The “Checkers” Speech

by Richard M. Nixon (excerpt)

While campaigning for vice president in 1952 on the Republican Party ticket, then-Senator Richard M. Nixon was accused of having appropriated $18,000 in campaign funds for his personal use, including over $4,000 for Christmas cards. The fund had been established by supporters to help pay for travel and mail expenses, despite the fact that Nixon received an annual expense budget to pay for these things. While this was not illegal at the time, Nixon had made a point of attacking other politicians for similar use of campaign funds. In a televised speech on September 23, 1952, Nixon addressed the revelation of his extra fund and also spoke about another gift he had been given by a supporter. During his half-hour address, Nixon defended himself, attacked political opponents (which included the administration of then-sitting president Harry S. Truman), and urged his supporters to keep him on the ticket.

(1) One other thing I probably should tell you, because if I 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 six-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.

(2) It isn't easy to come before a nationwide audience and bare your life, as I've done. But I want to say some things before I conclude that I think most of you will agree on. Mr. Mitchell, the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, made this statement -- that if a man couldn't afford to be in the United States Senate, he shouldn't run for the Senate. And I just want to make my position clear. I don't agree with Mr. Mitchell when he says that only a rich man should serve his Government in the United States Senate or in the Congress. I don't believe that represents the thinking of the Democratic Party, and I know that it doesn't represent the thinking of the Republican Party.

(3) Now let me say this: I know that this is not the last of the smears. In spite of my explanation tonight, other smears will be made. Others have been made in the past. And the purpose of the smears, I know, is this: to silence me; to make me let up. Well, they just don't know who they're dealing with. I'm going to tell you this: I remember in the dark days of the Hiss* case some of the same columnists, some of the same radio commentators who are attacking me now and misrepresenting my position, were violently opposing me at the time I was after Alger Hiss1. But I continued to fight because I knew I was right, and I can say to this great television and radio audience that I have no apologies to the American people for my part in putting Alger Hiss where he is today. And as far as this is concerned, I intend to continue to fight.

(4) Why do I feel so deeply? Why do I feel that in spite of the smears, the misunderstanding, the necessity for a man to come up here and bare his soul as I have -- why is it necessary for me to continue this fight? And I want to tell you why. Because, you see, I love my country. And I think my country is in danger. And I think the only man that can save America at this time is the man that's running for President, on my ticket -- Dwight Eisenhower. You say, "Why do I think it is in danger?" And I say, look at the record. Seven years of the Truman-Acheson Administration, and what's happened? Six hundred million people lost to the Communists. And a war in Korea in which we have lost 117,000 American casualties, and I say to all of you that a policy that results in the loss of 600 million people to the Communists, and a war which cost us 117,000 American casualties isn't good enough for America. And I say that those in the State Department that made the mistakes which caused that war and which resulted in those losses should be kicked out of the State Department just as fast as we get them out of there. . . .

(5) And now, finally, I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay on the Republican ticket or resign. Let me say this: I don't believe that I ought to quit, because I am not a quitter. And, incidentally, Pat's not a quitter.

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1 Alger Hiss was an American government official accused in 1948 of being a spy for the Soviet Union during the 1930s. Although he was not convicted of espionage, he was convicted for lying in front of a Senate committee in 1950. Richard Nixon was in charge of a subcommittee on the Hiss affair.

4
Select the correct answer.
Which sentence from the speech is a false statement?

 A. 
"I don't believe that I ought to quit, because I am not a quitter."
 B. 
"I have no apologies to the American people for my part in putting Alger Hiss where he is today."
 C. 
"We did get something, a gift, after the election."
 D. 
"Now let me say this: I know that this is not the last of the smears."