Checkers speech

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The "Checkers speech" was given by Richard Nixon on September 23, 1952, when he was the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency. The speech, broadcast nationwide from the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood,^[1] was one of the first political uses of television to appeal directly to the populace.

Contents 1 Speech 2 Analysis 3 Other media 4 Checkers' Final Resting Place 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Speech

Nixon, having been accused of accepting $18,000 (about $140,000 in 2007 dollars) in illegal campaign contributions, gave a live address to the nation in which he revealed the results of an independent audit that was conducted on his finances, exonerating him of any malfeasance. The money, he asserted, did not go to him for personal use, nor did it count as income, but rather as reimbursement for expenses. He followed with a complete financial history of his personal assets, finances, and debts, including his mortgages, life insurance, and loans, all of which had the effect of painting him as living a rather austere lifestyle. He denied that his wife Pat had a mink coat; instead, she wore a "respectable Republican cloth coat."

The one contribution he admitted receiving was from a Texas traveling salesman named Lou Carrol who gave his family an American Cocker Spaniel, which his daughter named "Checkers." ^[2]. Carrol later explained that he had read a report that Pat Nixon said their children Tricia and Julie "longed" for a dog, and his own dog had just had a litter. After a telegram exchange, he crated the puppy and shipped it by rail to Washington. Nixon admitted that this gift could be made into an issue by some, but maintained that he didn't care, stating "the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it." Later, when asked about Nixon's performance, some Dwight Eisenhower campaign insiders joked, "We're keeping the dog." (Mentioning the dog was a subtle way of attacking the Democratic party. During World War II, Republicans falsely charged that FDR had accidentally left his dog Fala behind on the Aleutian Islands while on tour there, and had sent a United States Navy destroyer to retrieve him at an exorbitant cost.)^[3]

Nixon then challenged Democratic Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson to give a similar public account of his finances, and attacked alleged corruption in the Truman administration. Furthermore he accused Truman's foreign policy of being a failure that led to the Korean War. He ended with an appeal to the public to wire and write to the Republican National Committee to give their advice on whether he should remain the Vice-Presidential nominee.

The speech was simulcast on radio and was a resounding success overall. Nixon, whom many expected to be dropped from the ticket, gained widespread sympathy and remained Eisenhower's running mate.

[edit] Analysis

An article in Esquire during the 1980s gave a rhetorical analysis of the speech. It claimed that Eisenhower was willing to remove Nixon from the ticket, but Nixon requested that the public contact the Republican National Committee. As such, Nixon was telling the public that both Nixon and Eisenhower would abide by the decision of the committee – he crafted the "Checkers speech" so that it was no longer Eisenhower's decision whether Nixon remained on the ticket or not.

[edit] Other media

• In 1990, the "I want to tell you my side of the case" line from the speech was sampled in the "Capitol Mix" of the song "Policy of Truth" by Depeche Mode.
• In 1994, The Mr. T Experience released a song called Checkers Speech on their EP ...And the Women Who Love Them. Later, in 2007, this song was adapted into comic form by webcomic artist Mitch Clem. Both the song and the comic refer to Nixon directly. The song and the comic both contained the line, from Nixon's 1962 concession speech after his losing campaign for the California governorship, "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore," and the comic's last panel portrayed Nixon as a vengeful sky god.
• In the Futurama episode A Head in the Polls Checkers is shown kept alive as a head in a jar, like Nixon. Bender asks Nixon for his body back, which Nixon apparently bought in a pawn shop. Nixon responds that he has grown attached to the body, like his beloved dog Checkers. Checkers barks and Nixon screams at him "SHUT UP DAMN IT!!!"

[edit] Checkers' Final Resting Place

Nixon's dog Checkers died in 1964 and is buried in Wantagh, New York, on Long Island's Bide-A-Wee Pet Cemetery (3300 Beltagh Avenue, Wantagh, NY). Nixon never lived on Long Island, and Suffolk County Historical Society President Wallace Broege has been quoted as saying, "I think it does Long Island a disservice."^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Text and audio mp3 of the speech from AmericanRhetoric.com
• Site with video and the entire transcript
• Find A Grave profile for Checkers