As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. [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. JAMIE RICHARDSON: John F. Kennedy had no shortage of people who considered themselves friends of the 35th president. A new book is claiming that John F. Kennedy had more than just a platonic friendship with his life-long gay best friend, Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings. Lemmon died about 9 p.m. Wednesday at USC/Norris Cancer Center with his wife, actress Felicia Farr, two children and a stepdaughter at his bedside. 25 Things You May Not Know About JFK - Purple Clover Date (s) of Materials: 25 March 1964. 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. "Jack was anxious to reach Lem and to find out how he was doing. Newly-Digitized Documents (218,000 of them!) from the Archives Lem Billings and John F Kennedy were practically inseparable in prep school. One famous shot shows the toddler John, Jr., a man who would also die tragically young, playing peek-a-boo under the desk. He believed Billings loved Kennedy. Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy met as teenagers at their Connecticut prep school and remained lifelong friends. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. She was expected to be constantly available for him, he was inconsiderate and unloving, and she was permitted to tell no one. Ben Bradlee, a Kennedy friend who worked at Newsweek during the Kennedy Administration, and no friend of Billings,[40] said "they were childhood friends and stayed loyal to each other forever." He had a very independent mind. It impressed . The Once and Future Kennedys - The Washington Post (Page 100). The murder of Curtis Lemansky marked the beginning of the end for the Strike Team. as not being gay since they only gave each other BJs (as in Lewinsky/Clinton sex?)! How Prince Harry's chat with guru who compared Hamas terrorists to Jews who battled the Nazis has appalled JAN MOIR: Goodbye Ken, the world always seemed safer with you on the airwaves, Abstaining from masturbating RAISES risk of anxiety, depression and erectile dysfunction, study warns. '"[39], Most recognized that Billings and Kennedy had been friends from youth and did not question their relationship or Billings' presence. [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. [4], Some historians believe that Billings expressed his sexual interest in Kennedy in writing in 1934 and that Kennedy rebuffed his advances. In 1965, Mrs. Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to Kennedy at Runnymede. 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. On some weekends, Jack and Lem would go up there. Stats of the State of Montana - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Page 276). [20] He later said: "I realized that I did not want to work for the president because I felt it would change our relationship. According to Pitts, Billings never recovered from the death of his friend, suffering from a "deep depression" in the weeks and months after President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on May 28, 1981, at the age of 65. However, gay men played another role in Kennedys history that was not overtly sexual: they were part of an avant-garde cultural world that Jackie Kennedy cultivated, as she linked the Kennedy name to national arts, letters and music for the first time. "Because of him, I was never lonely. [12], From 1946 to 1948, Billings attended Harvard Business School and earned an MBA. Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors. But even more than that, the author said that Billings was intimate friends with the Kennedys despite societal norms of the time ingratiating himself with a most powerful family. 1 leading cause of death among Native Americans in Montana during 2020 and the third-leading cause of death for the general population. 228. When a butler commented on the fact that Billings was leaving his belongings in one of the third-floor guest rooms, the First Lady replied: "He's been my house guest since I was married. ", 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.". 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. "[59], In 1964, Billings was named to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. Jack & Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untol We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Knowing that, like many men who lived double lives, he could have had a wife and family, Billings regarded his friendship with Jack as a gift. Another shows older daughter Caroline, who became the American Ambassador to Japan under Barack Obama, learning to ride her pony. In a third, the President is walking on the beach with the late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, as they grieved the death of their premature son Patrick. 0 references. I've had enough of life': Grandmother, 86, is reduced to tears after killjoy Tory RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: As Florida governor and Donald Trump rival Ron DeSantis steps up his bid to win the Hairy Bikers star Dave Myers speaks out on his deep depression after chemotherapy which left him having 'How I snatched JK Rowling's baby out of her abusive husband's arms - and helped her flee with the Harry Top equestrian rider, 39, once known as the 'golden girl' of horse eventing, is facing jail after being A possum feared extinct is discovered by an amateur naturalist in Papua New Guinea being cooked on a Now California reparations panel RAISES amount it wants to give 1.8m black people from $220,000 to $360,000 My weekly horoscope: What will March 4th 2023 bring for MY star sign? Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem book by David Pitts While at Choate, they formed a club and called themselves "The Muckers". Variability in proportionate mortality in 363 Latin American cities by country. 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. He was by all accounts JFK's best friend . The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. He remained in the closet until his death in 1981 at the age of 65, according to Pitts. Naval Reserve and served in the South Pacific until being discharged in 1946. [4] The Muckers would pull pranks around the school and even planned to dump horse manure in the school gym, but that fell through after the headmaster found out. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). His mother was a Mayflower descendant and his great-grandfather Francis Julius LeMoyne was a prominent abolitionist linked to the underground railroad who helped establish what is today known as LeMoyne-Owen College. 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. Authorities have identified the woman found dead in Billings home Get that ass! he said to Vidal. Although Alford refused, she did not always have the self-confidence to say no: earlier, she had fellated a staff member in Jacks presence. John Fitzgerald Kennedy & Lem Billings: elisa_rolle - LiveJournal ", Still, he was well aware of his proximity to history. "I was never lonely.". The elder Kennedys began to discourage the boys from associating with Billings because of his excessive recreational drug use (including alcohol). By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use. While web sleuths and conspiracy theorists were looking for the person who killed her . [50] In 2006, looking back to the Kennedy Administration, Ben Bradlee said: "I suppose it's known that Lem was gay.It impressed me that Jack had gay friends. July 24, 2015. Describing his friend as a "very normal, regular boy," Billings said his favorite of Jack's characteristics was his light spirit: "I've never known anyone in my life with such a wonderful humor and the wonderful ability to make one laugh and to have a good time. "[53] Though newspapers often mentioned Billings' attendance at major social events, they identified him either as the escort of a member of the Kennedy family or included him in a list of Kennedy friends. The young Kennedys took the casket and carried it around the gravesite before returning it to the burial plot. 73 Photos of Naturally Naked Men by Terry Hastings, 23 Masturbation Tips for People With Vaginas, 22 Terrifying Sexual Fantasies That Must Be Talked About, 30 Kinky Terms Every Gay Man Needs To Know, 10 Sex Toys for All Genders and How to Use Them, Alternative Orgasms: 20 New Ways to Hit the Spot, LGBTQ+ Rights Lawyer Shannon Minter's Home Hit by Tornado, 'First Deep Breath' Is a Moving Story of a Black Family & Queerness, Karine Jean-Pierre on Tennessee Anti-Drag Law: Unacceptable & Unfortunate, Texas GOP May Censure Congressman Over Support for Marriage Equality, 12 LGBTQ+ Films and TV Shows to Watch in March, The Dildo Nazi: Sex Toy-Selling White Supremacist Umasked, Lesbian Gov. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a close friend of the Kennedy family, who had his own room at the White House during the Kennedy presidency. [49], Friends from the 1970s confirmed that Billings was homosexual, but not open to discussing it. And George Terrian, the alcoholic husband of Ethel Kennedy's alcoholic, pill-popping sister, Georgeann, told me in interviews for my book 'The Other Mrs. Kennedy' that, 'Everyone in the family knew Lem was q***r the Kennedys, the Skakels, everyone.'. Have you heard from him?' And all the while, Lem Billings was there: waiting, serving, comforting and helping the Kennedy family adjust to the public glare. The fighting Chesmores: Ring veteran Lem Chesmore passing the craft on Vidal thought Jacqueline Kennedy thought Billings "was kind of a nothing but Jack needed him and she was practical. 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. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. . The pair matriculated at Princeton together in the fall of 1935, although Jack had to withdraw for health reasons, probably early signs of the Addisons disease that would plague him the rest of his life. One of their friends thought "that Jackie was trying to close Lem out. 'They make fun of my voice. Lem's team was attempting to take down a number of South Vietnamese officials. In Jackies absence, Lem managed the Presidents dinner parties, social life and children. Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' When they arrived at the cemetery, it was already in place to be lowered. Were Lem and Jack sexually intimate as well? Lem Billings had a remarkable friendship with JFK that lasted from 1932, when the two met as classmates in prep school, until JFK's assassination in 1963. I dont buy it. Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. Billings Murder Accessory Pamela Long Wiggins Dies In Prison Billings, for his part, never married and eventually became a marketing executive and worked on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. 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. President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem 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 which 20 year old John F Kennedy's best friend shows up on his doorstep one evening. "Jack made a big difference in my life," Billings said in his oral history for the Kennedy library, adding, "He may have been the reason I never got married.". (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. In their own words: 'each death is attributed to a single underlying cause the cause that initiated the series of . JFK's Queer White House - Public Seminar 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). [11], After working on Kennedy's successful campaign for Congress in 1946, Billings toured seven Latin American countries with Robert F. His book Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship, from which the text of this slideshow is excerpted, was one of The Advocate's five best books of 2007. 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. ', Jacqueline Kennedy was reportedly unhappuabout her husband and Billings' three decade long relationship. JFK's oldest and best friend was Kirk LeMoyne Billings, known as "Lem." The two became fast friends in prep school and, after graduation, they traveled to Europe together. And for Lem and Mark Chesmore, there's nothing more they enjoy doing than participating in their chosen sport of boxing. The two grew so close over the following months that Billings was invited to the Kennedy family home in Palm Beach, Florida, for the holiday season and, months later, to their Hyannis Port compound, where he was badly burned in a defective shower and hospitalized for three weeks. President John F. Kennedy has become infamous for his vivid, and some might say almost compulsive, heterosexual affairs. "Because of him," Billings once said. Indeed, it often seems that Kennedy did treat people who loved him for granted. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Jack" he said as he gazed at him softly, It's been a long time. They soon began spiraling toward their eventual demise. Article. It was Bobby Kennedy Jr. who gave the eulogy. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. After saying in a quiet voice, "He put up quite a fight. At one point, he is said to have remarked: "After I go, there'll be no more Kennedys.". ', 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. 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. 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. Lem outlived his friend by eighteen years; he died in 1981, and left his papers to the JFK Presidential library in Boston, MA. LeMoyne Billings and Ethel Kennedy attend Liza Minnelli Concert on May 23, 1970 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Author Louis Bayard focuses much of his upcoming novel Jackie & Me on the relationship between Billings and Kennedy, too. Perhaps, given his deep personal knowledge of the President and his friendship with the First Lady, he even gave directions as the photographer snapped the candid shots that would charm both the nation and historians. Although Jack and Bobby were of different temperaments -- Jack, detached and cerebral, Bobby, intense and emotional -- Lem saw so much of Jack in Bobby. Public Seminar is a journal of ideas, politics, and culture published by the Public Seminar Publishing Initiative at The New School. We are a non-profit organization, wholly supported by The New School, and by the generosity of our sponsors and readers. In the summer of 1937 Billings and Kennedy took a summer trip through Europe which solidified their friendship. Gay History: John F. Kennedy Had A Gay Best Friend Who - timalderman "The agency, which was the 13th largest in the United States in 1971, went bankrupt the following year, listing almost $11 million in liabilities. Bobby Kennedy Jr's surrogate father was JFK's gay best friend Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive selections from new issues of, what historian David K. Johnson calls the lavender scare, According to author Christopher Bram (2012), her fictional account of the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt. [68] His dying wish was for the young Kennedy men to carry his casket to its final resting place. Both Jack and Lem were crazy about dogs and soon fell totally in love with little Dunker. [64] Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included Billings as a guest at a party marking the birthdays of her children Caroline (21st) and John Jr. (18th) in 1978. Lem Billings - Wikipedia [30], The press frequently reported on his presence at Kennedy family events, such as the arrival of the Kennedy children in Washington in February 1961. With so many people looking for a relationship with him as he rose through the political ranks, there was one man who stood out as one of JFK's near-constant companions. Needless to say, JFK may have had, in a sense, two widows. Billings was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1916, the third child of Frederic Tremaine Billings (18731933) and Romaine LeMoyne (18821970). Jacqueline Bouvier would have the same problem, using every possible excuse to avoid the game, after she and Jack were married in 1953." A Princeton friend and former business partner confided to Pitts about Billings that after Jacks death: He didnt want to live anymore, and other friends claimed that he never recovered from the loss. Vessey paid Masters with meth and a vehicle in exchange for the death of Billings. To begin with, why would JFK give him a private room at the white house, to come and go at his leisure? 0 references. The bond between Billings and John F. Kennedy continues to be of interest to many, with a new wave of attention cresting on social media apps like TikTok, where users have pored back over candid photos of the young men together. Kirk LeMoyne " Lem " Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was an American businessman known for his close and long-time friendship with John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. He didn't want to share his friendship with Jack. She had to submit questions in advance. [66], In 1987, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin described how Billings structured her interviews with him. This essay was originally published at OutHistory.orgon November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. Kennedy first met Billings when they were teenagers at a school called Choate. "[21] In September 1961, he accepted an appointment to the board of trustees of the planned National Cultural Center, which later became the Kennedy Center. [51] Red Fay, a friend of the President from his World War II service, said of Billings: "I didn't see anything overtly gay about him; I think he was neutral. Between 1933 and 1935, The bond between Jack and Lem grew so tight, journalist David Pitts wrote in Jack and Lem (2008), that they really had no need for friendships with other boys.. COVID No. 1 cause of death among Montana Native Americans He once described the Kennedy family's lack of business awareness: "Listening to the Kennedy brothers talk about business was like hearing nuns talk about sex. The Man Who Loved JFK - The Gay & Lesbian Review Billings repeated his senior year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935. In addition, gay and lesbian people often have reasons for not coming out, or not seeking the liberation of living in queer communities, lives that are worth exploring for what we might learn about queer milieus that do not fit a conventional liberationist narrative. Like many gay men of his generation, Lem may have been very comfortable with his own sexuality and the privacy of his relationship to Jack. The evidence presented indicates that Jack found out . As the then-Senator stepped up for his turn, Williams admired his body. 1934: Young JFK in hospital The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years In the summer of 1934, future United States president John F Kennedy was in his junior year at the prestigious Choate School in Connecticut. Lemp Mansion: Tales of a Cursed Family and Their Haunted House But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. They always remembered him as the nicest German they ever met." When Jack discovered that Billings was gay once declining an amorous overture from Billings the friendship is thought to have gone on unharmed. 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. JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript. Among the snapshots is one that shows a handsome pre-presidential Kennedy sunning himself, sprawled on a chaise at Patriarch Joe Kennedy's Palm Beach estate. Witch, Harridan, Harpy, and new insults like Karen and Terf. And, say those close to him, Billings never, ever got over how his friend was assassinated one sunny day in Dallas exactly 58 years ago. A historian wrote that after Kennedy's assassination 50 years ago Billings was "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows.'" The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as 'probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.'. In its final year, Lennen & Newell had domestic billings of $140 million, and Mr. Toigo had said that the agency was worth between $12 million and $15 million and that he owned about 95 percent of the stock. Search - Lipstick Alley [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. Lem Billings also buffered JFK from the toll that infidelity took on the Kennedy marriage. Cocaine Caused Bias' Death, Autopsy Reveals - Los Angeles Times Didnt Lem confess to a friend that he loved JFK? Eventually, the two friends made contact, however, and began exchanging letters just as they had when both were at home." The president was famously believed to have affairs during their marriage. Lem (Kenny Johnson) refuses to live the rest of his life as a fugitive in Mexico.S5E11 - Postpartum (FX The Shield)I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE VIDEO CLIPS. 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. And seated close to Kennedy is his shirtless, tanned and oiled best friend forever, his very gay chum, Kirk LeMoyne 'Lem' Billings. But the point of the picture is the grief any couple would feel at the loss of a much-wanted child. The two became friends, then roommates. JFK also shared women with male friends and relatives, a homoerotic impulse often seen in fraternities or other male organizations where men reinforce intimacy by having sex with the same woman. 'I borrowed the other half from an inheritance I was about to receive from my grandmother after I graduated from college,' remembered Lem. Aangirfan: GAY KENNEDYS - Blogger Wikipedia (3 entries) edit. 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. After cocktails, Jackie and JFK proposed some skeet shooting and, legend has it, Williams was a better shot than Jack. Billings, Lem (Kirk LeMoyne), 1916-1981. Intimate relationship between JFK and his gay friend He may have been the reason I never married.. Williams, a handsome gay southerner, had already written seven hit plays. [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. Published online July 6, 2017. However, he avoided the notoriety of coming out even after Kennedys death, perhaps because he feared that it would draw more negative attention to the extended Kennedy family, which soon struggled with a range of scandals: Chappaquidick, alcoholism, divorce and drugs were but a few. Court documents say man was paid with meth to kill El Dorado - KOLR