Nixon Checkers Speech

After the Watergate scandal, Nixon was not trusted by the people and congress. In his speech Nixon announced, “ it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort” (Passage 1 Paragraph 2). This describes Congress not trusting Nixon, because Nixon does not have a strong political base with them. Nixon is sure that, “because of the of the Watergate matter”, he won’t have the needed support from Congress (Passage 1 Paragraph 5). This describes how the Watergate incident made Nixon untrustworthy, because Nixon strongly believes the Congress will not support him after the scandal.

President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government.

caught, all hell broke loose for Nixon’s presidency and there was no turning back. Upon further

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States of America. He was born in Yorba Linda, California. He was born to Francis Anthony Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. He also was the second of five children, all boys. His brothers Harold and Arthur, died at an early age for him, when Harold died at 24. he was 20, and when Arthur died at 7 years old, Richard was only 12 years old. He was born on a ranch, living in a home his father had built. When the ranch didn’t prosper, the Nixon family moved to Whittier, California, to be closer to Hannah’s family. In 1930, he became enrolled in Whittier College, studying interests such as, drama, football, and student government. He then later graduated 7 years later, in June of 1937. In January of 1938, a mere year after he graduated, he enrolled himself in Whittier College once again, but this time, to pursue his new interest of law firm. Whilst continuing studying he met a Schoolteacher whose name was Thelma Catherine Ryan, who went by “Pat” for short. They married on June 21st, 1940. In January 19742, they moved to Washington D.C. After quitting his job, at the Office of Price Administration, he joined the Navy, where he served in Combat Air Transport Command. In 1946, at the end of the war, Republicans encouraged Nixon to run for congress, and in November of 1946, he won over the seat by more than 15,00 votes.

The transgressions uncovered during the Watergate break-in investigation discouraged Americans by shattering their belief in Presidential infallibility. As Richard Nixon’s chief-of-staff, H.R. Haldeman, said, “…comes a very clear thing: you can’t trust the government; you can’t believe what they say; and you can’t rely on their judgment; and the – the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the President wants to do even though it’s wrong, and the President can be wrong.” These words expressed the sentiment of most Americans following Watergate and the publicity surrounding the investigation and President Nixon’s subsequent resignation.

Sworn to office as the thirty-seventh President of the United States, Richard Nixon took on the challenge of leading America during hard times. War overseas in sued and a divided nation was left back home. However, taking the issues at hand Nixon was able to stop wars in Viet Nam, improve relations with China, but was left forever stained with the great “Watergate Scandal.”

What was going on in the United States or in the world at the time that made the speech important?

Richard Nixon had lost the election against John F Kennedy in 1960. In 1968 Nixon ran again and won on the promise of returning law and order to the country, thus starting the push-back that created the “hangover” of the 70s. Nixon’s definition of “law and order” fell in line with that of the working class or as Nixon had called them “forgotten

One event he is most famous for during his Vice-Presidency is the “kitchen debate” with Khrushchev at the United States exhibition in Moscow (Small 47). This particular debate argued capitalism verses communism and it just so happened to take place in a kitchen (Small 49). He was the first American official to address the Soviets in a live television broadcast. Over the next eight years, Nixon continued to elevate the office of vice president to a new level. With his youthful and vigorous attitude, he made sure he would be the most active vice president in any previous administration.

Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda California on his father’s lemon farm. Richard Nixon was the second of five children born to Frank Nixon and Hannah Milhous. Unfortunately, two of his brothers died. In 1925, Richard Nixon’s younger brother died and in 1933, his older brother, whom he greatly admired, died of tuberculosis. His ancestors emigrated from Ireland in the 18th century, and settled in Pennsylvania and Indiana. In 1922, Richard Nixon and his family moved to Whittier, California after the lemon farm failed. Richard Nixon regularly attended Quaker services and experienced a rough childhood, having an abusive father and manipulative mother. He attended Whittier High School where he came in second for student body president. Graduating second in his class, he was offered a scholarship to Harvard but was not able to afford the travel and tuition, so enrolled Whittier College, a quaker institution. He excelled as a student and leader. He became the freshman class President and, as a senior, student body president. Richard Nixon was unable to really excel in football. He graduated second in his class, in 1934, and received a scholarship to Duke Law School. The Whittier College president wrote, “I believe Nixon will become one of America’s important, if not great leaders.”

Moreover, this paper hopes to justify that the Watergate break in was directly caused by the pressure on Nixon from his advisers in relation to the Pentagon papers and the papers' appearance to the citizens. In addition, this essay hopes to prove that Nixon unknowingly sabotaged his own presidency in response to New York Times's publication and court case, Daniel Ellsberg's trial, and Watergate. Also, this Extended Essay hopes to demonstrate how the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap between the citizens and the presidency. Furthermore, the credibility gap is a different perception of events between the government and its citizens. Thus meaning that when any national crisis arose it could significantly affect a president's approval ratings and destroy any relationship forming with in the public. Finally, the Pentagon Papers established a credibility gap in the later years of Nixon's presidency specifically with the Watergate break in and his claims of innocence. This research question is worthy of investigation because the effects of the Pentagon Papers are still felt in the United States with the recent events of Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, and the revelation of the NSA spying on American citizens. That is concurrent to the feelings of the citizens in the 1970s with the government lying to its own

John F Kennedy, 35th president of the United States Of America, in his inaugural speech, vocalizes his ideas for the country and its future through the use of many rhetorical devices such as diction, metaphors, ethos and rhetorical question to convince the people he is fit for the job of president. During the height of the cold war, John F. Kennedy was given the burden of solving the obstacle of the U.S.S.R. The gap between the presidential candidates was microscopic with John F Kennedy getting 49.72% of the votes and Nixon 49.55% of the votes. Most people believed that The now democratic president would get eaten alive in Russian negotiations and was unfit for the presidency. These factors made the speech that much more intense because he had to assure and calm the people who were in high doubt that JFK was the right person for the job. This is why he used these subtle but successful tactics to win the favor of the people and convince them to not only support him, but become active participants in their democracy.

The main claim in Nixon’s “Checkers” speech was that he was innocent from accepting funding for his personal

Nixon wrote his speech with the acknowledgement that the war was of great concern to his fellow Americans. He then based that concern in a way to establish an emotional connection with the audience. He continued that connection with the audience by developing questions which many Americans listening to this speech would have already raised themselves. For example Nixon asks, “What choices do we have if we are to end the war?” By asking these questions he is showing that he understands the concerns of what the people have on the Vietnam War. He also makes it seem like he is not just making a speech to make him look better; he has taken in consideration the feelings and concerns of the people. By asking questions this sets up a balance early in his speech which he would then continue on by examining the facts and answering those questions. For this reason it makes him seem like he has a caring heart and is not just out for another vote in the ballot box. Another question Nixon asks is “How and why did America get involved in Vietnam in the first