Presidential Gifts, a Look Back
How President Richard Nixon defended accepting a gift in 1952
For readers mystified by my previous newsletter here is some context: Back in the day a public official’s taking advantage of his office to accept a gift caused an uproar. When offered a dog back in 1952 President Richard Nixon couldn’t get away with saying, “I’d be stupid not to take it!” Here is how Nixon defended keeping the pooch in his famous “Checkers” speech that I repackaged for Donald Trump yesterday:
“One other thing I probably should tell you, because if I don't they'll 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 message 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, we're gonna keep it.”
Mea Culpa
Please note that on occasion in order to make a point I resort to Horatian satire. Rather than give the joke away with an emogee my preference is to rely on the reader’s intelligence to determine whether or not I am kidding.
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