Richard Nixon poses with his family and their dog, Checkers, in Washington, D.C., in September 1952.Bettmann/Contributor W. Joseph Campbell, American University School of Communication Twenty years before Watergate, then-Sen. Richard Nixon’s national political ambitions were in peril. He was accused of dipping into a private, $18,000 slush fund to cover expenses, and doubts about the propriety of his conduct intensified as the 1952 presidential election campaign unfolded. Nixon was able to preserve what became a long career in national politics – and kept the vice presidential spot on that yea…
