Instead of seeking to balance the party ticket by selecting a running mate who was identified with the anti-war movement, Humphrey selected Edmund Muskie, an ideologically cautious senator from Maine. Many of the most committed anti-war delegates wanted to mount a challenge to Muskie’s nomination, but they needed a candidate. Bond agreed to have his name placed in nomination by the Wisconsin delegation, which included some of the most ardent supporters of McCarthy’s candidacy.
A Milwaukee lawyer who had been active in the civil-rights and anti-war movements, Ted Warshafsky, grabbed a microphone and declared: “I rise with a voice that has become hoarse in the exercise of democracy. I rise on behalf of the state of Wisconsin to offer a name in nomination.”
The convention erupted in loud applause as the chairman asked if the Wisconsinite wanted to speak from the podium or the convention floor.
“Mr. Chairman,” replied Warshafsky, “I appreciate your courtesy, but we of Wisconsin have stood with the people throughout this convention. We would just as soon be on the floor now.”
The applause grew louder as Warshafsky continued.
“Mr. Chairman,” he said, “we of Wisconsin as Democrats who are interested not only in what the party is but in what the party is to become if it will truly live up to the promise of the movie that we saw on that screen tonight [recalling Bobby Kennedy], if we will truly live up to the inspirational promise that Senators McCarthy and McGovern have given to this convention and this country, if it will truly make the American dream a reality not only for affluent delegates but for the young people who march in the parks looking for quality in life…”
“I could talk on for half an hour about the man that we are going to put in nomination,” continued Warshafsky. “But I think that our positions are eminently clear to this convention and the American people. So I will say as simply and as sincerely [as I can] on behalf of my delegation that we wish to offer in nomination the wave of the future. It may be a symbolic nomination tonight but it may not be symbolic four years hence. We offer in nomination with the greatest pleasure the name of Julian Bond.”