I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice-presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned.
WORD LISTSRichard Nixon's "Checkers Speech" (1952)June 24, 2012
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 money from a “Secret Rich Men’s Trust Fund.” Nixon chose to use the new medium of television to defend himself. In the speech he stated that one gift he did receive was a small dog named “Checkers.” His two young daughters loved the dog and would not give it up. The speech was a tremendous success. Nixon served two terms as vice president. Ironically another television performance, a debate with John Kennedy in 1960, cost him the election that year. Another scandal known as “Watergate” led Nixon to resign from the presidency in 1974.
  
candidate
integrity
I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice-presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned.
attain
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.
incidentally
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.
fund
It was not a secret fund.
defray
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.
campaign
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.
constituent
In this context a constituent is one of the citizens represented by Senator Nixon.
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.
finance
The taxpayers should not be required to finance items which are not official business but which are primarily political business.
practice
Some who are lawyers, and I happen to be a lawyer, continue to practice law, but I haven't been able to do that.
engage
In this context engage means that he has not been able to work as an attorney.
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. . .
client
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.
unbiased
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.
expose
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 which people in my home state of California, who contributed to my campaign and who continued to make these contributions after I was elected. . .
communism
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 which people in my home state of California, who contributed to my campaign and who continued to make these contributions after I was elected. . .
corruption
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 which people in my home state of California, who contributed to my campaign and who continued to make these contributions after I was elected. . .
subterfuge
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.
audit
And I would like to tell you this evening that just an hour ago we received an independent audit of this entire fund.
pertinent
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.
statute
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.
disbursement
It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the funds by Dana Smith. . .
constitute
Represented or made up are synonyms for constituted.
. . . that Senator Nixon did not violate any federal or state law by reason of the operation of the fund; and that 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.
unprecedented
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.
modest
Our family was one of modest circumstances, and most of my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier.
enterprise
It was a grocery store, one of those family enterprises.
commendation
I got a couple of letters of commendation.
economist
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.
bond
Government bonds might be war bonds or savings bonds.
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.
estate
In this context estates refer to assets or property that was owned by the law firm in which Nixon was a partner.
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.
engagement
I have made an average of approximately $1,500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures.
republican
But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she would look good in anything.
condemn
I don't condemn Mr. Stevenson for what he did, but until the facts are in, there is a doubt that would be raised.
commentator
I'm going to tell you this: I remember in the dark days of the Hiss trial 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 Hiss.
casualty
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.
devices
In this context the phrase 'left to their own devices' means 'on their own.'
They got secrets in the atomic bomb case which enabled them to get the secret of the atomic bomb five years before they would have gotten it by their own devices.
bureau
I say that a man who, like Mr. Stevenson, has pooh-poohed and ridiculed the Communist threat in the United States--he has accused us, that they have attempted to expose the Communists, of looking for Communists in the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife.
crusade
And Eisenhower is the man that can lead the crusade to bring us that kind of prosperity.
abide
And whatever their decision, I will abide by it.
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