At the 1952 Republican national convention, young Senator Richard M. Nixon waschosen to be the running mate of presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nixon had enjoyed a spectacular rise in national politics. Elected to Congress in 1946, hequickly made a name for himself as a militant anti-Communist while serving on the HouseUn-American Activities Committee. In 1950, at age 38, he was elected to the U.S. Senate andbecame an outspoken critic of President Truman's conduct of the Korean War, wasteful spendingby the Democrats, and also alleged Communists were in the government.But Nixon's rapid rise in American politics came to a crashing halt after a sensationalheadline appeared in the New York Post stating, "Secret Rich Men's Trust Fund Keeps Nixon inStyle Far Beyond His Salary." The headline appeared just a few days after Eisenhower had chosenhim as his running mate. Amid the shock and outrage that followed, many Republicans urgedEisenhower to remove Nixon from the ticket before it was too late. Nixon, however, in a brilliant political maneuverer, took his case directly to the Americanpeople via the new medium of television in a nationwide hookup. With his wife sitting stoicallynearby, Nixon offered an apologetic explanation of all of his finances, including the now-famouslines regarding his wife's "respectable Republican cloth coat" and the tale of a little dog namedCheckers given as a present to his young daughters. "...I want to say right now that regardless ofwhat they say, we're going to keep it." He turned the last section of his address into a political attack, making veiled accusationsabout the finances of his opponents and challenging them to provide the same kind of openexplanation. Although it would forever be known as Nixon's "Checkers Speech," it was actually apolitical triumph for Nixon at the time it was given. Eisenhower requested Nixon to come to WestVirginia where he was campaigning and greeted Nixon at ...
