Question

Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech was a response to accusations that he misused campaign funds for non-political expenses. Which paragraph in this excerpt from the speech uses the red herring fallacy?

But I have never done that for this reason: I have found that there are so many deserving stenographers and secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didn't feel it was right to put my wife on the pay roll.

My wife's sitting over here. She's 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 she's worked many hours at night and many hours on Saturdays and Sundays in my office, and she's done a fine job, and I am proud to say tonight that in the six years I've 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 be taken care of? Some who are lawyers, and I happen to be a lawyer, continue to practice law, but I haven't been able to do that. I'm so far away from California that I've been so busy with my senatorial work that I have not engaged in any legal practice. And, also, as far as law practice is concerned, it seemed to me that the relationship between an attorney and the client was so personal that you couldn't 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 to handle these necessary political expenses of getting my message to the American people and the speeches I made -- the speeches that I had printed for the most part concerned this one message of exposing this Administration, the Communism in it, the corruption in it -- the only way that I could do that was to 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.

Answer 1

The red-herring technique refers to when the author distracts the listener and digresses from the main point. The example in Nixon's infamous 'Checkers' speech would be where he begins talking about communism rather than the illegal funding he was accused of.

Answer 2

My wife's sitting over here. She's 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 she's worked many hours at night and many hours on Saturdays and Sundays in my office, and she's done a fine job, and I am proud to say tonight that in the six years I've been in the House and the Senate of the United States, Pat Nixon has never been on the Government pay roll.

Step-by-step explanation:

This is the best example of Nixon's use of a red herring fallacy. A red herring fallacy occurs when the author talks about a subject that is not related to the matter at hand. This is usually done in order for the person to divert attention away from the main issue. In this case, the fact that his wife is a great stenographer or that they met while she was teaching shorthand in high school are irrelevant to the issue of misused campaign funds.