33 Facts About Checkers speech

1.

Checkers speech's 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 to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket.

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2.

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.

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3.

Nixon's Checkers 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.

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4.

Checkers speech was retained on the ticket, which swept to victory weeks later in November 1952.

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5.

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.

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6.

The term Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician, lacking material substance.

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7.

Checkers speech told the crowd that the Fund had saved the taxpayer money, since it paid for matters that could have been paid for through his Senate expense allowance.

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8.

Checkers speech promised to throw the "crooks and communists" out of Washington.

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9.

Checkers speech angrily responded with a phrase which would be echoed in the Checkers speech.

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10.

Checkers speech jotted down the line he had said in Eugene regarding his wife's coat.

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11.

Checkers speech made notes concerning the family finances, upsetting Pat Nixon, who asked why people had to know their financial details.

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12.

Checkers speech recalled the Fala speech, in which Franklin Roosevelt had sarcastically responded to Republican claims he had sent a destroyer to fetch his dog, Fala, and remembered the dog his children had recently received: A Texas traveling salesman named Lou Carrol had read a report that Pat Nixon said her children Tricia and Julie "longed" for a dog, and his own dog, an American Cocker Spaniel, had just had a litter.

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13.

Checkers speech called two professors he knew at his alma mater, Whittier College, seeking appropriate Abraham Lincoln quotes.

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14.

Unwilling to have his message filtered, Nixon adamantly refused to provide the media with any advance text of his Checkers speech, convinced that it would reduce the size of his audience.

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15.

Morning of the 23rd, the day of the Checkers speech, brought the reports from the lawyers, who opined that it was legal for a senator to accept expense reimbursements, and from the accountants, who stated that there was no evidence of misappropriation of money.

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16.

Checkers speech told an aide to call Governor Dewey, who was to call Nixon and instruct him to close his speech with his resignation from the ticket.

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17.

Checkers speech told her that he did not think he could go through with it, but she reassured him.

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18.

Checkers speech went through different ways that political expenses could be met.

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19.

Checkers speech gave the dollar amounts of small inheritances that the Nixons had received from relatives, before turning to their life in Washington:.

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20.

Checkers speech called for Senator Sparkman, who, as Nixon repeated, had put his wife on the payroll, to state fully any outside income he might have had.

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21.

Checkers speech then rose to his feet, came out from behind the desk, and continued:.

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22.

Checkers speech affirmed that Eisenhower was the only man fit to lead the country in ridding the government of corruption and communism.

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23.

Nixon was initially convinced that the Checkers speech was a failure.

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24.

Over sixty million Americans had watched or listened to the Checkers speech, including the largest television audience up to that point.

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25.

The party was able to get through to his suite, and after a few minutes of tense quiet, calls and telegrams began to pour in "from everywhere" praising the Checkers speech and urging him to remain on the ticket—but no word came from Eisenhower in Cleveland.

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26.

The general applauded his running mate for his Checkers speech, but stated that the two had to meet face to face before a final decision could be made.

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27.

When he heard of Eisenhower's posture, Nixon's happiness at what he had finally been convinced was a tour de force turned to fury, and he stated that if the Checkers speech did not satisfy Eisenhower, nothing he could do would.

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28.

Checkers speech called in his secretary, Rose Mary Woods, and dictated a telegram to the RNC resigning from the ticket.

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29.

Checkers speech suggested that instead of going to Wheeling as Eisenhower had requested, that they resume the train tour in Missoula, Montana.

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30.

Checkers speech advised Nixon that he should accede to Eisenhower's desire to make the inevitable decision in his own way, advice Nixon acknowledged "had the ring of truth".

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31.

Checkers speech herself received enough dog food to last a year, and hundreds of collars, leashes, and toys.

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32.

Checkers speech called the Wheeling rally "the greatest moment of my life".

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33.

Checkers speech died in 1964 and was buried in Wantagh, New York, at Long Island's Bide-A-Wee Pet Cemetery.

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