NAMES IN THE NEWS : Rebozo Recalls Watergate News
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — Richard M. Nixon’s longtime friend Charles (Bebe) Rebozo said the President laughed when he first heard of the break-in at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party.
Rebozo, who owns Key Biscayne Bank, gave a rare interview to the Miami Herald to help promote a benefit he and Nixon are holding for the Boys Club.
He said Nixon was visiting him at his Key Biscayne home in June, 1972, when they first heard news of the incident that, two years later, led the President to resign in disgrace.
“We were swimming at Key Biscayne in front of my house,†Rebozo said in the interview published Thursday. “They came out and told him. He said, ‘What in God’s name were they doing there?’ â€
Then, said Rebozo, “we laughed and forgot about it.â€
The banker said the subsequent scandal, in which he was also investigated, was a “terrible experience,†but seeing Nixon deal with the crisis helped him.
“The truth of the matter is, I don’t think I could have taken it had I not seen what he was taking, and how he was surviving,†Rebozo said.
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