Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

Fanne Foxe

Foxe conducted neither the most lurid affair in history nor the most well-known. But a kiss on the cheek from Foxe (a.k.a. "the Argentine Firecracker"), a stripper at a Boston club, was enough to kill the political career of powerful Representative Wilbur Mills. Mills had previously been pulled over while driving with Foxe near Washington D.C.'s Tidal Basin. Foxe ran from the car into the basin, leaving the drunk Congressman behind.

Mills played off the incident, but later visited Foxe at a Boston strip club, receiving a kiss on the cheek on stage. In light of this second encounter, Mills was viewed as a liability in the upcoming election and stripped of his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. He did not seek re-election.

Post-affair: Foxe cashed in on her perceived ignominy with a book deal and a new title — "the Tidal Basin Bombshell," a moniker derived from her ill-fated car ride with Mills.

Read a 1974 TIME article about the fall of Mills.