He never lost this.". For Jack and Lem, the carefree period of their lives -- their school and college years -- were now behind them. I'm not that kind of boy.'. Billings kept the letters JFK wrote to him between 1934 and 1939, and he donated the entire collection to the Library in the 1970s. 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. Wikipedia (3 entries) edit. He was a beautiful baby," he ducked into a boiler room and wept. 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). John F. Kennedy bi-sexual or gay? He had a very independent mind. They were bound together by a love of fun and practical jokes, resentment of Choate, and envy of their higher-achieving elder siblings -- Joe, Jack's brother, and Josh, Lem's brother." 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. When Billings died of a heart attack in 1981, Bobby Jr gave the eulogy (From left to right: Lem Billings, Bobby Kennedy Jr andEthel Kennedy), Part of the family: From childhood to adulthood, Billings stayed close to Jack Kennedy and his family. [49], Friends from the 1970s confirmed that Billings was homosexual, but not open to discussing it. He helped handle even some of Jack's most personal affairs, Pitts writes in his book: "Jack's dates would be managed by Lem. Williams, a handsome gay southerner, had already written seven hit plays. Date (s) of Materials: 25 March 1964. 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. [3] They became fast friends, drawn to each other by their mutual distaste for their strict school. 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. "[52] One historian wrote that after the 1963 assassination Billings was: "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows'. Copyright 20142023 The Editorial Board of Public Seminar, All Rights Reserved. [48] Billings saw the President for the last time when they dined at the White House with Greta Garbo on November 13, 1963, nine days before the President's assassination in Dallas. Lem Billings also buffered JFK from the toll that infidelity took on the Kennedy marriage. The story of Jack and Lem opens a window into the presidency, but it also suggests that historians of heterosexuality might want to look more closely to see which gay lives are lived near, but outside the conventional frame, of heterosexual families, a project that novelist Amy Bloom has recently undertaken in her fictional account of the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickock. According to author Christopher Bram (2012), Vidal told the playwright he shouldnt cruise our next president, then repeated the remark to Kennedy. A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys' boarding school, in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). And he also played a very important role in the courtship between Jackie Bouvier and Jack Kennedy," Bayard told PEOPLE in an earlier interview about his book, which will be published by Algonquin Books in June. According to Quirk, Billings revealed that his friendship with the future president of the United States 'included oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end. Kennedy. 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. 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. [28] One presidential aide later said that "some people saw him so much they thought he was the Secret Service. [66], In 1987, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin described how Billings structured her interviews with him. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Billings once admitted that he made a pass at Jack early on. The comments below have been moderated in advance. After cocktails, Jackie and JFK proposed some skeet shooting and, legend has it, Williams was a better shot than Jack. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. 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. [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. 0 references. Eventually, the two friends made contact, however, and began exchanging letters just as they had when both were at home." I don't think it's true that he did not have views of his own, as some have said. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. To begin with, why would JFK give him a private room at the white house, to come and go at his leisure? Published: 16:57 GMT, 9 June 2017 | Updated: 19:00 GMT, 9 June 2017. Didnt Lem confess to a friend that he loved JFK? I'd read a bit about Lem Billings in various Kennedy bios . A different side of JFK: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings met atChoate Rosemary Hall and became lifelong friends. Billings had once told Bobby that. Billings repeated his senior year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935. (Note my reply) I think the interview I have reference to is less than a year ago! Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Courtship with Jackie as Imagined in New Novel PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Louis Bayard's upcoming Jackie & Me By Sam Gillette Published on. Although Jack and Bobby were of different temperaments -- Jack, detached and cerebral, Bobby, intense and emotional -- Lem saw so much of Jack in Bobby. Billings, Lem (Kirk LeMoyne), 1916-1981. Otherwise he attended without female accompaniment. Lem had caught a cold in July by swimming in the Loire River at Chenonceau and Jack developed his own problems in Southampton on August 27 while saying goodbye to his mother and siblings Joe and Kick as they departed for America. That he is believed to have been gay at a time when homosexuality was still illegal even being somewhat open about his sexuality, including within the powerful Kennedy clan sheds light on the strength of his ties to the family. Lem Billings was a lifelong friend of Kennedy's, beginning from when they were roommates at Choate, continuing til Kennedy's assassination in 1963. [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. If you want to discuss this further my e-mail:pscheck2@gmail.com). I have been studying human sexuality for 25 years and am a Stanford grad and track athlete. Lem, although said by Arthur Schlesinger to have been jealous of others who drew Jacks attention, was undoubtedly one of the personal assistants and friends who facilitated the Presidents daily need for sex by making sure that women were available when needed. "Because of him," Lem Billings once said of President Kennedy, "I was never lonely" He was also plagued by ill health. JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript. Lem Billings may have been present for, but just outside the frame, of these pictures. 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. While web sleuths and conspiracy theorists were looking for the person who killed her . Witch, Harridan, Harpy, and new insults like Karen and Terf. [55] Kennedy knew that homosexual behavior on the part of Billings had been revealed by a fellow Choate student during their years there. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. Lem was a virtual fixture in the Kennedy family who even had his own room at the White House. Pictures of the first family are typical of Cold War domestic norms: widely distributed before and after his death, these photographs show him as a conventional, heterosexual husband and a devoted father. This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. I was pleased to note that things picked up after your arrival,' referring to Montgomery's battle with Rommel at El Alamein. [1] The Billings family were Episcopalians and Republicans.[2]. "[27] Arthur Schlesinger thought Billings "used to glare at me when we occasionally encountered each other in the company of JFK, and for a time I took this rather personally. Pitts' 2007 book helped spur renewed interest in the friendship between President Kennedy and Billings. 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 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. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3269576/How-Ethel-Kennedy-.. view all Lem Billings's Timeline Billings then prepared responses and read them aloud to her. Jack's best friend was Lem and he would want me to remind everyone of that today." 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. educated at. "[59], In 1964, Billings was named to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. In 1929, Billy's brother, the reclusive, never married Charles Lemp had moved back into the Lemp Mansion with his dog. Oscar Cainer tells all. [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. A queer perspective on JFK is not readily visible in official histories that feature iconic images and stories about one of the first administrations to offer the public ongoing access to the White Houses backstage. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was . 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? As for Kennedy himself, Vidal asserted that the president 'felt quite comfortable in the company of homosexuals as long as they were smart enough to hold his interest. 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. [28] He sat with the President's family at the Kennedy inauguration and walked not far behind his widow at the Kennedy funeral. [11], After working on Kennedy's successful campaign for Congress in 1946, Billings toured seven Latin American countries with Robert F. Collier and Horowitz described Billings, later in life, as invariably enmeshed in his late friend's larger family. 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. it would not surprise me knowing how most of the Kennedys (including ole Joe!) When Jack discovered that Billings was gay once declining an amorous overture from Billings the friendship is thought to have gone on unharmed. 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. 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. 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. 228. In many ways, Lem was like a father to me and he was the best friend I will ever have.' "[38] Another said: "Members of the president's staff thought of him as a 'handy old piece of furniture. A funny photo of Senator John McCain catching himself after he nearly left the stage in the wrong direction after shaking hands with Senator Barack Obama. The two became friends, then roommates. '"[39], Most recognized that Billings and Kennedy had been friends from youth and did not question their relationship or Billings' presence. 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. 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. When the boy died at 4:19 a.m. Kennedy was clutching his little fingers. Kennedy first met Billings when they were teenagers at a school called Choate. But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old woman on an adventure when she died at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles' skid row. And all the while, Lem Billings was there: waiting, serving, comforting and helping the Kennedy family adjust to the public glare. A Catholic couple, the Kennedys hoped for more children: Jack had been one of nine, while Bobby and Ethel Kennedy had eleven. It would be the last Christmas in which the United States would be at peace for more than four years. "[48] Billings spent the last weekend of October 1963 with the couple, the last time he saw them together. Their very intimate relationship would last from those school days to Billings even having a room in the Kennedy White House distressing for the first lady to the day of Kennedy's assassination. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
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