News today of the death at 84 of Annabel Battistella, better known by her burlesque stage name of Fanne Foxe, brought back memories of the lost golden age of Washington sex scandals. In October of 1974, Foxe — called the “Argentine Firecracker” by her promoters — was rescued from the icy waters of the Tidal Basin, into which she had plunged to evade photographers who found her escort for the evening, Arkansas congressman Wilbur Mills, nearby in a car that had been stopped by the police for driving without headlights. After a series of confusing professions of innocence by Mills, accompanied by his reelection to a 19th term in the U.S. House, Foxe returned to exotic dancing (now redubbed the “Tidal Basin Bombshell”) —until an extremely inebriated Mills appeared on the stage with her in Boston and quickly ended his long political career.
The incident represented a morality tale about Washington hubris. Mills wasn’t just some backwoods solon. The word “powerful” invariably preceded his name in press descriptions. He was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee for 18 years and was, by all accounts, second only to the president in terms of his influence at any given time. In good and bad ways he had a decisive effect on the shape and size of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, on Social Security expansions he supervised, and on a wide variety of tax measures. Mills was also an obdurate opponent of all civil-rights legislation, much like other southern “New Deal Democrats” who viewed racism as the price of admission to political power.
