Logos

A good speech uses every tool it can without compromising its message or clarity. There are elements of logos in Section 1 of the speech: Nixon provides evidence from an impartial audit by Price Waterhouse and a prestigious law firm. He argues that the fund was neither secret nor illegal and that the fund existed solely to remove a financial burden from taxpayers.

It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the funds 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 office expenses, constituted income in a sense which was either reportable or taxable as income under income tax laws. (66)

How can you argue with the facts? Not to mention that Price Waterhouse are the folks that keep the Oscar winners totally secret. They're totally incorruptible.

Ethos

We know you're waiting for the biggie (ahem, Checkers pathos), but there are elements of ethos throughout Sections 1 and 2 of the speech, so let's take a look at those first.

First, Nixon establishes the bona fides of the accounting and legal firms that he's asked to review the legality of the fund:

It is an audit made by 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. (64)

One of the best ones in Los Angeles. Guess he Yelped it.

Next, he establishes his own cred as a boy from humble beginnings who worked hard to put himself through college and law school and married a great gal. And aw shucks, he served his country in WWII:

Let me say that my service record was not a particularly unusual one. I went to the south pacific. I guess I'm entitled to a couple of battle stars. I got a couple of letters of commendation But I was just there when the bombs were falling. (83-86)

Would anyone who put himself in harm's way for his country stoop to cheating the good people of said country?

Pathos

Okay, okay. Logos and Ethos ultimately play second and third fiddle to the rhetorical strategy that seeps into almost every word of the speech: pathos.

This speech is the poster child of emotional appeals in American political history. Nixon throws the pity book at his audience. He's just a struggling guy like them:

We had a rather difficult time after we were married, like so many of the young couples who might be listening to us. (78)

In fact, Pat might be broke some day:

I have just $4,000 in life insurance, plus my GI policy which I have never been able to convert, and which will run out in two years. (111)

He even pays 4% interest on a loan his parents gave him because they worked so hard for the money themselves.

He reads a letter from an ardent supporter who donated as much she could afford, and of course nobly refuses to cash the check. He mentions the one political gift he did receive, a cute little cocker spaniel, and refuses to break his children's hearts by giving it back.

A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention that our two youngsters would like to have a dog, and, believe it or not, the day we left before 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 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. (133-136)

Kids and dogs…sniff…just give us a second.

Just as we're about to pull ourselves together, he lets us know how agonizing this has all been for him (it probably was):

It isn't easy to come before a nation-wide audience and bare your life, as I have done. (137)

You get the idea.

The speech is full of textbook examples of pathos appeals. In fact, it goes so far with them that it's since garnered a reputation of being totally sappy and corny.

Even so, at the time Nixon gave the speech, these appeals to pathos resonated powerfully and convincingly among its target audience. Even Mamie Eisenhower (Ike's wife) had tears streaming down her faced as she watched. By some estimates, the speech provoked over four million people to call, write, or telegraph their support.

Part of what makes this speech so amazing is that, by all accounts, Nixon was not naturally an emotional man. He was socially awkward, aloof, and private. He had a reputation for being a vindictive, nasty guy. He was right—baring his life could not have been easy at all. But that's what the tools of rhetoric are for: to create a convincing picture of yourself and your arguments for an audience.

And we thought Ronald Reagan was the best California actor in politics…