the Checkers speech

 The "Checkers speech" is on You Tube, if you want to listen to it.

1952:

Dwight Eisenhower is running for president of the United States with Senator Richard Nixon as his vice-presidential candidate.

        Two months into the campaign, a New York Post headline says, "Secret Rich Men's Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary."

There's some enthusiasm for dumping Nixon from the ticket - Nixon goes on television (a new medium, at the time) and gives what became known as the Checkers Speech.

        He talks about his finances, says how much he gets and from where; he details some investments, and then does what is called "changing the narrative" - he says his wife doesn't have a mink coat, but she does have a "respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she'd look good in anything."

        He appeals to sentiment, triggering emotions.

        Then he goes on and says that his family did receive a gift:  a supporter sent them a cocker spaniel; his six-year-old daughter named the dog Checkers.  He says his two daughters "love the dog, as all kids do," and whatever his critics say, "We're going to keep him."

In his televised address, Senator Nixon kind of makes the dog a "red herring" - no one was trying to tell him he should give the dog back to the person who sent it to them.  But he makes it sound like someone was trying to make them give their dog back!  (lol) - saying, very firmly and with gentle humor around the edges, "We're going to keep him."

  

Then he invites the audience to write in with telegrams and say if they want him to quit the ticket or stay on, and he says he will "abide by" the decision of the people.

They send in telegrams saying, Please stay on the ticket.

And Eisenhower does not dump him.

        Nixon is Vice President, under President Eisenhower, from 1952 to 1960 - two terms.

        What Senator Nixon did there was create what we now call "engagement" - social media platforms are financially rewarded for engagement - if people comment, either positive or negative, the interaction, the engagement, is positive for their channels.

Back in the early 1950s we didn't have social media, of course, but right there, when Nixon invited people to write in - that was engagement.  And it worked.

Checkers (the dog) and Richard Nixon in the 1950s

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