A Nixon/Checkers Reunion?

Not even a president should be separated from his faithful dog--especially if the canine helped save his political career.

The body of Richard Nixon’s cocker spaniel, Checkers, might be exhumed from a New York cemetery and reburied near the former president and his wife, Pat, in California, U.S. News and World Report writes in its May 5 edition.

As Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s beleaguered running mate in 1952, Nixon invoked the dog’s name in a famous comeback speech where he denied maintaining a private slush fund from supporters. The dog died 12 years later.

The magazine says “if all goes as planned,” the black-and-white pooch’s remains will be taken from its grave at the Bide-A-Wee Pet Memorial park on Long Island in the fall and reburied on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

This is not the first time that rumors have swirled about the former president and his “best friend” sharing a final resting place.

In 1995, the Washington Times reported that Checkers would be dug up from his East Coast grave to be buried with the Nixons on the library grounds.

Library officials then called the report outrageously false.

Asked to comment on the latest report, library officials told the magazine that for now they were “keeping [their] paws dry.”

“They noted, however, that Sept. 23, 1997, will mark the 45th anniversary of ‘that extraordinarily important speech.’ ”

The address, which came to be known as Nixon’s “Checkers speech,” allowed Nixon to weather hard times caused by the finance allegations, all of which he denied except one: He “admitted” accepting a gift of a dog named Checkers from a Texan who heard that the Nixon daughters wanted a puppy.