1、Richard M. Nixon: “Checkers“My Fellow Americans, I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice Presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned. Now, the usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or to deny them without givi
2、ng details. I believe weve had enough of that in the United States, particularly with the present Administration in Washington, D.C. 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
3、run for that office and who might obtain it. I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth. And thats why I am here tonight. I want to tell you my side of the case. Im sure that you have read the charge, and youve he
4、ard it, that I, Senator Nixon, took $18,000 from a group of my supporters. Now, was that wrong? And let me say that it was wrong. I am saying it, incidentally, that it was wrong, just not illegal, because it isnt a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isnt enough. The question is, was i
5、t morally wrong? I say that it was morally wrong - if any of that $18,000 went to Senator Nixon, for my personal use. I say that it was morally wrong if it was secretly given, and secretly handled. And I say that it was morally wrong if any of the contributors got special favors for the contribution
6、s that they made. And now to answer those questions let me say this: not one cent of the $18,000 or any other money of that type ever went to me for my personal use. Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States.
7、 It was not a secret fund. As a matter of fact, when I was on “Meet the Press“- some of you may have seen it last Sunday - Peter Edson came up to me after the program, and he said, “Dick, what about is fund we hear about?“ And I said, “Well, there is no secret about it. Go out and see Dana Smith who
8、 was the administrator of the fund.“ And I gave him Edson his Smiths address. 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. And third, let me point out - and I want to make this particularly clea
9、r - 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. I just dont believe in that, and I can say that never, while I have been in the Senate of the United States, as far as the peop
10、le that contributed to this fund are concerned, have I made a telephone call for them to an agency, or have I gone down to an agency on their behalf. And the records will show that, the records which are in the hands of the administration. Well, then, some of you will say, and rightly, “Well, what d
11、id you use the fund for, Senator? Why did you have to have it?“ Let me tell you in just a word how a Senate office operates. First of all, a Senator gets $15,000 a year in salary. He gets enough money to pay for one trip a year, a round trip, that is, for himself, and his family between his home and
12、 Washington, D.C. And then he gets an allowance to handle the people that work in his office to handle his mail. And the allowance for my State of California, is enough to hire 13 people. And let me say, incidentally, that that allowance is not paid to the Senator. It is paid directly to the individ
13、uals that the Senator puts on his pay roll. But all of these people and all of these allowances are for strictly official business; business, for example, when a constituent writes in and wants you to go down to the Veterans Administration and get some information about his GI policy - items of that
14、 type, for example. But there are other expenses that are not covered by the Government. And I think I can best discuss those expenses by asking you some questions. Do you think that when I or any other senator makes a political speech, has it printed, should charge the printing of that speech and t
15、he mailing of that speech to the taxpayers? Do you think, for example, when I or any other Senator makes a trip to his home State to make a purely political speech that the cost of that trip should be charged to the taxpayers? Do you think when a Senator makes political broadcasts or political telev
16、ision broadcasts, radio or television, that the expense of those broadcasts should be charged to the taxpayers? Well I know what your answer is. Its the same answer that audiences give me whenever I discuss this particular problem: The answer is no. The taxpayers shouldnt be required to finance item
17、s which are not official business but which are primarily political business. Well, then the question arises, you say, “Well, how do you pay for these and how can you do it legally?“ And there are several ways that it can be done, incidentally, and it is done legally in the United States Senate and
18、in the Congress. The first way is to be a rich man. I dont happen to be a rich man, so I couldnt use that one. Another way that is used is to put your wife on the pay roll. Let me say, incidentally, that my opponent, my opposite number for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his
19、wife on the pay roll and has had her on his pay roll for the past ten years. Now let me just say this: That his business, and Im not critical of him for doing that. You will have to pass judgment on that particular point. But I have never done that for this reason: I have found that there are so man
20、y deserving stenographers and secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didnt feel it was right to put my wife on the pay roll. My wifes sitting over here. She is a wonderful stenographer. She used to teach stenography and she used to teach shorthand in high school. That was when I
21、met her. And I can tell you folks that shes worked many hours at night and many hours on Saturdays and Sundays in my office, and shes done a fine job, and I am proud to say tonight that in the six years I have been in the House and the Senate of the United States, Pat Nixon has never been on the Gov
22、ernment pay roll. What are other ways that these finances can be taken care of? Some who are lawyers, and I happen to be a lawyer, continue to practice law, but I havent been able to do that. I am so far away from California that I have been so busy with my senatorial work that I have not engaged in
23、 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 couldnt 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
24、 had one before Government. 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
25、, the corruption in it - the only way that 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, were glad to make. And let me say I am proud of the fact that not one of the
26、m has ever asked me for a special favor. I am proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me to vote on a bill other than my own conscience would dictate. 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 pol
27、itical and shouldnt be charged to the taxpayers. Let me say, incidentally, that some of you may say, “Well, that is all right, Senator, thats your explanation, but have you got any proof?“ And Id like to tell you this evening that just an hour ago we received an independent audit of this entire fund
28、. I suggested to Governor Sherman Adams, who is the chief of staff of the Dwight Eisenhower campaign, that an independent audit and legal report be obtained, and I have that audit in my hands. Its an audit made by the Price Waterhouse that Senator Nixon did not violate any federal or state law by re
29、ason 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 designated office expenses, constituted income to the Senator which was either reportable or taxable as income under a
30、pplicable tax laws.“ (signed) Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, by Elmo H. Conley Now that, my friends, is not Nixon speaking, but thats an independent audit which was requested, because I want the American people to know all the facts, and I am not afraid of having independent people go in and check the fa
31、cts, and that is exactly what they did. But then I realized that there are still some who may say, and rightly so - and let me say that I recognize that some will continue to smear regardless of what the truth may be - but that there has been understandably, some honest misunderstanding on this matt
32、er, and there are some that will say, “Well, maybe you were able, Senator, to fake the thing. How can we believe what you say? After all, is there a possibility that maybe you got some sums in cash? Is there a possibility that you might have feathered your own nest?“ And so now, that I am going to d
33、o - 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 Ive earned, everything Ive spent, everything I own. And I want you to know the facts. Ill have to start ear
34、ly. I was born in 1913. Our family was one of modest circumstances, and most of my early life was spent in a store out in East Whittier. It was a grocery store, one of those family enterprises. The only reason we were able to make it go was because my mother and dad had five boys, and we all worked
35、in the store. I worked my way through college, and, to a great extent, through law school. And then in 1940, probably the best thing that ever happened to me happened. I married Pat who is sitting over here. We had a rather difficult time after we were married, like so many of the young couples who
36、may be listening to us. I practiced law. She continued to teach school. Then, in 1942, I went into the service. Let me say that my service record was not a particularly unusual one. I went to the South Pacific. I guess Im entitled to a couple of battle stars. I got a couple of letters of commendatio
37、n. But I was just there when the bombs were falling. And then I returned - returned to the United States, and in 1946, I ran for the Congress. 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 w
38、hen 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 a little less than $10,000 - every cent of that, incidentally, was in Government bonds. Well thats where we start, when I go into politics.
39、Now, what have I earned since I went into politics? Well, here it is. Ive jotted it down. Let me read the notes. First of all, I have had my salary as a Congressman and as a Senator. 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 t
40、hat I severed my connection with it. And, incidentally, as I said before, I have not engaged in any legal practice and have not accepted any fees from business that came into the firm after I went into politics. I have made an average of approximately $1,500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagem
41、ents and lectures. And then, fortunately, we have inherited little money. Pat sold her interest in her fathers estate for $3,000, and I inherited $1,500 from my grandfather. We lived rather modestly. For four years we lived in an apartment in Parkfairfax, in Alexandria Virginia. The rent was $80.00
42、a month. And we saved for the time that we could buy a house. Now, that was what we took in. What did we do with this money? What do we have today to show for it? This will surprise you because it is so little, I suppose, as standards generally go of people in public life. First of all, weve got a h
43、ouse in Washington, which cost $41,000 and on which we owe $20,000. We have a house in Whittier, California which cost $13,000 and on which we owe $3,000. My folks are living there at the present time. I have just $4,000 in life insurance, plus my GI policy which Ive never been able to convert, and
44、which will run out in two years. I have no life insurance whatever on Pat. I have no life insurance on our two youngsters Tricia and Julie. I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car. We have our furniture. We have no stocks and bonds of any type. We have no interest of any kind, direct or indirect, in any busines
45、s. Now, thats what we have. What do we owe? Well in addition to the mortgage, the $20,000 mortgage on the house in Washington, the $10,000 one on the house in Whittier, I owe $4500 to the Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C., with interest 4 and 1/2 percent. I owe $3,500 to my parents, and the interest on
46、 that loan, which I pay regularly, because its a part of the savings they made through the years they were working so hard - I pay regularly 4 percent interest. And then I have a $500 loan, which I have on my life insurance. Well, thats about it. Thats what we have. And thats what we owe. It isnt ve
47、ry much. But Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that weve got is honestly ours. I should say this, that Pat doesnt have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her shed look good in anything. One other thing I probably should tell you, becau
48、se if I dont theyll probably be saying this about me, too. We did get something, a gift, after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a mess
49、age from Union Station in Baltimore, saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, were gonna keep it. It isnt easy to come before a nationwide audience and bare your life, as Ive
