New book coming in January: Nixon's Darkest Secrets, which reveals President Richard Nixon's possible affair with Key Biscayne businessman Charles "Bebe" Rebozo.
Author Don Fulsom (an American University adjunct instructor and former UPI reporter who covered Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton) writes of "the intimate and possibly homosexual nature of Nixon's relationship with confidante Charles "Bebe" Rebozo, a banker with mob ties," according to publisher Macmillan's website.
The book also contends:
- That the future president sabotaged the 1968 peace talks for political gain
- By the time Nixon became president in 1969, he had linked to the mob for more than two decades and, as president, had a close connection with New Orleans boss Carlos Marcello, the most powerful Mafioso in the nation
- The president had a drinking problem and top aides referred to him as "Our Drunk"
- Nixon had a misogynist streak and was abusive toward first lady Pat Nixon
- Testimony alleging that the president had ordered the killing of White House reporter Jack Anderson
Rebozo and Nixon were close friends for more than 40 years.
Nixon, who resigned as the nation's 37th president during the Watergate scandal in 1974, died 20 years later. Rebozo died in 1998.
From Rebozo's Miami Herald obituary:
When in Washington, Rebozo would drop in frequently at the White House and sit in the Oval Office with Nixon, listening reverently to the President's monologues. When a visitor showed up on business, Rebozo would deferentially shoo himself out.
"They were inseparable -- you just can't imagine how close two men could be, " Louis P. Fineman, a Republican campaigner, said when Nixon died in April 1994. "Richard Nixon would come to Miami feeling defeated, and he'd go to Bebe like a Father Confessor.
"It was as if Bebe had the key to unlock Richard Nixon's soul."
If that's all they have to go on, then it is total shiite. I'm no fan of Nixon's but this is pure sensationalism. But, that's ok right? You already got my click.
Posted by: Jack | December 28, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Repent of your abominations and turn to Jesus to be saved from Hell !
Posted by: Tube Salvation | December 28, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Two men can be friends without wanting to suck each other off
Lots of worthless gossip to try and sell a not very well written book
Bet we will see this loser on The View,
Posted by: Fitzzz | December 28, 2011 at 01:41 PM
This could set the cause of gay rights back years. Yikes!
Posted by: addisondewitt | December 28, 2011 at 01:58 PM
i think it's strange that people are so willing, if not wanting, to interpret male friendship as homosexuality. That a paper like The Herald gets involved and essentially promotes such simplistic sensationalism suggests just how far the paper has fallen as a journalistic entreprise. pity richard nixon, and pity the miami herald.
Posted by: Jim Hollander | December 28, 2011 at 02:53 PM
I've had friends with whom I could sleep in the same bed without ever thinking of a homosexual relation.
Could this be the case for a homosexual? I doubt it.
Maybe that's the reason this gossip is published in this section of the Herald.
Posted by: Al Ben | December 28, 2011 at 03:14 PM
The Herald continues its finest tradition of blog trash "reporting." Rothaus should next do an article about all the homosexuals and lesbians, both passive and aggressive, who work at the Herald.
Posted by: Alfonso | December 28, 2011 at 03:28 PM
Was Nixon a pitcher or catcher?
Posted by: oscar wilde | December 28, 2011 at 03:59 PM
Not true. Sensationalist journalism at it's worst.
Posted by: Sharonie | December 28, 2011 at 04:51 PM
The gay community merely wants to associate an ex-president as having a gay affair or being gay so that it can point the finger and triumphantly say, "See, He was gay!" It's absurd. It's a free country. If you want to be gay then be gay, but there is no reason to smear the names of others.
Posted by: Joe Perea | December 28, 2011 at 04:55 PM
People have got to know whether or not their president's a crocksucker. Well, I'm not a crocksucker.
Posted by: Richard Nixon | December 28, 2011 at 05:17 PM
I knew both men, and this is total fabrication!
Posted by: Mary Veach | December 28, 2011 at 05:20 PM
You wish that to be the truth. Gay people relish on the idea of non gay men dreaming of being gay. This story is so far fetch that it borders on madness. You want to be gay, fine go ahead the majority of the world don't care.
To all the Gay people have a wonderful New Year !!
Posted by: octavio de armas | December 28, 2011 at 05:33 PM
I have trouble with the outing of deceased celebrities. If the person in question never openly admitted to same sex, sexual relationships, I'm not sure there is merit in seeking the information. Besides that the information is usually based upon gossip, and no real proof is available. Also, saying this, when they can not deny or confirm it themselves, seems wrong. To be honest I don't care if Nixon, or Lincoln for that matter engaged in homosexuality. The topic was not a platform that either dedicated their lives to. So if it had any role in their lives it had to be small and insignificant.
Posted by: Don Barnett | December 28, 2011 at 11:35 PM
Nixon was likely neither straight or gay... more like a REPRESSED ASEXUAL. Somehow, the thought of Tricky Dick -- straitlaced Quaker that he was -- getting touchy-feely sexual with anyone other than poor, neglected Pat is unfathomable. We know he had to have had sex with Pat at least twice in their marriage (Julie & Tricia). Beyond that, he probably never again diddled Pat. Or anybody. Remember, this was a man whose idea of relaxation was taking walks on the beach at Key Biscayne in a suit jacket and wingtips.
Posted by: Chris Muss | December 29, 2011 at 01:23 AM
What a load!
Posted by: Boone | December 29, 2011 at 02:57 AM
I am a lifelong Dem and I hated Nixon when he was in office. I never really liked the man. I cannot believe this story. If he hit Pat so badly that she ended up being hospitalized, then someone would have leaked that. Gay? so what? Mafia? I can't believe that either. Did he kill the Kennedy brothers or MLK?
What was he really doing in the kitchen with Kruchev?
I could go on and on about any number of people, such as the death of Paul McCartny.
Posted by: Susan Mann | December 30, 2011 at 03:00 PM
If you knew Bebe the way I knew him when I worked at a club in Key Biscayne you could believe it.
Posted by: Joe Millman | December 30, 2011 at 05:03 PM
well I lived in a house that Rebozo owned in the redlands and Nixon had his own room and chair in this house. I do not think anything could have happen with them two. but as I was there I was just a kid and did not know anything about those kind of behavior. also got to see Nixon come to the house one summer but I did not know he was a former president. I just cant belive this article at all. my family is in shock about it.
Posted by: iceman | January 01, 2012 at 12:47 AM