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Embarrassing Relatives Plague Presidents

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In 1988, about seven years before he lost his battle to pancreatic cancer, Billy took an oath of sobriety and concentrated on his other love — trailer park homes.

2. Donald Nixon: The Would-Be Burger King How'd you like to sink your teeth into a nice, juicy Nixonburger?

In the mid 1950s, Donald Nixon dreamed of slapping the family name on a chain of fast-food restaurants. The would-be burger king ended up borrowing $205,000 from Howard Hughes — a disclosure that might have damaged his brother's 1962 run for the governor of California.

President Nixon wasn't taking any chances in 1972, when he was running for re-election, and it was later revealed that he ordered the Secret Service to wire-tap his brother's phone. Nixon's presidency turned into political chopped meat — but he couldn't blame his brother.

3. Roger Clinton: The Pardoned Pumpkinhead It's not hard to guess why the Secret Service codename for President Clinton's half brother was "Headache." When Bill was serving as governor of Arkansas, Roger spent a year in a state prison for cocaine trafficking, and later described himself as having a "walk-in closet full of skeletons."

Having a brother as president, Roger tried to make it in show business. He signed a record deal and landed a role in Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, playing the role of "Mayor Bubba."

But Roger was better known as a party animal and troublemaker. The would-be rock star spent time as a gofer for Clinton's TV producer friends, Harry and Linda Bloodworth Thomason.

In his final days in office, President Clinton pardoned his brother on the cocaine charge and wiped his slate clean — but not for long. After a fracas at a Los Angeles nightclub, Roger was soon arrested on charges of drunken driving and disturbing the peace.

Amid the controversy, Roger Clinton was also under FBI investigation for allegedly accepting money to broker presidential pardons for six other drug felons. The scandal also touched the first lady's brother, Hugh Rodham, who was asked to return $400,000 for helping secure pardons for a convicted drug trafficker and scam artist.

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