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Reagan made a gesture toward blacks, who have given him little support in the past, by appearing at a reception for the 56 black delegates and 78 black alternates (in 1976 the party had 76 black delegates). He told them that he opposes Democratic proposals for helping minorities with "more handouts and Government grants" because they are simply another kind of welfare—"insulting and demeaning, another kind of bondage." His listeners applauded, though they were not entirely won over.
Reagan intervened personally with convention officials to enable NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks to speak at the convention that evening, but only after Hooks promised to say nothing that might embarrass the Republicans. Hooks urged the Republicans to work for full employment, low-cost public transportation and an extension of the Voting Rights Act, which is to expire in 1982. His plea was politely received by the delegates—again on instructions from Reagan's floor lieutenants.
The delegates needed no such prompting when Nancy Reagan appeared in the gallery for the first time, or when Barry Goldwater, looking frail after a hip operation, approached the microphones to reminisce about 1964. When the delegates' roars of "We want Barry" subsided, he quipped: "Thank you, folks. Can I accept the nomination?" John Connally also drew enthusiastic cheers and applause by quoting Senator Edward Kennedy's caustic comments on Carter's economic and foreign policies. Said Connally: "We agree with Senator Kennedy that we need a new President." New York Congressman Jack Kemp, a leading proponent of the deep tax cuts that Reagan is urging, drew an equally rousing reception when he predicted a "tidal wave" Republican victory in November.
The final speaker of the evening was Henry Kissinger. He had met earlier in the day with Reagan, who sought to smooth over their differences in an effort to build a bridge to the foreign policy establishment. After the session, Kissinger said: "I felt that the Governor's position, as it was explained to me, was one that I find compatible with my own." In his speech that evening, Kissinger warmly described Reagan as the "trustee of our hopes" for relief from the Carter Administration's "feeble and apologetic" diplomacy. But Kissinger made no mention of the issues on which he and Reagan disagree, chiefly his policy of détente with the Soviets and his negotiation of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.