‘America is stronger when all of us take care of all of us’ — Christopher Reeve addresses 1996 Democratic Convention
Posted: August 2025
Christopher Reeve speaks on Aug. 26, 1996, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. This transcript is human-recorded. It is intended to include the entirety of the speech as delivered and its pace:
(Crowd applauds at introduction) “Thank you very, very much. Well, I just have to start with a challenge to the president. Sir, I’ve seen your train go by. And I think I can beat it. (Crowd cheers) I’ll even give you a head start.
“Over the last few years, we have heard a lot about something called family values. And like many of you, I’ve struggled to figure out what that means. And since my accident, I’ve found a definition that seems to make sense. I think it means that we’re all family. (Crowd applauds) And that we all have value. (Crowd applauds)
“Now, if that’s true, if America really is a family, then we have to recognize that many members of our family are hurting. And just to take one aspect of it, one in five of us has some kind of disability. You may have an aunt with Parkinson’s disease, a neighbor with a spinal cord injury, a brother with AIDS. And if we’re really committed to this idea of family, we’ve got to do something about it. Now first of all, our nation cannot tolerate discrimination of any kind. (Crowd applauds) And that’s why the Americans with Disabilities Act is so important. (Crowd applauds) It must be honored everywhere. It is a civil rights law that is tearing down barriers, both in architecture and in attitude. (Crowd applauds) Its purpose- Its purpose is to give the disabled access. Not only to buildings, but to every opportunity in society. (Crowd applauds)
“Now I strongly believe our nation must give its full support to the caregivers who are helping people with disabilities live independent lives. (Crowd applauds) Now, of course, we have to balance the budget. And we will. We have to be extremely careful with every dollar we spend. But we’ve also got to take care of our family. (Crowd applauds) And not slash programs that people need. We should be enabling and healing and curing. (Crowd applauds)
“Now one of the smartest things we could do about disability is to invest in research that will protect us from diseases and lead to cures. (Crowd applauds) This country already has a long history of doing it. When we put our minds to a problem, we find solutions. But our scientists can do more. We’ve got to give them the chance. And that means more funding for research. (Crowd applauds) Right now, for example, about a quarter-million Americans have a spinal cord injury. And our government spends about 8.7 billion a year just maintaining these members of our family. But we only spend 40 million a year on research that would actually improve the quality of their lives, get them off public assistance, or even cure them. We’ve got to be smarter and do better. (Crowd applauds) The money we invest in research today is going to determine the quality of life of members of our family tomorrow.
Dana Reeve attends her husband’s speech.
“Now during my rehabilitation, I met a young man named Gregory Patterson. He was innocently driving through Newark, New Jersey, and a stray bullet from a gang shooting went through a car window right into his neck and severed his spinal cord. Five years ago, he might have died. And today, because of research, he’s alive. (Crowd applauds) But merely being alive, merely being alive is not enough. We have a moral and an economic responsibility to ease his suffering and to prevent others from experiencing such pain. (Crowd applauds) And to do that, we don’t need to raise taxes. (Crowd applauds) We just need to raise our expectations. (Crowd cheers)
“Now, America has a tradition that many nations probably envy. We frequently achieve the impossible. (Crowd applauds) As part of our national character. That’s what got us from one coast to another. It’s what got us- It’s what got us the largest economy in the world. That’s what got us to the moon. Now on the wall of my room when I was in rehab, there was a picture of the space shuttle blasting off. And it was autographed by every astronaut now at NASA. And on the top of that picture it says, ‘We found nothing is impossible.’ (Crowd applauds) Now that- That should be our motto. (Crowd applauds) It’s not a Democratic motto, not a Republican motto. It’s an American motto. (Crowd applauds) It’s not something one party can do alone. It’s something we as a nation have to do together. (Crowd applauds) So many of our dreams- So many dreams at first seem impossible. And then they seem improbable. And then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. (Crowd applauds)
“So if we can conquer outer space, we should be able to conquer inner space too. (Crowd applauds) And that’s the frontier of the brain, the central nervous system, and all the afflictions of the body that destroy so many lives and rob our country of so much potential. Research could provide hope for people who suffer from Alzheimer’s. We’ve already discovered the gene that causes it. Research can provide hope for people like Muhammad Ali and the Reverend Billy Graham, who suffer from Parkinson’s. Research could provide hope for the millions of Americans like Kirk Douglas who suffer from stroke. We can ease the pain of people like Barbara Jordan, who battled multiple sclerosis. We can find treatments for people like Elizabeth Glaser, whom we lost to AIDS. And now that we know that nerves of the spinal cord can regenerate, we are on the way to getting millions of people around the world — millions of people around the world like me — up and out of these wheelchairs. (Crowd applauds)
“Now 56 years ago, FDR dedicated new buildings for the National Institutes of Health. He said that, quote, ‘The defense this nation seeks involves a great deal more than building airplanes, ships, guns and bombs. We cannot be a strong nation unless we are a healthy nation.’ (Crowd applauds) He could have said that today. President Roosevelt showed us that a man who could barely lift himself out of a wheelchair could still lift this nation out of despair. (Crowd applauds) And I believe, and so does this administration (Crowd applauds), in the most important principle- The most important principle that FDR taught us. America does not let its needy citizens fend for themselves. (Crowd stands and applauds)
“America- America is stronger when all of us take care of all of us. Giving new life to that ideal is the challenge before us tonight. Thank you very much.” (Crowd applauds and cheers)
