mself and for the American political system, are examined in this paper.
The Mills scandal involved Mills, 65, being stopped for drunken driving at 2 a.m. with a neighbor, Mrs. Eduardo Battistella, 38, in the car with him; both were drunk, and MillsÆ face was cut as a result of his trying to stop Mrs. Battistella from leaving the vehicle. Mrs. Battistella, an Argentine stripper who had worked at the Silver Slipper until shortly after becoming involved with Mills, and whose stage name was Fanne Fox, had apparently tried to get out of the car due to being ill. After the car was stopped, she jumped out of the car and into the Tidal Basin, where she was rescued by police.
Subsequent further questioning about the incident revealed that Mills had left his wife Polly at home with a broken foot at her own request that night, but that he and Mrs. Battistella had been seeing each other since 1973. Mills and his wife had recently moved to the apartment building where Mrs. Battistella lived with her husband. People questioned confided that Mills had frequently had nights on the town with Mrs. Battistella, often entertaining other guests lavishly at their table, and also that the couple had frequently fought loudly.
The incident was embarrassing to Mills, of course, all the more so because a TV cameraman happened to be present when the incident occurred and got pictures. The impact on MillsÆ career raised a serious question with relevance for all politicians: ôIs privacy now possible?ö 8 With the media no longer turning ôa blind eye to the personal lives of public officialsö following the Watergate scandal, journalists began engaging in ômade-for-prime-time undercover efforts to reveal corporate and professional wrongdoing.
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