Nixon remained on Republican ticket after receiving a wave of public support.
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The Checkers speech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by Senator Richard Nixon (R-CA), six weeks before the 1952 United States presidential election, in which he was the Republican nominee for Vice President. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. His place was in doubt on the Republican ticket, so he flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address in which he defended himself, attacked his opponents, and urged the audience to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket. During the speech, he stated that he intended to keep one gift, regardless of the outcome: a black-and-white Cocker Spaniel that his children had named Checkers, thus giving the address its popular name.
Nixon came from a family of modest means, as he related in the address, and he had spent his time after law school in the military, campaigning for office, and serving in Congress. After his successful 1950 Senate campaign, his backers continued to raise money to finance his political activities. These contributions went to reimburse him for travel costs, postage for political mailings which he did not have franked, and similar expenses. Such a fund was not illegal at the time, but Nixon had made a point of attacking government corruption which exposed him to charges that he might be giving special favors to the contributors.
The press became aware of the fund in September 1952, two months after Nixon's selection as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's running mate, and the story quickly grew until it threatened his place on the ticket. In an attempt to turn the tide of public opinion, Nixon broke off a whistle-stop tour of the West Coast to fly to Los Angeles and make a television and radio broadcast to the nation; the RNC raised the $75,000 to buy the television time. The idea for the Checkers reference came from Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fala speech, given eight years to the day before Nixon's address, in which Roosevelt mocked Republican claims that he had sent a destroyer to fetch his dog, Fala, when Fala was supposedly left behind in the Aleutian Islands.
Nixon's speech was seen and heard by about 60 million Americans, including the largest television audience to that time, and it led to an outpouring of public support. The RNC and other political offices received millions of telegrams and phone calls supporting Nixon. He was retained on the ticket, which swept to victory weeks later in November 1952. The Checkers speech was an early example of a politician using television to appeal directly to the electorate, but it has sometimes been mocked or denigrated. The term Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician, lacking material substance.
The Checkersspeech or Fund speech was an address made on September 23, 1952, by Senator Richard Nixon (R-CA), six weeks before the 1952 United States...
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Eisenhower's ticket by making a nationally broadcast speech, commonly known as the Checkersspeech. In the speech, he denied the charges and famously stated he...
local commuter trains only by 1971. During what became known as the Checkersspeech, on September 23, 1952, Richard Nixon, then a U.S. Senator from California...
address the nation on September 23, 1952. The address, later named the Checkersspeech, was heard by about 60 million Americans, which represented the largest...
public about the organization's financial condition. Richard Nixon's "Checkersspeech" of 1952 was a somewhat successful effort to dispel a scandal concerning...
often given of a straw man is U.S. president Richard Nixon's 1952 "Checkersspeech". When campaigning for vice president in 1952, Nixon was accused of...
Truman as Supreme Commander in the Korean War 1952: The political Checkersspeech by U.S. vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon, in which he mentioned...
encouraged him to fight the charges, and he did so by delivering the famed "Checkersspeech", so-called for the family's dog, a cocker spaniel given to them by...
particularly famous speech or speeches. Most religious leaders and politicians (by nature of their office) may give many speeches, as may those who support...
Critical reaction to the speech was immediate and negative. NBC newsman John Chancellor compared it to Richard Nixon's 1952 Checkersspeech. Kennedy admirer David...
a household name when United States Senator Richard Nixon made his Checkersspeech on September 23. A parti-colored American Cocker Spaniel named Dot...
surrounding campaign expenses, but Nixon rallied public opinion with his Checkersspeech and remained on the ticket. The Eisenhower–Nixon ticket won the 1952...
September 14, 2019. Primary Sources: Checkersspeech, pbs.org, Richard M. Nixon (September 23, 1952). "CheckersSpeech". American Experience. PBS. Archived...
expenses—revelations that the candidate decisively overcame with his televised Checkersspeech. After Congress investigated Chotiner in 1956, suspecting he was using...
uses the sample "I want to tell you my side of the case" from the Checkersspeech by Richard Nixon. A version of "Kaleid" was used as intro music for...
California's junior U.S. senator. On September 23, 1952, Nixon gave the Checkersspeech, a response to allegations that Nixon had maintained a secret fund...
ever live in the White House. Checkers, President Richard Nixon's Cocker Spaniel, was made famous in the Checkersspeech. Dash, First Lady Caroline Harrison's...
that attempts to verify written text for grammatical correctness. Grammar checkers are most often implemented as a feature of a larger program, such as a...
president under Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. He gave the televised "Checkersspeech" named after his cocker spaniel, denying he had a slush fund but admitting...
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