Checkers Day

What the day is

Checkers Day is observed on September 23. It is also known as National Dogs in Politics Day, and it commemorates a specific broadcast: the televised address Richard Nixon gave on that date in 1952, in which he defended himself against accusations of taking improper campaign funds.

The speech is remembered for one passage. Nixon acknowledged accepting a single gift he intended to keep: a black and white cocker spaniel that a supporter in Texas had sent to his daughters, who had named it Checkers. Whatever anyone said, he told the audience, the family was keeping the dog.

Origin and background

The address worked. Nixon was facing removal from the Republican ticket, and the broadcast produced an enormous volume of supportive mail and telegrams that kept him on it. He served as vice president for the next eight years.

The speech also became a durable political reference point, cited whenever a candidate uses family, sentiment or a pet to change the subject from a financial question. That mixed legacy is part of why the day is observed at all: it is remembered as both an effective piece of communication and a textbook piece of misdirection.

Checkers the dog was not a political prop by nature. He lived with the Nixon family for the rest of his life and died in 1964, before the presidency. The broader observance, dogs in politics, takes in the long American tradition of presidential pets used to soften public figures, from Franklin Roosevelt's Fala onward.

How to take part

• Watch the speech. It runs about half an hour and is freely available; it is worth seeing how directly it addresses the camera, which was new at the time.
• Make a fuss of your own dog. That is the version most people observe, and the day is named for a family pet rather than a politician.
• Read about presidential pets if the history interests you. Fala, Barney and Bo all had their own political uses.
• Give to an animal shelter. Several rescue organizations use the date for fundraising.

The day carries a small lesson worth keeping: when an argument turns to a dog, it is usually worth asking what question the dog is answering.