Dennis RomeroRichard Nixon might have been the LAest of American presidents, with a political career launched by late Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler, a Western White House in San Clemente, and a presidential library in Yorba Linda.
So this news comes with particular interest to us tabloid hounds in the Thirty Mile Zone:
El presidente, it turns out, might have been gay. Say what?
The man who kept a “enemies list,” who sparked the darkest hour in presidential politics with Watergate, and who carpet-bombed Cambodia? Gay?
Gay. So says a new book by Don Fulsom, described by the UK's Daily Mail as a journalistic veteran in Washington who covered Tricky Dick.
This is either a huge bombshell or a sleazy allegation.
According to the Mail's account:
Fulsom argues that Nixon may have had an affair with his best friend and confidant, a Mafia‑connected Florida wheeler-dealer named Charles 'Bebe' Rebozo who was even more crooked than Nixon.
Rebozo is described as a Cuban American Mafia “fixer” who was good looking, and, in a quote taken from Dan Rather, who had “beautiful eyes.” The book says he was an “uncle figure” to Nixon's daughters.
It reportedly says his affection for the prez came out when the two were drunk (a frequent state of being for the president, according to the account).
Nixon is said in the book to have had Mafia ties for decades.
The Mail:
When Nixon became President, Rebozo got his own office and bedroom at the White House, and a security clearance that allowed him to go in and out without being logged by the secret service.
The name of the book? Nixon's Darkest Secrets.
Believe it or not, here it comes: It's due on shelves (and online, we suppose) next month.
@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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