August 3rd, 1948

Beginning of the Alger Hiss Trial

This is when Nixon's career really caught fire. Hiss was a State Department official accused of being a Soviet spy due to an alleged affiliation with a member of the Communist Party. Nixon strongly supported Hiss's prosecution and racked up major political points.

July 25th, 1950

Korean War begins

Initially planned as a brief war, Truman made some questionable decisions that made him appear indecisive and indifferent to the bloody conflict. This would become a deciding issue in the 1952 election.

March 11th, 1952

Eisenhower wins the New Hampshire primary, despite not campaigning and being in Europe at the time

The Draft Eisenhower movement demonstrated its strength by capturing all the delegates from New Hampshire, encouraging Eisenhower to declare his candidacy for the Republican Party.

March 11th, 1952

In an upset, Estes Kefauver defeats Truman in the New Hampshire Primary

This was the first warning bell to Democrat party bosses that the new wave of anti-corruption could actually threaten them. It was unfortunate for the Democrats, as virtually all of the bosses were incorrigibly corrupt. Truman decided not to run after this primary.

July 7th, 1952

Republican National Convention selects Eisenhower as the Republican nominee

It was a narrow victory for Eisenhower and signaled the death of Robert Taft's ambitions for the presidency. Eisenhower chose Nixon as his running mate, and the rest was Checkers. Or something.

July 21st, 1952

Democratic National Convention

After a disastrous series of primaries, and after repeatedly refusing to run, Adlai Stevenson received the nomination for the Democratic ticket, with John Sparkman as his running mate.

September 18th, 1952

The New York Post runs their "Secret Rich Men's Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary" headline

After campaigning so hard against corruption, this kind of accusation was a big threat to Republican presidential aspirations. Translation: Nixon needed to do something about it.

September 20th, 1952

Bob Humphreys suggests Nixon make a televised speech addressing the fund

A bunch of Republicans decided this might not be such a bad idea, and scrambled to get support and funding from the RNC. They bought 30 minutes of time on NBC, right after the ginormously popular Milton Berle Show—a killer lead-in.

September 23rd, 1952

The night of the Checkers Speech broadcast

Nixon prepared for the most important night of his career to date—and knocked it out of the park.

September 24th, 1952

Eisenhower's noncommittal response to the Checkers speech threatens to break up the ticket

In a speech the day after the broadcast, Eisenhower dodged the question of whether or not Nixon would remain on the ticket, saying that he'd have to meet the man face to face to make the decision. This sent Nixon into a fury. He had his secretary write a telegram of resignation from the ticket. In one of those quirks of history, the secretary, Rose Mary Woods, ripped up the telegram without sending it, which saved the Eisenhower/Nixon ticket. Years later, Ms. Woods would be accused of "accidentally" ripping up 18 minutes of audiotapes from Nixon's Watergate affair.

November 4th, 1952

The Republicans win the presidential election

The Eisenhower/Nixon ticket won in a massive landslide; they took the popular vote by 10 percentage points and the Electoral vote by 442-89. Check(ers)mate.