Just when you thought that the 37th
president of the
United States could not be any worse, new skeletons have come out of the closet.
In a new book called
The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon, authors
Anthony Summers and
Robbyn Swan allege that at one point in 1962, Nixon's aides had to pull him off his wife Pat after a beating that left her face so bruised she could not go out in public.
The book describes incidents where he told her to "Keep your fucking mouth shut..." in front of others after losing the 1962
California Governor's race.
Nixon is also supposed to have beaten his wife after resigning the presidency. According to sources, she had to be taken to hospital.
The book also alleges that Nixon abused prescription
drugs.
These sensational allegations were corroborated by
John Sears, a longtime aide of Nixon. Said Sears:
The family lawyer told me that Nixon had hit her in 1962 and that she had threatened to leave him over it ... I'm not talking about a smack. He blackened her eye... I had heard about that from Pat Hillings (a longtime Nixon friend and associate) as well..
Whether true or false, such claims cannot be considered
libel, since Pat and Richard Nixon are both dead.