In an epic political move, a young Senator from California, Richard M. Nixon, took to the television, to apologetically address the accusations that he was using campaign donations for personal expenses. Through a brilliant speech, reaching over sixty million Americans, which is now known to all as the "Checkers speech," Nixon went live and blatantly informed the American people of his life's expenses, argued that public office candidates should not have to be wealthy in order to run for government; and even went as far as to quote the honest Abraham Lincoln with reference to the common people.
On September 23rd, 1952, Nixon broadcast his courageous and triumphant speech. "I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or
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The main claim Nixon was transcribing was that qualified individuals, who are not wealthy, should still be able to fairly run for President. He reminisced to a period of a modest President, Mr. Abraham Lincoln and quoted, “God must have loved the common people—he made so many of them” (Nixon). The previous statement tied into many different aspects of Nixon’s speech. For instance, he spoke directly to the common Americans, the individuals that are significantly impacted by the government’s decisions. The leaders of our government need to be able to relate to these individuals to gain votes; if a candidate considers himself superior to the rest of the society because of his inherited money, he will lose. Nixon, describing his life experiences and the work ethic he demonstrated made his story heart felt and relatable to the common people. Not everyone desires to be in office, but everyone has a dream job and the majority of the time, it takes blood, sweat and tears to get there. God created each individual differently, yet at the end of the day we are one in the same because, in this particular situation, the common person struggles through financial problems or debts, at least once in their life and it should not be a permanent roadblock to