When President Richard Nixon resigned from office in disgrace in 1974, he left behind a complicated and tarnished legacy. But one thing was certain; the man loved his dogs.
We're welcoming the return of the tradition of presidential pets in the White House today, and what we hope is a will become a new tradition of welcoming rescue dogs (from our home state of Delaware, even!) to the office, with this clip from a 1966 video of Gene Michelon, the Director of Public Affairs for the Republic Steel Corporation, interviewing Nixon about government and political affairs
This was the first interview inRepublic Steel's "Why Politics?" series, filmed by Cinecraft. It featuresNixon's musings on why "average" people should become active in politics, what characteristics make a good politician, the impact of political life on politician's families, and why viewers should not sacrifice their freedom for peace. This clip, however, is mostly about the loss of Checkers, his most famous pet, and his fondness for his clever new poodle, despite it being a "woman's dog".
This film is part of Hagley Library's Chamber of Commerce of the United States photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1993.230). To view the full film now, click here. To see some behind the scenes photographs from our collection of Culley family collection of Cinecraft Productions audiovisual materials (Accession 2018.201), click here.