Nixon’s speech was brilliant political theater. The man who had fashioned the Orthogonians’ mission statement knew his audience—knew that the Franklins might make fun of his speech but that the vastly more numerous common people would be moved. Liberal Democrats who fancied themselves as tribunes of the working man suddenly saw Nixon outfox and supplant them. It is no wonder that hating Nixon became a mantra of the liberal elite. In the Checkers Speech were seeded the roots of Nixon’s later appeals to the Silent Majority—which would again leave the chattering classes spluttering.
