The Pal from Key Biscayne

Kings once resorted to the uncomplicated companionship of their court jesters to lighten the burden of loneliness that often accompanies power. U.S. Presidents have generally managed less condescending personal friendships while in office. Both Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower had the easy company of George Allen, an adept poker player and raconteur. Dave Powers served as a sort of White House entertainer under John Kennedy, accompanying the President to ball games and cracking Boston Irish gags to relax him.

Richard Nixon will also have at least one crony with whom he can feel completely comfortable when the pressures of office grow too great. Charles Gregory ("Bebe") Rebozo, however, is not exactly a court jester. He is a Florida real estate millionaire who evidently made his fortune by bringing to bear the very sort of methodical perseverance that won the presidency for Nixon. Commenting on a certain steady, plodding quality in Rebozo, one unfriendly observer says: "He is just like Nixon. That's why they're such great friends."

Rebozo owns a one-story, $100,000 house next to Nixon's rented Key Biscayne hideaway in Florida. He undoubtedly enjoys a unique relationship with the President-elect. In the midst of Nixon's labors over Cabinet appointments, the two have set off on Rebozo's $18,000 houseboat for cruises off Key Biscayne. "When we go boating," Rebozo said, "we do some fishing, some swimming and a lot of sunbathing. We work too. Dick takes his briefcase and I take mine."

No Attraction. A swarthy, self-effacing man, Rebozo was born in Tampa, Fla., of Cuban parents in 1912. He worked as a chauffeur, airline steward and gas-station operator after finishing high school. At the end of World War II, he went into the coin-laundry business, then a finance company, finally into real estate. He is now president of the Fisher Corp., a Florida development firm in which Nixon holds shares valued at $400,000--double the amount he initially invested.

Rebozo assiduously avoids any contact with the press that might suggest self-promotion at Nixon's expense, always refuses to discuss politics. A reporter recently suggested a White House appointment and Rebozo snorted: "We've never even discussed it, and I don't expect to." His friendship with Nixon goes back to 1951, when Florida's Senator George Smathers asked Rebozo to entertain Nixon, a fellow freshman, at Key Biscayne. Rebozo took him fishing and remembers, "We just hit it off." The friendship developed, as did Nixon's habit of flying to Florida for the sun. On election night in 1960, Rebozo was the only outsider invited to Nixon's Ambassador Hotel suite in Los Angeles to watch returns with the family. While Nixon conferred with aides, it fell to Rebozo to comfort Pat and the girls as John Kennedy emerged the winner of a historically close race for the presidency.

Rebozo is completely discreet. He never leaks news, runs only occasional personal errands for Nixon. A quietly natty dresser, Rebozo normally works 60 to 80 hours a week at his enterprises. His only marriage ended in divorce, and he is often seen around Miami with attractive women--but never when Nixon appears on Key Biscayne. Perhaps the quality that Nixon appreciates most in Rebozo, long a registered Democrat because of his friendship with Smathers, is that despite his closeness to the President-elect of the U.S., he seems almost totally apolitical.

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