Richard Nixon's ''Checkers'' Speech

Lesson Plan - Get It!

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In 1952, the 39-year-old Richard Nixon was chosen as the Republican Vice President candidate to run with Dwight Eisenhower.

Nixon was a quick-rising young star of the Republican Party. He had served in both the House and Senate and was now poised to take the second-highest position in the country.

But just a few days after Eisenhower chose him as his running mate, the New York Post published a story entitled "Secret Rich Men's Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary." The writer accused Nixon of taking money from his political supporters and using it for his benefit.

But Nixon was not to be defeated. In a brilliant public relations move, he decided to use the relatively new medium of TV to talk directly to the American people and defend himself against this accusation. He even mentioned the family dog, Checkers, in the speech, which afterward became known as "Nixon's Checkers Speech."

You'll read portions of the speech below. As you read, think about how Nixon used persuasive techniques to convince voters that he was trustworthy and innocent of the corruption charges.

Writers use ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade people. These techniques are based on the work of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Ethos tries to convince the reader that the author is trustworthy or knowledgeable.

Pathos appeals to the reader's emotions.

Logos uses data, facts, and statistics.

To learn more about these techniques, watch the following video.

Read the following sections of Nixon's speech and consider how he uses ethos, pathos, and logos. And watch for the mention of Checkers, the cocker spaniel!

Here is how Nixon introduced his speech.

I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice Presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity have been questioned. The usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or to deny them without giving details.

I believe we've had enough of that in the United States, particularly with the present Administration in Washington, D.C. To me, the office of the Vice Presidency of the United States is a great office and I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might obtain it.

I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth. And that's why I'm here tonight. I want to tell you my side of the case.

Further on, he explains what the money was used for.

Not one cent of the $18,000 or any other money of that type ever went to me for my personal use. Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States.

It was not a secret fund. As a matter of fact, when I was on "Meet the Press," some of you may have seen it last Sunday—Peter Edson came up to me after the program and he said, "Dick, what about this fund we hear about?" And I said, "Well, there's no secret about it. Go out and see Dana Smith, who was the administrator of the fund."

And I gave him his address, and I said that you will find that the purpose of the fund simply was to defray political expenses that I did not feel should be charged to the Government.

And third, let me point out, and I want to make this particularly clear, that no contributor to this fund, no contributor to any of my campaign, has ever received any consideration that he would not have received as an ordinary constituent.

Later, he offers independent proof of how the money was spent.

Let me say, incidentally, that some of you may say, "Well, that's all right, Senator; that's your explanation, but have you got any proof?"

And I'd like to tell you this evening that just about an hour ago we received an independent audit of this entire fund. I suggested to Gov. Sherman Adams, who is the chief of staff of the Dwight Eisenhower campaign, that an independent audit and legal report be obtained. And I have that audit here in my hand.

It's an audit made by the Price, Waterhouse & Co. firm, and the legal opinion by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, lawyers in Los Angeles, the biggest law firm and incidentally one of the best ones in Los Angeles.

I'm proud to be able to report to you tonight that this audit and this legal opinion is being forwarded to General Eisenhower. And I'd like to read to you the opinion that was prepared by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and based on all the pertinent laws and statutes, together with the audit report prepared by the certified public accountants.

It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the fund by Dana Smith; that Senator Nixon did not violate any Federal or state law by reason of the operation of the fund, and that neither the portion of the fund paid by Dana Smith directly to third persons nor the portion paid to Senator Nixon to reimburse him for designated office expenses constituted income to the Senator which was either reportable or taxable as income under applicable tax laws. (signed) Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher by Alma H. Conway."

Now that, my friends, is not Nixon speaking, but that's an independent audit which was requested because I want the American people to know all the facts and I'm not afraid of having independent people go in and check the facts, and that is exactly what they did.

Finally, Nixon goes into great detail about his personal finances. and concludes that section with a story.

Well, that's about it. That's what we have and that's what we owe. It isn't very much but Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that we've got is honestly ours. I should say this—that Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat. And I always tell her that she'd look good in anything.

One other thing I probably should tell you because if we don't they'll probably be saying this about me too, we did get something-a gift-after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And, believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was.

It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas. Black and white spotted. And our little girl-Tricia, the 6-year old-named it Checkers. And you know, 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.

• Did Nixon use all three persuasive methods in his speech?
• How did he develop his arguments?
• Why was the mention of Checkers important?

Move to the Got It? section now to analyze this speech!