--- title: Democratic Convention: Read Cory Booker's Speech description: New Jersey Senator Cory Booker spoke at the Democratic National Convention Monday, arguing that America is strongest when it works together. canonical: https://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-26T02:13:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T12:35:29.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Cory Booker's Speech at the Democratic Convention og:description: "Rugged individualism didn't defeat the British." og:url: https://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f39fabd589e8341/69889f36e20a8742c8a91bed/cory-booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: On the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Cory Booker's Speech at the Democratic Convention twitter:description: "Rugged individualism didn't defeat the British." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f39fabd589e8341/69889f36e20a8742c8a91bed/cory-booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Cory Booker's Speech at the Democratic Convention by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:35 PM UTCPublished: Jul 26, 2016 2:13 AM UTC  On the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Alex Wong—2016 Getty Images by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:35 PM UTCPublished: Jul 26, 2016 2:13 AM UTC New Jersey Senator Cory Booker spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, arguing that America is strongest when it works together. “I respect and value the ideals of rugged individualism and self-reliance,” he said. “But rugged individualism didn’t defeat the British, it didn’t get us to the moon, build our nation’s highways, or map the human genome. We did that together.” Booker was on [the list of potential running mates](http://time.com/4194742/cory-booker-chris-christie-2016-presidential-race/) for presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton before she chose Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Read a full transcript of his speech below: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/"},"headline":"Read Cory Booker's Speech at the Democratic Convention","datePublished":"2016-07-26T02:13:43.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T12:35:29.000Z","description":"New Jersey Senator Cory Booker spoke at the Democratic National Convention Monday, arguing that America is strongest when it works together.","url":"https://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/","keywords":["Democratic National Convention","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Cory Booker"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f39fabd589e8341/69889f36e20a8742c8a91bed/cory-booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f39fabd589e8341/69889f36e20a8742c8a91bed/cory-booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"On the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.","caption":"On the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.","creditText":"Alex Wong—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/democratic-national-convention/","name":"Democratic National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4421756/democratic-convention-cory-booker-transcript-speech/","name":"Read Cory Booker's Speech at the Democratic Convention"}}]}] ```