Nixon Toured Mar-a-Lago as Potential Retreat Just Before Watergate Resignation
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In 1974, President Nixon toured Mar-a-Lago to see if it could become a Camp David presidential retreat after Marjorie Merriweather Post willed it to the U.S. government upon her death.
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Nixon took a 20-minute helicopter ride from Key Biscayne to Mar-a-Lago with his friend Bebe Rebozo to inspect the property.
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Nixon thought Mar-a-Lago was “marvelous” but did not indicate if he wanted to use it before resigning due to Watergate a month later.
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Mar-a-Lago was returned to the Post Foundation in 1980 under President Carter before Trump purchased it in 1985.
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Post had wished for Mar-a-Lago to become a retreat for presidents and dignitaries, a vision partly fulfilled by Trump hosting foreign leaders there.