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Former Secretary of State and likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faces the media Tuesday over her use of a private server and email account she used to conduct public business. Richard Drew/AP hide caption

Former Secretary of State and likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faces the media Tuesday over her use of a private server and email account she used to conduct public business.

In the days ahead, strenuous efforts will be made to prove or disprove the assertions Hillary Clinton made in her news conference Tuesday regarding her email accounts. The fate of Clinton's presumed presidential candidacy will depend on that struggle.

Or not.

In past presidential cycles we have seen many a news conference where careers on the national stage seemed to hang in the balance. Some of these moments have led to redemption, others to utter disaster. And still others have proved inconclusive, with other factors determining the candidate's fate.

No. 1 in the redemption category has to be Richard Nixon's iconic "Checkers" speech in 1952, when stories about gifts received by his family threatened to push him off the Republican presidential ticket as Dwight Eisenhower's running mate.

Richard Nixon, Republican candidate for the vice presidency, explains an $18,000 expense fund on national television on Sept. 23, 1952. The appearance was nicknamed his "Checkers" speech because of his reference to the family cocker spaniel, the one contribution he admitted receiving, from a Texas supporter. AP hide caption

Richard Nixon, Republican candidate for the vice presidency, explains an $18,000 expense fund on national television on Sept. 23, 1952. The appearance was nicknamed his "Checkers" speech because of his reference to the family cocker spaniel, the one contribution he admitted receiving, from a Texas supporter.

The candidate spoke of his wife's modest "Republican cloth coat" (no mink or fox for Pat Nixon) and a puppy given to his daughters, Julie and Tricia. The girls named him Checkers. "We're going to keep it," said Nixon, striking a tone of mock defiance.

The video of this artifact looks hopelessly crude and grainy, but this performance on TV was among the first political events of consequence carried on that fledgling medium. Eisenhower kept the young senator from California on the ticket (partly to placate the party's Western conservatives) and Nixon would be in the White House for nearly 14 of the next 22 years.

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Hillary Clinton Renews Tradition Of Trial By News Conference