Fanne Foxe

Fanne Foxe (born "Annabelle Battistella" on February 14, 1936 in Nueve de Julio, Argentina) was a dancer best known for being involved in a 1974 sex scandal surrounding Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills, until then one of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives. (In 1972, he was a contender for the Democratic nomination to be president.) Mills was having an affair with Foxe, who was then working as a stripper.

On October 7, 1974, the two of them had been drinking and were driving near the Tidal Basin in Washington at around 2:00 AM. The park police pulled the vehicle over, and Foxe attempted to flee the scene and jumped into the Tidal Basin.

The incident attracted much publicity, and eventually led to Mills' resignation two months later as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He was re-elected to his congressional seat in 1974, but he did not run for re-election in 1976.

Foxe continued working as a stripper, changing her stage title from "The Argentine Firecracker" to "The Tidal Basin Bombshell." She published a book, "The Stripper and the Congressman" and eventually returned to Argentina.

External links

* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/tidalbas.htm Washington Post article]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23577712/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/14/ MSNBC Photograph of Rep. Mills and Fanne Foxe with short description of the incident]