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 giving details. i believe we've had enoug h of that in the United states, particu larly with the present Adm inistration in Washington D.C. To me the off ice of the vice Presidency of the United States is a great office and i feel that the people have got to have conf idence in the integrity of the men ho 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 misunderstand ing of the facts is to tell the truth. And that's why I am here tonight I want to tell you my side of the case. I'm sure that you have read the charge, and you've heard 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, incidenta lly that it was wrong just not illegal, because it isn't a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isnt enough. the question is, was it mora lly wrong? i say that it was morally wrong--if any of that $18, 000 went to Se nator Nixon, for my personal use I say that it was morally wrong if it was secretly given, and secretly handled. And say that it was morally wrong if any of the contributors got special favors for the contributions 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 th ink should be charged to the taxpayers of the United states. 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 af ter the program, and he said Dick, what about is fund w hear about? And I said " Well, there is no secret about it. Go out and see dana Smith w ho was the administrator of the fund " And i gave him [edson] his [sm ith's] address. And I said you will f ind that the purpose of the fund simply was to def ray 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 particu larly clear - 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 don t believe in that, and i can say that never, while i have been in the senate of the United States, as far as the people that contributed to this fund are concerned have I made a telephone call for them to an agency or have i gone down to anRichard 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 giving details. I believe we've 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 run for that of fice 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 that's why I am here tonight. I want to tell you my side of the case. I'm sure that you have read the charge, and you've heard it, that I, Senator Nixon, took $18,000 f rom 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 isn't a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isn't enough. The question is, was it 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 contributions 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. 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 af ter 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 was the administrator of the fund." And I gave him [Edson] his [Smith's] address. And I said you will find that the purpose of the fund simply was to def ray 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 clear -- 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 don't believe in that, and I can say that never, while I have been in the Senate of the United States, as far as the people 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