Trump's wife seeks to soften his image at raucous Republican convention

Melania Trump takes the stage after her introduction at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, US July 18, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking," Jason Miller, Trump's senior communications advisor, said in a statement.

Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has accused Trump, 70, of lacking the experience and temperament needed to work in the Oval Office. On Monday, Clinton, 68, used an address to a largely black audience to cast Trump as someone who would divide the country along racial, ethnic and religious lines.

The convention's opening night featured a string of emotional speakers attacking Clinton's record as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, many arguing she had made Americans vulnerable to Islamist militancy.

"I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son," said Pat Smith, the mother of an information management officer who was among the four Americans killed in an attack on a US mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose administration has been credited with sharply reducing crime in the city during the 1990s and who oversaw the city's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed almost 3,000 people, gave a highly charged speech slamming Clinton and making the case for Trump.

"What I did for New York, Donald Trump will do for America!" he said.