Kevin Mattson. (2012). Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the "Rocking, Socking" Election of 1952. Unabridged Blackstone Publishing.

Kevin Mattson. 2012. Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the "Rocking, Socking" Election of 1952. Blackstone Publishing.

Kevin Mattson, Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the "Rocking, Socking" Election of 1952. Blackstone Publishing, 2012.

Kevin Mattson. Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the "Rocking, Socking" Election of 1952. Unabridged Blackstone Publishing, 2012.

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     Kevin Mattson is the Connor Study Professor of Contemporary History at Ohio University. He is the author of Rebels All!, When America Was Great, Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century, Intellectuals in Action, and What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President? He has written for the American Prospect, Dissent, Nation, New York Times Book Review, and Washington Post Book World, among many other publications.

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Just Plain Dick

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A behind-the-scenes look at one of the most famous campaign speeches—Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech, to be published on its sixtieth anniversary

It all started with some businessmen bankrolling Richard Nixon to become a "salesman against socialization." But in this precursor to current campaign finance scandals, Nixon had some explaining to do to keep his place on Eisenhower's Republican ticket, so he took to the airwaves. In making his speech, Nixon left behind lines about a "Republican cloth coat" and a black-and-white cocker spaniel named Checkers. The speech saved and bolstered Nixon's political career and set the tone for the 1952 campaign.

Just Plain Dick is political history and more. It's the story of a young man nearing a nervous breakdown and staging a political comeback. While the narrative focuses tightly, almost cinematically, on the 1952 election cycle—from the spring primary season to the summer conventions, from the allegations against Nixon through to the speech in September and finally the election in November—Mattson also provides a broad-stroke depiction of American politics and culture during the Cold War.

Readers will see Nixon's contribution to current campaign styles. Here is a story of phony populism, a hatred of elites (tagged "eggheads" back then), and emotionally charged appeals erasing a rational assessment of a politician's qualifications. An entertaining and suspenseful read, Just Plain Dick is ideal election context for political junkies and those fascinated with 1950s America.

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   • source: Publishers Weekly
   • content: "[A] panoramic exploration of egghead politics, Hollywood films, television culture, and op-ed press buzz...Mattson's portrait of a crusading, emotional Nixon on the verge of victory colors in all the campaign's background details, including relevant pop-culture detours and digressions, from Hedda Hopper and Lucille Ball to the hole in Adlai Stevenson's shoe."
2. • premium: True
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   • content:

     July 9, 2012
     Ohio University professor Mattson (When America Was Great) looks back at Nixon as a whistle-stop “political salesman” in this panoramic exploration of egghead politics, Hollywood films, television culture, and op-ed press buzz. Nixon rose to prominence investigating alleged communist spy Alger Hiss, and then dominated his 1950 U.S. Senate election with a smear campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas that hinted at her supposed communist leanings (“pink down to her underwear”). But by 1952 the TV age dawned; it was the first year the party conventions were televised in their entirety, ad agencies had become campaign strategists, and to secure the VP spot on Eisenhower’s ticket, Nixon had a viewing public to win over. Nixon got the nomination thanks to his “under-the-table friendship” with Joseph McCarthy; his wife, Pat, whom, Mattson says, he used like a prop; campaign manager Murray Chotiner; and commentator Walter Lippmann. Accused of campaign financing improprieties, he gave his famous Checkers speech on primetime TV—with its memorable line about Pat wearing “a respectable Republican cloth coat”; it was a “smash hit,” garnering the largest TV audience at that time and solidifying the public support Nixon needed. Mattson’s portrait of a crusading, emotional Nixon on the verge of victory colors in all the campaign’s background details, including relevant pop culture detours and digressions, from Hedda Hopper and Lucille Ball to the hole in Adlai Stevenson’s shoe. Agent: Heather Schroder, ICM.

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A behind-the-scenes look at one of the most famous campaign speeches—Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech, to be published on its sixtieth anniversary

It all started with some businessmen bankrolling Richard Nixon to become a "salesman against socialization." But in this precursor to current campaign finance scandals, Nixon had some explaining to do to keep his place on Eisenhower's Republican ticket, so he took to the airwaves. In making his speech, Nixon left behind lines about a "Republican cloth coat" and a black-and-white cocker spaniel named Checkers. The speech saved and bolstered Nixon's political career and set the tone for the 1952 campaign.

Just Plain Dick is political history and more. It's the story of a young man nearing a nervous breakdown and staging a political comeback. While the narrative focuses tightly, almost cinematically, on the 1952 election cycle—from the spring primary season to the summer conventions, from the allegations...

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