Richard Nixon in In the President`s Secret Service, by Ronald Kessler

On Crime: Survived 1958 mob riot as VP in Venezuela

When Nixon was vice president, local police disappeared as an angry mob descended on Nixon and his wife, Pat, at the Caracas, Venezuela, airport on May 13, 1958. One of the Secret Service agents said, "We noticed the police started to leave the motorcade They were afraid of the mob, and so the police deserted their security arrangements." As stones and bottles were being thrown at the couple, agents formed a tight ring around them and quickly escorted them into the president's bulletproof limousine.

Along the route to the American embassy, protestors had erected a roadblock. Wielding clubs and pipes, a crowd swarmed the car. "They had firebombs, and they were bent on killing everybody in the party," an agent says. The crowd tried to pry open the doors and then began to rock the limo and try to set it on fire. The agents managed to get Nixon safely to the American embassy, where more angry insurgents confronted them. President Eisenhower sent the Sixth Fleet out to evacuate the embassy.

Source: In the President`s Secret Service, by Ron Kessler, p. 82-83 Jun 29, 2009

On Principles & Values: Silent with family; limited relationship with wife

Nixon did not sleep in the same bedroom with his wife. Nixon seemed to have no relationship with his wife, Pat. A former agent remembers accompanying Nixon, Pat, and their two daughters during a golf game in California. During the hour and a half, "He never said a word," the agent says. "Nixon could not make conversation unless it was to discuss an issue. Nixon was always calculating, seeing what effect it would have." Another former agent says, "Nixon would hardly talk. The only time he enjoyed himself was when he was with his friends Bebe Rebozo and Bob Abplanalp, when they would drink together."

Nixon often spent time with Abplanalp on his friend's island in the Bahamas. A former agent says, "He'd fish from the back of Abplanalp's 55-foot yacht. But Abplanalp's staff would hook Nixon's hook and throw the hook out. If he'd catch something, the staff would reel it in for him, take the fish off, put it in the bucket. Nixon wouldn't do anything but watch."

Source: In the President`s Secret Service, by Ron Kessler, p. 30-31 Jun 29, 2009

On Principles & Values: Didn't know whom to trust during Watergate; became paranoid

During Watergate, "Nixon was very depressed," says a former agent. "He wasn't functioning as president any longer. Bob Haldeman [Nixon's chief of staff] ran the country."

One afternoon, Nixon walked into the barbershop [where the TV news was showing]; "He pushed the button, and the TV went off," the barber says. "He said, 'Well, what are they saying about us today?' I said, 'Mr. President, I haven't heard much news today, sir.' "

As the Watergate scandal progressed, "Nixon got very paranoid," a Secret Service agent says. "He didn't know what to believe or whom to trust. He did think people were lying to him. He thought at the end everyone was lying." While Nixon rarely drank before the Watergate scandal, he began drinking more heavily as the pressure took its toll. He would down a Martini or a Manhattan. In contrast to the blustering in his taped conversations, Nixon in private seemed passive and often out of it, although he did have a sense of humor.

Source: In the President`s Secret Service, by Ron Kessler, p. 31-32 Jun 29, 2009

On Principles & Values: Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in financial scandal

Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew was charged with accepting $100,000 in cash bribes. Agnew had taken the payoffs when he was a Maryland state official and later when he was vice president. Agnew pleaded nolo contendere and agreed to resign, leaving office on Oct. 10, 1973. What never came out was that the married Agnew, a champion of family values who made no secret of his disdain for the liberal press, was having affairs while in office [according to Secret Service agents]. Source: In the President`s Secret Service, by Ronald Kessler, p. 35 Jun 29, 2009

The above quotations are from In the President`s Secret Service, by Ronald Kessler. Click here for other excerpts from In the President`s Secret Service, by Ronald Kessler. Click here for other excerpts by Richard Nixon. Click here for a profile of Richard Nixon.
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