from across the country we've also had from around the world. We are deeply appreciative and we will be forever grateful. Thank you, Democrats. We love you.

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