Rhetorical Analysis Of Richard Nixon's Speech

A man's pride is never diminished: many American men grew up with this saying. One such man, Vice President Richard Nixon, in his address "Checkers speech", recounts an embarrassing event to which he owes the American people. Nixon's purpose is to convey the idea that, he is an Everyman who happened to be wrongly accused of tainted wealth. He adopts a sentimental tone in order to appear as an everyday American.
Nixon begins his address to the American people by appealing to pride and loyalty by expressing his disagreement to the charges pointing his way. He attempts to pursuade the "fellow Americans" that the charges pointed at him are "morally wrong" and continues to state he received "not one cent". He then calls attention to his campaign also stating that "no contributor" has or was giving any consideration. This outpouring of information givin by the Vice President conveys a persuasive tone that urges Americans to believe in Nixon.
Throughout his address, Nixon uses many strong analogies that gives strength to his credibility, earnestness and sincerity. These analogies include him introduces his wife, Pat Nixon as someone who taught "shorthand in high school", him going into service, along with not being a "rich man". These analogies boosts Nixon's credibility by showing that

he is just like your average American. Whilst doing this Nixon is able to introduce and support the issue from his home life.
Adding to his earnestness and sincerity, Nixon uses many earnest phrases throughout his speech, he points out facts about his family and the distribution of payments.

"I have no life insurance on our two youngsters. We have no internet of any kind. I owe 4500 dollars to the Riggs Bank. I owe 3500 dollars to my parents." These facts introduce and support the idea that Nixon still had fresh wounds from the Great Depression and he riveted the nation. However, Nixon's true sincerity comes out when he mentions that a gift has been sent by a Texas supporter, knowing that Nixon's daughters wanted a dog; he keeps the dog, "regardless of what they say about it." Then came the notorious

Checkers.
Nixon's speech shows pride and loyalty from the very beginning which inevitably gets many people to support him, though he still held everyone's attention, Nixon effectively persuaded his audience by mentioning Checkers. By resorting to a dog, which claimed to be his best friend, helped Nixon set the seal for television in politics.