| Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech | ||
|---|---|---|
| This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA. | Tape Master: | 292 |
| Catalog #: | 437367 | |
| Clip Number: | 437367-7 | |
| Orginal Film: | ||
| Timecode: | 02:13:35 - 02:16:17 | |
| Location: | United States | |
| Year Shot: | 1952 (Actual Year) | |
| Audio: | Yes | |
| Color: | No | |
| Headings: | ELECTIONS: Campaigns LOCATIONS/NORTH AMERICA: USA PERSONALITIES: Nixon, Richard M. POLITICS: Public Address (Speech) | |
| Description: | Vice Presidential candidate RICHARD M. NIXON continues the infamous Checkers speech, Sept. 23, 1952: Take Communism. I say that as far as that subject is concerned, the danger is great to America. In the Hiss case they got the secrets which enabled them to break the American secret State Department code. 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. 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. I say that a man who like Mr. Stevenson has pooh-poohed and ridiculed the Communist threat in the United States, he said that they are phantoms among ourselves; he's accused us that have attempted to expose the Communists of looking for Communists in the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife, I say that a man who says that isn't qualified to be President of the United States. And I say that the only man who can lead us in this fight to rid the Government of both those who are Communists and those who have corrupted this Government is Eisenhower, because Eisenhower, you can be sure, recognizes the problem and he knows how to deal with it." "And, now, finally, I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay on the Republican ticket or resign. Let me say this: I don't believe that I ought to quit because I'm not a quitter. And, incidentally, Pat's not a quitter. After all, her name was Patricia Ryan and she was born on St. Patrick's Day, and you know the Irish never quit. (C/A of PAT NIXON sitting in chair, listening.) "But the decision, my friends, is not mine. I would do nothing that would harm the possibilities of Dwight Eisenhower to become President of the United States. And for that reason I am submitting to the Republican National Committee tonight through this television broadcast the decision which it is theirs to make. Let them decide whether my position on the ticket will help or hurt. And I am going to ask you to help them decide. Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision is, I will abide by it. But just let me say this last word. Regardless of what happens I'm going to continue this fight. I'm going to campaign up and down America until we drive the crooks and the Communists and those that defend them out of Washington. And remember, folks, Eisenhower is a great man. Believe me. He's a great man. And a vote for Eisenhower is a vote for what's good for America." | |
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