11/30/2023 0 Comments Fantastic checkers 1![]() While he received an expense allowance of over $75,000, more than most senators received (because California was one of the most populous states), that money went to pay his staff of twelve and to cover the cost of stationery, telephone service, telegrams, and other office expenses. Īs a senator, Nixon received an annual salary of $12,500 (equivalent to $141,000 in 2022). ![]() paying for getting out material for radio broadcasts and television programs. . Defraying expenses of his Christmas cards to the people who worked in his campaign or contributed financially . Payment of airmail and long-distance phone charges above his allowance . Transportation and hotel expenses to cover trips to California more frequently than his mileage allowance permits. Īs Smith wrote to one potential contributor, money donated to the Fund was to be used for: Nixon's Southern California campaign treasurer Dana Smith suggested what became known as "the Fund," to be administered by himself, which would pay for Nixon's political expenses. Campaign manager Murray Chotiner and campaign chairman Bernie Brennan proposed a year-round campaign for the next six years, leading up to a re-election bid in 1956. With the six-year term secured, Nixon campaign officials discussed how to further his career. In 1950, California Congressman Richard Nixon was elected to the Senate, defeating Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas. The term Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician, lacking material substance. 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. He was retained on the ticket, which swept to victory weeks later in November 1952. The RNC and other political offices received millions of telegrams and phone calls supporting Nixon. 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. ![]() 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. The idea for the Checkers reference came from Franklin D. 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. Eisenhower's running mate, and the story quickly grew until it threatened his place on the ticket. The press became aware of the fund in September 1952, two months after Nixon's selection as General Dwight D. 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. These contributions went to reimburse him for travel costs, postage for political mailings which he did not have franked, and similar expenses. After his successful 1950 Senate campaign, his backers continued to raise money to finance his political activities. 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. 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. 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. Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. 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.
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