Checkers Speech: Main Idea
Checkers Speech: Main Idea
Puppy Eyes
Richard Nixon, hotshot VP candidate on the 1952 Republican presidential ticket, went on TV and spilled his guts to the American public. The goal? To save his political life and deny allegations of a shady "secret fund" supported by wealthy donors and spent for his personal use. His message: the fund was legal and legit, and he's an honest, hardworking family man of modest means who'd never accept a gift in exchange for political favors.
But there was this puppy…
Questions
- How did Nixon attack his detractors without coming off as a complete jerk?
- Why was Pat Nixon on air as well?
- How did Nixon build the case that his fund was beyond reproach?
- The speech has been widely criticized in the years since its delivery as too mawkish. Identify the portions of the text that most strikingly drip with corniness.
Chew On This
The Checkers Speech was a brilliant move by a guy fighting for his political life.
The Checkers Speech was responsible for the confessional, emotional political speeches we're so sick of hearing today.
Quotes
Quote #1
The taxpayers should not be required to finance items which are not official business but which are primarily political business. (40)
This is pretty much the crux of Nixon's defense of his fund: it was relieving an unnecessary burden on taxpayers. He supported this with an independent audit of his fund that found no wrongdoing on his part.
Quote #2
And so now, what I am going to do—and incidentally this is unprecedented in the history of American politics— I am going at this time to give to this television and radio audience, a complete financial history, everything I have earned, everything I have spent and everything I own, and I want you to know the facts. (70)
Here's where Nixon goes into unchartered waters, proceeding to play up his modest financial situation for all it was worth. It really was unprecedented.
Quote #3
It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers.
And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it. (135-136)
Here it is, in all its sentimental glory: the famous line that would catapult Nixon back into America's good graces. At the time it was a simple throwaway line, but it would come to be the most iconic part of the speech.
Americans love us our dogs.
Quote #4
But I also feel that it is essential in this country of ours that a man of modest means can also run for President, because, you know— remember Abraham Lincoln— you remember what he said —"God must have loved the common people, he made so many of them." (144)
Lincoln may or may not have said this, but that didn't matter to your average viewer. Nixon's taking a shot at Stevenson's wealth here without naming names.
Quote #5
Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision, I will abide by it. (215-216)
Nixon threw himself at the mercy of the American people. The career-saving success of this strategy would be the inspiration for his Silent Majority shtick later in his career.