teased about it by a classmate, who suggested the sign, "Bring Us Together Again" was about boys, not politics. She kept the dress but told the media she threw away the sign. Nixon speeches and inauguration Nixon speechwriter William Safire had been told of the sign by a friend of the candidate, Richard Moore, who left the train at campaign stops to mingle with the crowd and seek items of local color for the speechwriters to use. Safire stated in his book on the early days of the Nixon administration (originally published in 1975) that at Deshler, "Moore boarded the train with that mystic look that a writer gets when he has something delicious to work with, some piece of color that could be more than a gimmick." According to Safire in a 2007 column, Moore stuck his head into the compartment occupied by Nixon's speechwriters and stated, "There's a little kid out there with a hand-lettered sign that I think says 'Bring Us Together'." Safire wrote in that column that he inserted the phrase into Nixon's remarks for the speech to be given at the next stop. Nixon used the phrase in concluding a rally at New York's Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1968. Recalling the visit to Deshler, the Republican candidate stated, "There were many signs like those I see here. But one sign held by a teenager said, 'Bring Us Together Again'. My friends, America needs to be brought together." However, Nixon's use of the phrase received little coverage until after the election. Deshler school officials heard of the speech, and asked students about the sign, but no one came forward. Safire included the incident in a draft victory statement, which Nixon looked at before addressing the nation as president-elect. In his victory speech on November 6, Nixon recalled the sign: I saw many signs in this campaign, some of them were not friendly; some were very friendly. But the one that touched me the most was one that I saw in Deshler, Ohio, at the end of a long day of whistle-stopping. A little town. I suppose five times the population was there in the dusk. It was almost impossible to see, but a teenager held up a sign, "Bring Us Together." And that will be the great objective of this administration at the outset, to bring the American people together. Reconciliation among the American