September 23rd: National Dogs in Politics Day
When I started writing Pawlitics two whole posts ago, I was just doing this for fun and to “bond” with Kegan. But being me, I couldn’t just stop there. After talking to my Honors Program Director, Dr. Rebekah Dement, we decided that I could research how dogs affect politics as an independent study for honors credit within the Indiana University Southeast Honors Program. This means I will be developing a research paper, presenting at the Indiana University Southeast Student Conference (hopefully), and spending hours devoted to researching dogs.
“What does that mean for the blog?” you may ask. Well, I still want to talk to political pet owners and get the scoop on how their particular pup is staying politically involved. That’s going to be part of my primary research. But to do this project justice, I need to also do some background research about dogs in politics. That’s when I learned about Checkers.
Checkers was Richard Nixon’s cocker spaniel. During the 1952 election, Nixon was the vice-presidential candidate for Dwight Eisenhower. However, Nixon had found himself in trouble. He was accused of taking $18,000 of campaign contributions for personal use (AP Archive, 2016).
During the 1950s, television was beginning to take a more significant role in American culture. Nixon’s speech on September 23rd, 1952 would save his chances of staying on Eisenhower’s ticket. During his speech, Nixon spoke about how his children had wanted to get a dog. National Today, which keeps track of unofficial holidays, such as National Dogs in Politics Day, explains that “by alluding to his children and the family dog, a black and white cocker spaniel named Checkers; Nixon touched a public nerve, making him seem more personable” (“National Dogs in Politics Day,” 2020). “The kids, like all kids, love the dog,” Nixon said, “and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we’re going to keep it.”
Television allowed voters to see emotion, facial expressions, and nonverbal communication from candidates in ways they hadn’t seen in many past elections. Nixon’s wife makes a brief appearance in the speech, right before he begins telling the story about how the family got Checkers as a gift. These details mattered to voters and began the crazy media storm we now know of as a presidential election process.
Checkers mattered; on November 4th, the voters elected Eisenhower and Nixon to serve as president and vice-president: “The speech revolutionized how politicians connect with voters, helped usher in a new era in political speech-making and showed how television could be effectively used in politics. And it was Checkers who started it all” (“National Dogs in Politics Day,” 2020).
Click the link to see a shortened version of Nixon’s “Checkers Speech”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCkPXzkne-U
Dogs in Politics Day was assigned to September 23rd in honor of the “Checkers Speech” and in memory of how a once ordinary cocker spaniel influenced a presidential election.
Ironically, September 23rd was the day we put down Roscoe. (Blog drinking game: drink every time I find a way to make a post about Roscoe). Roscoe was in no way a political Yorkie (though he used to bark every time Bill O’Reilly would come on the TV screen back before that sexual harassment scandal ended his FOX news career). But do you ever feel like the universe is telling you that you are right where you were meant to be at a specific moment in time? That’s kind of how I feel about this whole thing. I know not everyone believes in that coincidental philosophy, but it makes me feel like I’m doing what I should be right now. For me, days don’t just align like that without divine intervention.
If you ask me, it’s a pretty good feeling.
Sources
AP Archive (2016, September 22). Richard Nixon’s “Checkers” Speech – 1952 | Today in history | 23 Sept 16. Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCkPXzkne-U
National dogs in politics day. (2020, January 10). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://nationaltoday.com/national-dogs-politics-day/
Politics with Kegan Prentice 
Pete and ChastenButtigieg have two dogs, Truman and Buddy. You can follow them on Twitter. Because they are dedicated 🐶 persons, there is also a site dedicated to turning them into cat people called Cats4Pete. There is also Introverts for Pete but that’s not important right now. It is great for introverts though. Most presidents have had dogs or at least some sort of pet. Donald Trump has no pets. That says a lot about him imho. I am allergic to just about everything but mold and dogs. Naturally my doctor said, “Oh good, you can have a moldy dog!” I don’t have any objection to dogs in general, but I don’t have one myself, not because of mold but because of slobber. 🙀
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