RichardMNixonCheckers精选资料Word下载.docx

1、 I e before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice Presidency and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned. Now, the usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or to deny them without giving details. I believe weve had enough of that in th

2、e United States, particularly with the present Administration in Washington, To me the office of the Vice Presidency of the United States is a great office, and I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might obtain it. I have a th

3、eory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth. And thats why I am here tonight. I want to tell you my side of the case. Im sure that you have read the charge, and youve heard it, that I, Senator Nixon, took $18,000 from a group

4、 of my supporters. Now, was that wrong? And let me say that it was wrong. I am saying it, incidentally, that it was wrong, just not illegal, because it isnt a question of whether it was legal or illegal, that isnt enough. The question is, was it morally wrong? I say that it was morally wrong - if an

5、y of that $18,000 went to Senator Nixon, for my personal use. I say that it was morally wrong if it was secretly given, and secretly handled. And I say that it was morally wrong if any of the contributors got special favors for the contributions that they made. And now to answer those questions let

6、me say this: not one cent of the $18,000 or any other money of that type ever went to me for my personal use. Every penny of it was used to pay for political expenses that I did not think should be charged to the taxpayers of the United States. It was not a secret fund. As a matter of fact, when I w

7、as on “Meet the Press”- some of you may have seen it last Sunday - Peter Edson came up to me after the program, and he said, “Dick, what about is fund we hear about?” And I said, “Well, there is no secret about it. Go out and see Dana Smith who was the administrator of the fund.” And I gave him Edso

8、n his Smiths address. And I said you will find that the purpose of the fund simply was to defray political expenses that I did not feel should be charged to the Government. And third, let me point out - and I want to make this particularly clear - that no contributor to this fund, no contributor to

9、any of my campaigns, has ever received any consideration that he would not have received as an ordinary constituent. I just dont believe in that, and I can say that never, while I have been in the Senate of the United States, as far as the people that contributed to this fund are concerned, have I m

10、ade a telephone call for them to an agency, or have I gone down to an agency on their behalf. And the records will show that, the records which are in the hands of the administration. Well, then, some of you will say, and rightly, “Well, what did you use the fund for, Senator? Why did you have to ha

11、ve it?” Let me tell you in just a word how a Senate office operates. First of all, a Senator gets $15,000 a year in salary. He gets enough money to pay for one trip a year, a round trip, that is, for himself, and his family between his home and Washington, And then he gets an allowance to handle the

12、 people that work in his office to handle his mail. And the allowance for my State of California, is enough to hire 13 people. And let me say, incidentally, that that allowance is not paid to the Senator. It is paid directly to the individuals that the Senator puts on his pay roll. But all of these

13、people and all of these allowances are for strictly official business; business, for example, when a constituent writes in and wants you to go down to the Veterans Administration and get some information about his GI policy - items of that type, for example. But there are other expenses that are not

14、 covered by the Government. And I think I can best discuss those expenses by asking you some questions. Do you think that when I or any other senator makes a political speech, has it printed, should charge the printing of that speech and the mailing of that speech to the taxpayers? Do you think, for

15、 example, when I or any other Senator makes a trip to his home State to make a purely political speech that the cost of that trip should be charged to the taxpayers? Do you think when a Senator makes political broadcasts or political television broadcasts, radio or television, that the expense of th

16、ose broadcasts should be charged to the taxpayers? Well I know what your answer is. Its the same answer that audiences give me whenever I discuss this particular problem: The answer is no. The taxpayers shouldnt be required to finance items which are not official business but which are primarily pol

17、itical business. Well, then the question arises, you say, “Well, how do you pay for these and how can you do it legally?” And there are several ways that it can be done, incidentally, and it is done legally in the United States Senate and in the Congress. The first way is to be a rich man. I dont ha

18、ppen to be a rich man, so I couldnt use that one. Another way that is used is to put your wife on the pay roll. Let me say, incidentally, that my opponent, my opposite number for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his wife on the pay roll and has had her on his pay roll for the

19、past ten years. Now let me just say this: That his business, and Im not critical of him for doing that. You will have to pass judgment on that particular point. But I have never done that for this reason: I have found that there are so many deserving stenographers and secretaries in Washington that

20、needed the work that I just didnt feel it was right to put my wife on the pay roll. My wifes sitting over here. She is a wonderful stenographer. She used to teach stenography and she used to teach shorthand in high school. That was when I met her. And I can tell you folks that shes worked many hours

21、 at night and many hours on Saturdays and Sundays in my office, and shes done a fine job, and I am proud to say tonight that in the six years I have been in the House and the Senate of the United States, Pat Nixon has never been on the Government pay roll. What are other ways that these finances can

22、 be taken care of? Some who are lawyers, and I happen to be a lawyer, continue to practice law, but I havent been able to do that. I am so far away from California that I have been so busy with my senatorial work that I have not engaged in any legal practice, and, also, as far as law practice is con

23、cerned, it seemed to me that the relationship between an attorney and the client was so personal that you couldnt possibly represent a man as an attorney and then have an unbiased view when he presented his case to you in the event that he had one before Government. And so I felt that the best way t

24、o handle these necessary political expenses of getting my message to the American people and the speeches I made - the speeches I had printed for the most part concerned this one message of exposing this Administration, the munism in it, the corruption in it - the only way that I could do that was t

25、o accept the aid which people in my home State of California, who contributed to my campaign and who continued to make these contributions after I was elected, were glad to make. And let me say I am proud of the fact that not one of them has ever asked me for a special favor. I am proud of the fact

26、that not one of them has ever asked me to vote on a bill other than my own conscience would dictate. And I am proud of the fact that the taxpayers by subterfuge or otherwise have never paid one dime for expenses which I thought were political and shouldnt be charged to the taxpayers. Let me say, inc

27、identally, that some of you may say, “Well, that is all right, Senator, thats your explanation, but have you got any proof?” And Id like to tell you this evening that just an hour ago we received an independent audit of this entire fund. I suggested to Governor Sherman Adams, who is the chief of sta

28、ff of the Dwight Eisenhower campaign, that an independent audit and legal report be obtained, and I have that audit in my hands. Its an audit made by the Price Waterhouse &Co. firm, and the legal opinion by Gibson, Dunn, &Crutcher, lawyers in Los Angeles, the biggest law firm, and incidentally, one

29、of the best ones in Los Angeles. I am proud to be able to report to you tonight that this audit and this legal opinion is being forwarded to General Eisenhower. And Id like to read to you the opinion that was prepared by Gibson, Dunn, &Crutcher, and based on all the pertinent laws and statutes, toge

30、ther with the audit report prepared by the certified public accountants: ”It is our conclusion that Senator Nixon did not obtain any financial gain from the collection and disbursement of the fund by Dana Smith; that Senator Nixon did not violate any federal or state law by reason of the operation o

31、f the fund; and that neither the portion of the fund paid by Dana Smith directly to third persons, nor the portion paid to Senator Nixon, to reimburse him for designated office expenses, constituted in e to the Senator which was either reportable or taxable as in e under applicable tax laws.” （signe

32、d） Gibson, Dunn, &Crutcher, by Elmo H. Conley Now that, my friends, is not Nixon speaking, but thats an independent audit which was requested, because I want the American people to know all the facts, and I am not afraid of having independent people go in and check the facts, and that is exactly what they did. But then I realized that there are still some who may say, and rightly so - and let me say that I recognize that some will continue to smear regardless of what the truth may be - but tha