June 20, 2013

Crime History: Congressman Mills caught with stripper Fanne Foxe

BY: SCOTT MCCABE OCTOBER 6, 2012 | 8:00 PM
Leave a comment

On this day, Oct. 7, in 1974, U.S. Park Police pulled over Rep. Wilbur Mills, D-Ark., and exotic dancer Fanne Foxe, who leapt from the car and jumped into the Tidal Basin in D.C.

The spectacle led to the downfall of Mills, one of the most powerful men in Congress and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Mills' face was cut from a scufße with Foxe, whose real name was Annabella Battistella. She was also known as the "Argentine Firecracker."

Despite the scandal, Mills won re-election. On Nov. 30, 1974, Mills held a news conference in Foxe's dressing room at a burlesque house in Boston to dispel rumors that they were having an affair.

It had the opposite effect. Mills did not seek another term.

He died in 1992 at age 82.

- Scott McCabe

View article comments Leave a comment
Author:

Scott McCabe

Staff Writer - Crime
The Washington Examiner

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • June 17, 1953

    Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:

    Read More...
  • Problems of the Second Generation

    The Boston Marathon bombings highlighted, once again, the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. And while the onus of accountability ought not rest exclusively on Muslim Americans, it...

    Read More...
  • Release Osama Bin Laden’s Files on Taliban

    The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was moving forward with its attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, which has opened a long-awaited political office in Doha, Qatar. The...

    Read More...