30 pages • 1 hour read
Richard NixonCheckers
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1952A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Checkers
In Paragraphs 26-27, Nixon shares the story of how his family received their dog, Checkers, as a gift from a supporter. He describes him as “a little cocker spaniel dog […] black and white, spotted” (Paragraph 27). His non-negotiable statement, “I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we’re gonna keep it” (Paragraph 27), is what gave this dog such symbolic importance that it warranted the naming of his speech.
Nixon’s anecdote about Checkers accomplishes two of his key goals in the speech at once. It casts him as a loving father—someone who would sooner face accusations of corruption than break the hearts of his two daughters—and, in using such a seemingly trivial gift as a comic metonym for all the others, it makes the accusations of corruption against him appear frivolous. This also makes Nixon appear to be accommodating but not apologetic. He has shown full transparency, and not one accusation has held; thus, if anyone questions his choice to keep Checkers, they are the one who is out of line. Checkers symbolizes the absence of guilt or repentance on Nixon’s part. He isn’t retracting his statements, remedying his mistakes, or resigning in defeat. He has cleared his name and plans to keep the gift that is in no way a sign of corruption on his part.
Pat’s Coat
After detailing his personal financial history, Nixon mentions that “Pat doesn’t have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and [he] always tell[s] her she’d look good in anything” (Paragraph 24). Nixon points out his wife’s coat for two reasons. First, a mink coat is commonly seen as a symbol of status and wealth. It historically served to represent a woman’s rise to power. By saying that she does not own a coat like this, Nixon is not undermining their success or status but diminishing an outdated symbol and replacing it with a new one. This leads to his second reason for mentioning this. In describing and complimenting his wife’s actual coat, he symbolically raises it above the status associated with the mink coat. He deems her coat respectable but also implies that it is worthy of her true position as a Republican icon. In contrasting the two coats, he separates the political title from status and wealth and connects it, instead, to a more modest and work-oriented image. Her coat, then, symbolizes a necessary change in mindset toward political status and wealth.
Smears
The motif of political smears is present throughout the speech. Stemming from the theme of corruption, the mention of smears stresses how messy and combative politics can become. Nixon states, “I know that this is not the last of the smears. In spite of my explanation tonight, other smears will be made” (Paragraph 32). By using this word, he implies that the accusations against him have no merit and are made merely for political gain. Ironically, he makes this claim in the context of his own crusade against corruption, suggesting that those making smears against him are doing so to prevent him from exposing them. In this framing, any accusation against Nixon is a smear, while any accusation Nixon makes against his opponents is a truth spoken in pursuit of justice. Having already mentioned his recognition that “some will continue to smear regardless of what the truth may be” (Paragraph 16), Nixon asserts that “the best and only answer to a smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth” (Paragraph 3). By emphasizing his own position as one who has been smeared, he inoculates himself against the perception that he is attempting to smear his opponents.
