 Nixon 's speech was seen or heard by about 60 million Americans , including the largest television audience to that time , and led to an outpouring of public support . A huge majority of the millions of telegrams and phone calls received by the RNC and other political offices supported Nixon . He was retained on the ticket , which then swept to victory weeks later in November 1952 . The Checkers speech was an early example of a politician using television to appeal directly to the electorate , but has since sometimes been mocked or denigrated . Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician . 
