Presidential Parlance: Richard Nixon's "Checkers" Speech (1952)

In September, 1952, Richard Nixon, a young senator from California, was nominated to run for Vice President. Days later, however, he was accused of accepting funds from campaign donors to use for personal expenses. Nixon chose to use the new medium of television to defend himself. In a televised speech, he admitted to receiving one gift — a cocker spaniel named Checkers. He explained that his two young daughters loved the dog and would not give it up. The speech was a tremendous success, and Nixon went on to serve two terms as Vice President. Ironically, another television performance, a debate with John Kennedy in 1960, cost him the election that year. Nixon was elected President in 1968, but ultimately resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. integrity
    moral soundness
    I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice Presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned.
  2. attain
    gain with effort
    To me, the office of the Vice Presidency of the United States is a great office, and I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might attain them.
  3. incidentally
    by the way (used to introduce a new topic)
    I am saying it, incidentally, that it was wrong, just not illegal, because it isn't a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isn't enough.
  4. defray
    bear the expenses of
    And I said you will find that the purpose of the fund simply was to defray political expenses that I did not feel should be charged to the government.
  5. campaign
    a race between candidates for elective office
    And third, let me point out, and I want to make this particularly clear, that no contributor to this fund, no contributor to any of my campaigns, has ever received any consideration that he would not have received as an ordinary constituent.
  6. behalf
    as the agent of or on someone's part
    I just don’t believe in that, and I can say that never, while I have been in the Senate of the United States, as far as the people that contributed to this fund are concerned, have I made a telephone call to an agency, nor have I gone down to an agency on their behalf.
  7. constituent
    a citizen who is represented in a government by officials
    It is paid directly to the individuals that the Senator puts on his payroll, but all of these people and all of these allowances are for strictly official business; business, for example, when a constituent writes in and wants you to go down to the Veteran’s Administration and get some information about his GI policy—items of that type for example.
  8. finance
    obtain or provide money for
    The taxpayers should not be required to finance items which are not official business but which are primarily political business.
  9. critical
    marked by a tendency to find and call attention to flaws
    Let me say, incidentally, that my opponent, my opposite number for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his wife on the payroll and has had her on his payroll for the past ten years. Now let me just say this: That is his business, and I am not critical of him for doing that.
  10. stenographer
    someone skilled in the transcription of speech
    I have found that there are so many deserving stenographers and secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didn’t feel it was right to put my wife on the payroll.
  11. unbiased
    characterized by a lack of partiality
    I am so far away from California and I have been so busy with my senatorial work that I have not engaged in any legal practice, and, also, as far as law practice is concerned, it seemed to me that the relationship between an attorney and the client was so personal that you couldn't possibly represent a man as an attorney and then have an unbiased view when he presented his case to you in the event that he had one before Government.
  12. expose
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    And so I felt that the best way to handle these necessary political expenses of getting my message to the American people and the speeches I made—the speeches I had printed for the most part concerned this one message of exposing this administration, the Communism in it, the corruption in it—the only way I could do that was to accept the aid...
  13. conscience
    conformity to one's own sense of right conduct
    I am proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me to vote on a bill other than my own conscience would dictate.
  14. subterfuge
    something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity
    And I am proud of the fact that the taxpayers by subterfuge or otherwise have never paid one dime for expenses which I thought were political and should not be charged to the taxpayers.
  15. audit
    an inspection of accounting procedures and records
    And I would like to tell you this evening that just an hour ago we received an independent audit of this entire fund.
  16. pertinent
    having precise or logical relevance to the matter at hand
    I am proud to report to you tonight that this audit and legal opinion is being forwarded to General Eisenhower and I would like to read to you the opinion that was prepared by Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, based on all the pertinent laws, and statutes, together with the audit report prepared by the certified public accountants.
  17. statute
    an act passed by a legislative body
    I am proud to report to you tonight that this audit and legal opinion is being forwarded to General Eisenhower and I would like to read to you the opinion that was prepared by Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, based on all the pertinent laws, and statutes, together with the audit report prepared by the certified public accountants.
  18. disbursement
    the act of spending or distributing money
    It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the funds by Dana Smith...
  19. reimburse
    pay back for some expense incurred
    ...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.
  20. constitute
    compose or represent
    ...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.
  21. unprecedented
    novel; having no earlier occurrence
    And so now, what I am going to do—and incidentally this is unprecedented in the history of American politics—I am going at this time to give to this television and radio audience, a complete financial history, everything I have earned, everything I have spent and everything I own, and I want you to know the facts.
  22. circumstances
    a person's financial situation
    Our family was one of modest circumstances, and most of my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier.
  23. enterprise
    an organization created for business ventures
    It was a grocery store, one of those family enterprises.
  24. commendation
    an official award given as formal public statement
    I guess I’m entitled to a couple of battle stars. I got a couple of letters of commendation.
  25. economist
    an expert in the circulation of goods and services
    When we came out of the war—Pat and I—Pat during the war had worked as a stenographer, and in a bank, and as an economist for a government agency—and when we came out, the total of our savings, from both my law practice, her teaching and all the time I was in the war, the total for that entire period was just less than $10,000—every cent of that, incidentally, was in government bonds—well, that's where we start, when I go into politics.
  26. estate
    extensive landed property retained by the owner
    Second, I have received a total in this past six years of $1,600 from estates which were in my law firm at the time that I severed my connection with it.
  27. engagement
    employment for performers that lasts for a limited time
    I have made an average of approximately $1,500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures.
  28. policy
    written contract or certificate of insurance
    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.
  29. bond
    a certificate of debt issued by a government or corporation
    We have no stocks and bonds of any type.
  30. mortgage
    a conveyance of property as security for repaying a loan
    Well, in addition to the mortgages, the $20,000 mortgage on the house in Washington and the $10,000 mortgage on the house in Whittier, I owe $4,000 to the Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., with an interest at 4 percent.
  31. modest
    not large but sufficient in size or amount
    But I also feel that it is essential in this country of ours that a man of modest means can also run for President, because, you know—remember Abraham Lincoln—you remember what he said—“God must have loved the common people, he made so many of them.”
  32. supplement
    add to what seems insufficient
    First of all, you have read in the papers about other funds, now, Mr. Stevenson apparently had a couple. One of them in which a group of business people paid and helped to supplement the salaries of state employees.
  33. condemn
    express strong disapproval of
    I don't condemn Mr. Stevenson for what he did, but until the facts are in, there is a doubt that would be raised.
  34. casualty
    someone injured or killed in a military engagement
    And a war in Korea in which we have lost 117,000 American casualties, 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 can get them out of there.
  35. corruption
    use of a position of trust for dishonest gain
    Take the problem of corruption. You have read about the mess in Washington.
  36. red herring
    something intended to distract attention from the main issue
    And I say that any man who called the Alger Hiss case a red herring isn’t fit to be President of the United States.
  37. bureau
    an administrative unit of government
    He has accused us that have attempted to expose the Communists, of looking for Communists in the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife.
  38. prosperity
    a state of growth with rising profits and full employment
    And let me just say this: We hear a lot about prosperity these days, but I say, why can’t we have prosperity built on peace, rather than prosperity built on war? Why can’t we have prosperity and an honest Government in Washington, D.C. at the same time?
  39. crusade
    a series of actions tending toward a particular end
    And Eisenhower is the man that can lead the crusade to bring us that kind of prosperity.
  40. abide by
    act in accordance with rules, commands, or wishes
    Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision, I will abide by it.
Created on Sun Jun 24 15:01:01 EDT 2012 (updated Mon Aug 01 11:12:18 EDT 2022)

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