Hello my fellow Americans, my name is Douglas Erhard and I am

running for Vice President alongside Serena Turco who is running for

President. I am proud and honored that she asked me to be her running

mate. Together, we will be a formidable ticket. I believe that I am a well-

rounded individual, full of the motivation and persistence that will be

required to help Serena make the tough and necessary decisions that will

benefit and advance our great country and the American people. I hold that

no challenge or task will be too great for Serena and I to meet head on. We

will be a team to be reckoned with. Our domestic, economic, and foreign

policy will be based upon bringing about the necessary changes to keep our

country prosperous and safe.

I have long admired and studied our previous leaders, all of whom

have left their mark on our great nation. I have learned from their failures

and victories and hold that only a student of history with a deep knowledge,

appreciation, and understanding of our nation’s past and its leaders can

truly help wisely guide us into the future. We will have a continued and new

manifest destiny. With the courage of our convictions and steely resolve we

will not be afraid to make the tough decisions, even if risky and politically

unpopular, if we know they are best for the country.

 A former President that I admire and truly believe will be my

inspiration in office and whose principles will help guide our

administration is President Harry S. Truman. Now he was a great man who

was willing to take the necessary steps to get the job done. I have always

admired his ability to make perhaps the hardest decision ever taken by a

man up to that point in history. With the untimely death of President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman was elevated

from Vice President to President after only being in office for a couple of

months. Then a few months later on August 6, 1945, he made the decision

to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan and one week later a

second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. His other option was sending

thousands of troops to island hop the islands of Japan and the mainland. If

he had chosen this option over the other, thousands of more Americans

would have died. As morally difficult and horrific the decision was, Truman

also felt that it actually saved Japanese lives as well.

The main point that worried him was that the world was never

introduced to such a bomb. These two strategic bomb placements would

end the war in the matter of minutes. He did not know how the world

would react, but also knew it showed what America was capable of, which

might alarm the Soviet Union. Truman’s concern with the Soviet reaction
was warranted, as the Soviet Union saw the American might and essentially

the cold war began right after WWII ended with Japan’s surrender in

response to being hit with atomic bombs. But Truman did not retract or

buckle in the face of the Soviet threat and the potential spread of

Communism, instead he created the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The Truman

Doctrine was an American foreign policy whose stated purpose was to

counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. With the

Truman Doctrine, President Truman established that the United States

would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic

nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The

main emphasis was to counter the Soviet influence in the world and prevent

the spread of communism. In a similar manner, Serena and I, when elected,

will be called upon today to look back on the wisdom and tenets of The

Truman Doctrine in order to deal with an increasingly aggressive and

expansionist Russia. One only needs to look at Russia’s activities in Syria

and Crimea to recognize that bold and strong leadership, the kind that

Serena and I will bring, is needed to foil Soviet aggression and expansion.

With no prior experience in foreign policy, Truman was thrust into the role

of commander in chief and charged with ending a world war. In the first six

months of his term, he announced the Germans’ surrender, dropped atomic

bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—ending World War II—and signed the

charter ratifying the United Nations. That is exactly the type of bold and

decisive leadership that is needed today. A leadership that gets things done,

a leadership that Serena and I will bring.

To further illustrate my readiness to be your Vice President, let me

take you back to an early time in my life when my persistence, courage, and

confidence all started to become prevalent for me.

Almost every day of one month of May, I walked miles in each

direction around my town in search of a job. I went to every local business

and a I received the same response, “We do not hire fifteen year olds.” But I

was determined to get a job. I had to exude confidence and break through

my shyness.

After about a month of rejections, I walked into yet another business

looking for an opportunity: Dunkin Donuts. I gave myself a pep talk:

“Don’t get discouraged. Just go in there and ask for an application.”

Needless to say, I heard the same response. The manager went so far as to

say “Oh, but you’re just a little kid.” This still did not discourage me. I

made multiple trips to the little Dunkin Donuts asking each time for her to

reconsider. Until one day, they finally decided to hire me on a trial basis.

My first day on the job was pretty rough. They throw so much at you the
first day, remembering all the drinks and the food was all hard to

remember. However, the manager and all the coworkers were very kind and

nice to me. It took me about three or four days to learn all the drinks and

items on the menu. But after that, working was a breeze. Even more growth

occurred for me because new items continue to come out.

I have been working there for over two years. I have a great rapport with all

of the staff, and most importantly my manager. She completely trusts me,

so she has increased my responsibility and my position: I am the shift

leader. I am in charge of opening and/or closing the store, overseeing

customer complaints during the shift, and training new employees.

Since those early years of working at Dunkin Donuts, I have persisted

in the field of business and grown significantly. I’ve become a strong,

confident, outgoing individual. I can solve problems, mediate differences,

promote growth and achieve success. All of these simple skills,

characteristics and good work-ethic has been instilled in me since an early

age and are what will make me the right candidate for Vice President. I can

make the tough decisions! I have the courage of my conviction and will

stand behind my beliefs! I’m asking you to have faith in this candidate who

got his humble beginnings in the donut industry and will use that

knowledge and the lessons learned from a great man, Harry S. Truman and
bring this nation into the future with your support. Thank you my fellow

Americans, have a wonderful afternoon, and God bless America!