On September 23rd, 1952, vice-presidential
candidate Richard Nixon gave his famous
“Checkers” speech on live TV.
On September 23rd, 1952, Richard Nixon gave an important speech on live
television. At the time, Nixon was a 39-year-old senator from California. He was also
the Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 1952 election, running alongside
war hero Dwight Eisenhower. Today, it’s not that unusual for a politician to go on
TV. But in 1952, television was still very new, and this was one of the first times that
a political candidate had used TV to talk to the people. This came to be called the
“Checkers” speech — and it saved Nixon’s political career.
Soon after Eisenhower chose Nixon for his running mate, reports came out that
the young senator had taken $18,000 in political contributions for his personal use.
These rumors were so damaging that Eisenhower was close to replacing Nixon
with someone else. So Nixon decided to use the brand-new medium of television
to answer the charges. He did this as a political advertisement, paid for by the
Republican Party.
Senator Nixon’s 30-minute speech was broadcast on TV and radio at the same time.
He told America that the money in question was only used for political expenses,
which he did not want to charge to taxpayers. Nixon gave a detailed list of all his
finances, including his income, his house payments, and the money he owed to his
parents. He pointed out that his wife, Pat, did not own a fancy mink coat. “But she
does have a respectable Republican cloth coat,” he said. “And I always tell her she’d
look good in anything.”
The speech got its name from a story Senator Nixon told at the end. He admitted that
he had kept one personal contribution. A man had given Nixon’s two daughters a
black and white dog, which they named Checkers. The young senator looked into the
camera and declared, “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.”
The next day, all of America was talking about the “Checkers” speech. It was a major
victory for Nixon. The public’s support for him — and his daughters’ adorable dog —
was overwhelming. Eisenhower kept Nixon as his running mate, and together they
won the 1952 election. Four years later, they were re-elected.
In 1968, Richard Nixon himself became president of the United States, defeating
Democratic candidate, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. As president, Nixon
opened Communist China to the West, and appealed to many people’s wish for law
and order in a difficult time. He was reelected in 1972. However, after the Watergate
scandal, Richard Nixon became the first president forced to resign from the office in
the middle of his term.