Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' In 1958, when Kennedy decided to launch a campaign for the presidency from his Massachusetts Senate seat, the United States had not yet experienced a sexual revolution that would challenge and change many people. Their lifelong relationship caused some of the presidents advisers to fear Russian agents may use the information as blackmail. His father was a prominent physician and a graduate of the U.S. During the night of May 28, 1981almost two decades after JFK's untimely death 65-year-old Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. cause of death. It was Bobby Kennedy Jr. who gave the eulogy. Lem Billings relaxed on the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate the summer of 1936. (Page 64), Harry Dixon, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, John Coleman, Charlotte McDonnell, Jack and Lem, Palm Beach, Christmas 1940, "After his sojourn in Hollywood, Jack returned to the East Coast in time for the Christmas vacation period, during which he liked to spend time with his family and Lem. The evidence presented indicates that Jack found out . Otherwise he attended without female accompaniment. In her memoir, Times To Remember, published eleven years after Jack's assassination in Dallas in 1963, she wrote that Billings had 'remained Jack's lifelong close friend, confidant, sharer in old memories and new experiencesHe has really been part of 'our family' since that first time he showed up at our house as one of 'Jack's surprises. "He needed Lem Billings to get around better than a trained nurse" that would have made his political career impossible. [28] One presidential aide later said that "some people saw him so much they thought he was the Secret Service. Jacqueline Bouvier would have the same problem, using every possible excuse to avoid the game, after she and Jack were married in 1953." Even worse, many such slurs aren't from men but 'I couldn't do it without you': Victoria Beckham poses with her whole family after her PFW show - as she Brooklyn Beckham puts on a loved-up display with wife Nicola Peltz as they head back to hotel after Cruz Beckham supports his mother Victoria as he carrying his very own VB handbag on the way to her show Like father, like daughter! Yesterday was Jack's birthday. JFKs sex life, and his attachments to men, also needs to be better understood for what it reveals about his inner life, and for a moment in United States political history when sex itself was undergoing seismic changes. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. The one iconic photo of President John F. Kennedy up close and personal with a woman other than Jackie shows him and his attorney general brother, Robert, coming on to curvaceous Marilyn Monroe at a party. He certainly didn't have the same interest in politics and women that Jack had. ', Their arrangement, Quirk asserted, 'enabled Jack to sustain his self-delusion that straight men who received oral sex from other males were really only straights looking for sexual release,' and he further observed, 'Jack was in love with Lem being in love with him and considered him the ideal follower adorer. [49], Friends from the 1970s confirmed that Billings was homosexual, but not open to discussing it. [6][7], In 1941, Billings failed medical tests required by the military. Although Alford refused, she did not always have the self-confidence to say no: earlier, she had fellated a staff member in Jacks presence. "[27] Billings never had a White House pass and said: "Jack and Jackie were so nice about this that I didn't even have to tell them whether I was coming or going. A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). Billings could best be described as Kennedy's "wingman", closest male friend, and boon companion as they moved into adulthood. In Jackies absence, Lem managed the Presidents dinner parties, social life and children. educated at. In many ways, Kennedy was also enjoying the kind of sex life that would later characterize the gay mens party of the 1970s. 'People think I'm a joke,' he once acknowledged. While at Choate, they formed a club and called themselves "The Muckers". [3] They became fast friends, drawn to each other by their mutual distaste for their strict school. Lem Billings (right) was Kennedy's roommate at Choate and Princeton and an usher at his wedding, Spending most weekends at the White House during JFK's presidency, he became known as the "first friend." Although Billings kept his homosexuality private, it wasn't entirely a secret. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. [62], After the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Billings became depressed and started to drink in excess, an addiction that plagued him for most of his life. ", Still, he was well aware of his proximity to history. [63][25]:505 He maintained close ties to the Kennedys and their children for the rest of his life, frequently socializing with Bobby Kennedy Jr., to whom he became almost a surrogate father, and Christopher Lawford. He was a beautiful baby," he ducked into a boiler room and wept. [20] He later said: "I realized that I did not want to work for the president because I felt it would change our relationship. (Page 4), "When Jack wasn't trying to get Lem to sing on family occasions, he was cajoling him into playing sports -- usually touch football, a game Lem came to loathe. Published online July 6, 2017. While trying to locate the body of a dead CI named Angie Stubbs, Lem stole a brick of heroin from Salvadoran drug dealer Pittario and warned him that he would only give it back once he located the body. (Page 100). [35] In 1962 he escorted two of the President's sisters, Eunice Shriver and Jean Kennedy Smith, around Europe for more than two weeks. "Raffish and yet prissy," they write of Billings "a sort of court chronicler reporting on the old days which even Bobby and Ethel didn't recall and functioning as the all-purpose cheerleader, godfather, and pallbearer who could always be counted on. Both Jack and Lem were crazy about dogs and soon fell totally in love with little Dunker. A telephone conversation between President Kennedy and Lem Billings. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. 0 references. [4], Some historians believe that Billings expressed his sexual interest in Kennedy in writing in 1934 and that Kennedy rebuffed his advances. Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Courtship with Jackie as Imagined in New Novel, Robert McNamara's Son Craig Remembers Playing with JFK Jr. and Caroline Kennedy After JFK's Death, New Book Delves Into JFK's Charisma, Insatiable Affairs and His Last Moments with Baby Son Patrick, Author William Manchester Unmasks the Man Behind the Corncob Pipe: Macarthur, A Look Back at the Long List of Kennedy Family Tragedies, 'Without Any Warning, Mrs. Kennedy Begins Crying': Witness Remembers Jackie After the JFK Assassination, Jackie Kennedy's Sister Lee Radziwill Told Friend Truman Capote of Bitter Jealousy She Publicly Denied, Meet JFK's Alleged Mistresses and How Some Met Mysterious Ends, What to Know About Diana de Vegh, Who Says She Had an Affair with JFK When She Was 20, Jackie Kennedy Knew JFK Relationship Would Involve 'Heartbreak' & More Details from New Book, Marilyn Monroe 'Was Enamored of' JFK but 'Wasn't About to Break Up' His Marriage, Frank Sinatra's Friend Says, Why Ethel Kennedy Would Have Forgiven Robert F. Kennedy Anything Including Possible Affairs, oral history interview for the John F. Kennedy Library. Lem never really left Jacks orbit after boarding school. To order a copy, click here. Harvard University. In photos and excerpts from David Pitts's book Jack & Lem, we remember President John F. Kennedy through the lens of his lifelong friendship with Lem Billings. Author Louis Bayard focuses much of his upcoming novel Jackie & Me on the relationship between Billings and Kennedy, too. An autopsy report says Billings' cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Vessey paid Masters with meth and a vehicle in exchange for the death of Billings. At least one of these intimates, Kirk LeMoyne Lem Billings, was one of Jacks cherished body men, and he lived part-time in the White House throughout the three years of Kennedys presidency. 'It was very hard for him, but he wanted to do it and he stuck with it,' Lucretia added. [8] In 1942, supported by a recommendation from Joseph Kennedy Sr., his friend's father, who called him "my second son," he won admission to the American Ambulance Field Service, where his poor eyesight was not a disqualification. Lem Billings may have been present for many of these events, but if he was, he was just outside the frame of these pictures. When the boy died at 4:19 a.m. Kennedy was clutching his little fingers. Have a nice one! "Early on in their friendship, Lem sent Jack such a note and Jack replied in their usual jocular way, adding in parentheses, 'Please don't write to me on toilet paper any more. "'Of course, there was always Cape Cod in Massachusetts when the president wanted to be near the water,' Lem remarked. But was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with him, and that he often stayed overnight at the White House. He didn't want to share his friendship with Jack. The comments below have been moderated in advance. Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. [26] When the First Lady was away, Billings organized White House dinner parties for the President and old friends,[27] and when the President traveled he kept the First Lady company. [60] In 1965, Jacqueline Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to President Kennedy at Runnymede. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. "[25]:244 Sometimes he stayed for longer periods. Booth, 32 years old, died of "undetermined causes" with no obvious signs of . But above all, Bobby was very important to Lem personally. Billings had once told Bobby that when he died he wanted the pall-bearers to be members of Bobby's circle of young friends, whom he knew well and with whom he had done drugs. Poor guy. JFKs numerous affairs (before, during and after his marriage to Jackie) and his friendships with gay men suddenly had a social and cultural context that was neither gay or straight, but a harbinger of the sexual freedom and experimentation that would soon be championed in the counterculture and the mainstream. He remained close with various family members, most notably Robert F. Kennedy Jr., though there was a dark side: Peter Collier and David Horowitz's The Kennedys: An American Drama for which Billings gave a number of interviews describes him descending into drug use in connection with his relationship with a young Bobby Kennedy (who had well documented drug issues himself). As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. In which 20 year old John F Kennedy's best friend shows up on his doorstep one evening. Billings repeated his senior year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935. Lem's raison d'tre was Jack Kennedy. "[29] Historian Sally Bedell Smith compared him to Leonard Zelig, a nondescript character in Woody Allen's 1983 film who is always present in the back row at major events. Another shows older daughter Caroline, who became the American Ambassador to Japan under Barack Obama, learning to ride her pony. It would go on to become one of his most prized possessions." In the summer of 1937 Billings and Kennedy took a summer trip through Europe which solidified their friendship. Now thats very exciting! said Kennedy with a grin.. Public Seminar is a journal of ideas, politics, and culture published by the Public Seminar Publishing Initiative at The New School. The Kennedys tolerated his homosexuality, which was considered taboo at the time, Lawrence J. Quirk, the author of'The Kennedys in Hollywood' said Billings and JFK's relationship turned sexual at a point. As the previous article mentions more has to be explored regarding the relationship between Lem and JFK! When Billings learned that the love of his life was dead on November 22, 1963, Pitts writes: It was as if he had been struck by lightning; he was consumed by grief. Lem was the second person Jacks sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called after reaching her sister, Pat Lawford. Lem Billings also buffered JFK from the toll that infidelity took on the Kennedy marriage. Having been given special access to the Billings papers by Robert Kennedy, Jr., Pitts was either unable to verify a sexual relationship, or he was unwilling to cite his source. LeMoyne Billings and Ethel Kennedy attend Liza Minnelli Concert on May 23, 1970 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Billings took leave from his business career to work on Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign. Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Claire Potteris professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on May 28, 1981, at the age of 65. I'd read a bit about Lem Billings in various Kennedy bios . He remained in the closet until his death in. Copyright 20142023 The Editorial Board of Public Seminar, All Rights Reserved. They met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, the exclusive Connecticut prep school, when both were teenagers, working together on their class's yearbook, and Billings instantly became attracted sexually and otherwise to the handsome scion of America's self-styled royal family. He wanted to be with him, to be a part of whatever he wanted to do to continue Jack's legacy." [4] Billings' first visit with the Kennedy family was for Christmas in Palm Beach in 1933, after that, he joined them for holidays, participated in family events, and was treated like a member of the family. 'I'm sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us with just the right Early American furniture, the right curtains, the right rugs, the right paintings, and everything ready for a big, big party. [55] Kennedy knew that homosexual behavior on the part of Billings had been revealed by a fellow Choate student during their years there. place of burial. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. [4], In 1939, Billings graduated from Princeton where he majored in art and architecture[5] and wrote his senior thesis on Tintoretto. Jack, meanwhile, drew on Billings' unerring presence in his life by his side in sickness and on the campaign trail and even at the White House, where Billings had a room (and where there were at least whispers among the staff about the truth of his personal relationships). After saying in a quiet voice, "He put up quite a fight. Eventually, the two friends made contact, however, and began exchanging letters just as they had when both were at home." A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys' boarding school, in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). He claimed he had no idea who the Kennedys were, but they wanted to meet Williams, and Vidal produced him. Release of Secret JFK Assassination Records Delayed by Biden, Angering Some of the Kennedys. Because of him, I was never lonely, Billings said once. were sexual animals, and its hard for me to believe that a guy like Lem who loved JFK, would stand by and let himself be used and be rebuffed by JFK! "Because of him," Billings once said. I have no doubt the same was true in American upper-crust boarding schools in the single-sex days. On March 4, 1961, The New York Times reported, Billings even escorted two baby hamsters, Debbie and Billie, from New York to Washington, for young Caroline. This is fascinating, Claire. Billings was a longtime Kennedy family friend, working to preserve the slain president's legacy even after death. The Depression had hurt the Billings family financially, and Lem Billings was at Choate on scholarship. 64, No. myocardial infarction. They remained close until Kennedy's assassinationBillings had his own room in the White House, and Joe Kennedy Sr. called him "a second son." (Which is odd considering JFK . They always remembered him as the nicest German they ever met." [18], In 1960, on leave from his job, he worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign. We might even attach the adjectives exclusive and romantic to this youthful friendship. Access Restriction Status: Open. [36] When the Kennedys spent the weekend at Glen Ora, their Virginia estate, Jacqueline Kennedy invited Billings to join them more often than the President did. ", As Pitts writes, Jack "wasn't going to let anyone control his life, and he certainly wasn't going to let anyone choose his friends.". [31] He accompanied the President to church,[32] launched a kite for the President's daughter Caroline,[33] and delivered pet hamsters to the Kennedy children. Some of his partners saw the escape from monogamy as liberating too, understanding their romps with the President as special and carefree episodes that they were happy to flaunt. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. By the time he became president, however, that revolution had been launched: the birth control pill, developed in the 1950s, became widely available in the 1960s and, more importantly, in 1964, Life magazine would publish a major photo essay about gay mens bars in San Francisco. ', White House visitor: Billings often spent the night at the White House, which upset Jackie Kennedy. Was this part of his commitment to the Presidents good health? [56] Charles L. Bartlett, a journalist who introduced Kennedy to Jacqueline Bouvier[57] and friend of both Billings and Kennedy, described their relationship: "Lem was a stable presence for Jack. Soon I discovered that he glared with equal suspicion at anyone whose friendship with JFK postdated his own. John F. Kennedy bi-sexual or gay? He helped handle even some of Jack's most personal affairs, Pitts writes in his book: "Jack's dates would be managed by Lem. "[Billings] was a witness to so much of what was going on. ', One of Jack's five sisters, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, found it hard to describe her brother's relationship with Billings, once stating, 'It was a complete liberation of the spirit' for Jack, and that her brother was a 'complete liberated man when he was with Lem. Billings had been a prep school roommate of John F. Kennedy, an usher at his wedding, and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. "I'm sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us with just the right Early American furniture, the right curtains, the right rugs, the right paintings," Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the president's sister, said in a eulogy. ', The Kennedy patriarch, Joe, a noted philanderer himself, was suspicious of Billings' sexual preference from the start of his son's close friendship with him. "'I'm sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us . Billings reportedly wrote the future president a love note on a piece of toilet paper (pictured at the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate), JFK was famous for his womanizing habits, but one of his closest relationships was withLem Billings. Plastic surgeon reveals five cosmetic procedures she would NEVER get - from dangerous Brazilian butt lifts BEL MOONEY:Why does caring for my dad take over my life? In the fictionalAmerican Adulterer (2009), novelist Jed Mercurio s imagines a Kennedy who believes that ejaculating several times a day was crucial to maintaining good health and mental alertness, a form of self-care and that controlled his attacks of Addisons Disease by preventing seminal fluid from backing up into his body. [21][22] The next year, Kennedy named him to a board to plan America's participation in the New York World's Fair of 19645. May I come inside?" Language: English Words: 1,469 . Eunice Kennedy Shriver said, 'I'm sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us -- with just the right Early American furniture, the right curtains, the right rugs, the right paintings, and everything ready for a big, big party. Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy met as teenagers at their Connecticut prep school and remained lifelong friends. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. Get that ass! he said to Vidal. Click to browse the Lem Billings Personal Papers KLBPP-001-003-p0015. [12], From 1946 to 1948, Billings attended Harvard Business School and earned an MBA. But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. And did he personally lend a hand from time to time? The affair was socially isolating for a very young and sexually un-liberated woman, causing her to deceive friends, boyfriends and ultimately her husband and children for most of her adult life. Still, Billings was viewed by many I interviewed for my biography of RFK Jr. as his gay Svengali who guided and literally tried to control every aspect of Bobby Jr.'s life from the time he was in his mid-teens. I am gay and this relationship was more than relieving sexual tension! Wikipedia (3 entries) edit. [19], In 1961, Billings declined Kennedy's offer to appoint him the first head of the Peace Corps, director of a new agency to promote tourism, the U.S. Travel Service, or ambassador to Denmark. Billings once admitted that he made a pass at Jack early on. Lem Billings may have been present for, but just outside the frame, of these pictures. Joe generously paid for half the cost of Lem's ticket on the way over, saying Lem could pay at least part of it back when he graduated from Princeton. And for Lem and Mark Chesmore, there's nothing more they enjoy doing than participating in their chosen sport of boxing. Billings, a 16-year-old third-year student, and Kennedy, a 15-year-old second-year student, met at Choate, an elite preparatory school, in the fall of 1933. "[52] One historian wrote that after the 1963 assassination Billings was: "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows'. If you want to discuss this further my e-mail:pscheck2@gmail.com). As Billings' biographer David Pitts told me, 'Once JFK decided that Billings was his best friend like it or leave, everybody in the family sort of fell in line with that.

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