Billings, Kirk LeMoyne: Oral History Interview - JFK #1, 3/25/1964 Kara Kennedy's Heart May Have Taken 'Direct Hit' by Cancer Cure I'm not that kind of boy.' Lem was no civilian; he was a member of the Viet Cong. 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. Eventually, the two friends made contact, however, and began exchanging letters just as they had when both were at home." ', 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. Like millions of other young Americans, they faced an uncertain future. He never lost this.". Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. [24], Billings visited the White House for most weekends during the Kennedy Administration. Collier and Horowitz described Billings, later in life, as invariably enmeshed in his late friend's larger family. 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. [63], Billings served for many years along with Sargent Shriver as a trustee for the Kennedy family trusts,[65] working from an office in the Pan Am Building. I suppose if you dont do the missionary sex position thing you can call yourself straight and for any other position, it is just experimental straight sex? [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. The Story Behind the Man Who was Killed in the Famous "Saigon Execution Witch, Harridan, Harpy, and new insults like Karen and Terf. 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. 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! 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. This may have been true of his wife, although perhaps she understood from the beginning that their marriage would be non-monogamous. 0 references. They always remembered him as the nicest German they ever met." Lem Billings also buffered JFK from the toll that infidelity took on the Kennedy marriage. Oscar Cainer tells all. Inside the intimate relationship between JFK and Lem Billings (2023) "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. President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem Billings. Inside the relationship between JFK and Lem Billings The 51-year-old daughter of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died Sept. 16 while working out at her Washington, D.C., gym. According to author Christopher Bram (2012), Vidal told the playwright he shouldnt cruise our next president, then repeated the remark to Kennedy. They were especially fanatical about football. Another shows older daughter Caroline, who became the American Ambassador to Japan under Barack Obama, learning to ride her pony. [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. Details of Lem Billings and JFK's three decade relationship are revealed in 'Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream'. "'Of course, there was always Cape Cod in Massachusetts when the president wanted to be near the water,' Lem remarked. Lem was born on April 15, 1916 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.. Lem is one of the famous and trending celeb who is popular for being a Celebrity. After the assassination of RFK in 1968, the flamboyant Billings transferred his obsessive affection for Jack, to handsome teenager Bobby Jr. David Pitts, the author of 'Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship,' told me, 'Lem was a gay man and he had a 14-year-old, good-looking kid living in his house with him and there had been rumors because of that. Jack and Lem on Apple Books He was also plagued by ill health. One of their friends thought "that Jackie was trying to close Lem out. Lem Billings relaxed on the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate the summer of 1936. Bobby Kennedy Jr. read the eulogy. For many other Americans as well, Bobby became the last best hope for resurrecting Camelot, for a return to the kind of liberal idealism that Jack had epitomized. [9] He saw action in North Africa in 194243. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. It contained scores of photographs of himself and Jack in Europe, as well as a handwritten narrative. 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. Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' 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. Date (s) of Materials: 25 March 1964. On school breaks, Jack often brought Billings home with him, sparking Joe Kennedy to complain to his wife, Rose, 'Do we have to have that q***r around all summer?'. What happened Lem Billings? - Celeberinfo The murder of Curtis Lemansky marked the beginning of the end for the Strike Team. Because of him, I was never lonely, Billings said once. The Kennedy Curse" Episode 205 -- Pictured: Grant Logan as JFK, Adam Cropper as Lem Billings -- John F. Kennedy, "Dunker" the dog, and Lem Billings at the Hague, during their Europe trip. 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. Where you live matters: Life expectancy and causes of death in Latin Causes of death - Our World in Data He claimed he was rebuffed: according to Pitts, it was Jacks decency at that moment that caused the pair to become close, and the moment they decided to become roommates. Lem's team was attempting to take down a number of South Vietnamese officials. [44] "Jack made a big difference in my life," Billings said. Here is a look at their friendship. Claire Potteris professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. Williams, a handsome gay southerner, had already written seven hit plays. David Pitts quotes Vidal cruelly calling Billings a lifelong slave, the principal fag at court, and a nurse who helped Jack deal with the pain caused by Addisons disease. 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. 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. Len Hauss, a rugged mainstay in Washington's offensive line who started 192 consecutive games at center in a 14-year pro football career that led him to the Super Bowl and five Pro Bowl . But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. "He did not want to hear one negative syllable, and there were a lot of negatives going along.". After saying in a quiet voice, "He put up quite a fight. Billings once admitted that he made a pass at Jack early on. He remained in the closet until his death in 1981 at the age of 65, according to Pitts. This essay was originally published at OutHistory.orgon November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. For Billings' funeral, some of the younger Kennedys served as pallbearers (as Billings himself had done for some of their own, like the slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy). I have been studying human sexuality for 25 years and am a Stanford grad and track athlete. Were Lem and Jack sexually intimate as well? When Jack discovered that Billings was gay once declining an amorous overture from Billings the friendship is thought to have gone on unharmed. "He may have been the reason I never married." This essay was originally published at OutHistory.org on November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. Each column is a city, with each color representing . 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. Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old woman on an adventure when she died at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles' skid row. 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. July 24, 2015. 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. [59], He escorted Jean Kennedy Smith, sister of the President, to a gala ballet performance in 1966[61] and Ethel Kennedy, the president's sister-in-law, to the 1971 opening of the Kennedy Center. For example, in Once Upon a Secret (2012), former White House intern Mimi Alford describes a prolonged affair she had with Kennedy, beginning in the summer of 1962 when she was 19 and ending shortly before his assassination on November 22, 1963. Billings, Lem (Kirk LeMoyne), 1916-1981. Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy met as teenagers at their Connecticut prep school and remained lifelong friends. It is important to understand what is meant by the cause of death and the risk factor associated with a premature death:. Description: In this interview, Billings discusses John F. Kennedy's time at Choate, his family life, and their first trip to Europe together, among other issues. Billings was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1916, the third child of Frederic Tremaine Billings (18731933) and Romaine LeMoyne (18821970). 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. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. [34] He joined the President's entourage for his tours of Europe in both 1961 and 1963. 7 Gay Presidential Rumors You Won't Believe (But Maybe Should) At one point, he is said to have remarked: "After I go, there'll be no more Kennedys.". Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. Booth, 32 years old, died of "undetermined causes" with no obvious signs of . Author Louis Bayard focuses much of his upcoming novel Jackie & Me on the relationship between Billings and Kennedy, too. Jack, Lem, and Caroline enjoying the water, Hyannis Port, 1963. [55] Kennedy knew that homosexual behavior on the part of Billings had been revealed by a fellow Choate student during their years there. Lem's raison d'tre was Jack Kennedy. "[45] Billings also served the President as an artistic adviser, selecting scrimshaw for display in the Oval Office[46] and, on one European tour, quickly assembling a selection of artworks to be presented as gifts. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. JFK appeared to be in love with the idea of Billings being in love with him. Lem felt that the physical regimen at the Kennedy vacation homes was even more exacting than that at Choate. Young John F. Kennedy (35th U.S President) with his gay - reddit Historian Lois Banner has also provided details about Marilyn Monroes affair with JFK, one of numerous women procured for the President by Peter Lawford, who himself staged sexual orgies in Los Angeles that the President attended. 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!' 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 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. And all the while, Lem Billings was there: waiting, serving, comforting and helping the Kennedy family adjust to the public glare. He had a very independent mind. Kirk LeMoyne Billings (1916 - 1981) - Genealogy The two had been friends since meeting as teenagers in prep school, and Billings even had his own room in the White House, but were they merely friends? [1] The Billings family were Episcopalians and Republicans.[2]. 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. "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. 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. Anyone who wants to know more about JFKs actual sex life can email me at tim.a.nicholson@gmail.com Here is my sons grandfather with JFK in Dec 1963. Pitts' 2007 book helped spur renewed interest in the friendship between President Kennedy and Billings. The . [18], In 1960, on leave from his job, he worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign. I have one additional comment, probably to be regarded as politically incorrect. "He never really came out of it. Lem Chesmore is a 34-year-old Billings native who grew up on the sport. "The agency, which was the 13th largest in the United States in 1971, went bankrupt the following year, listing almost $11 million in liabilities. Billings Murder Accessory Pamela Long Wiggins Dies In Prison Sometimes Jack bitched Lem out one letter saying, "Of all the cheap shit I have. "[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. "[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. From 1933 to 1946, Billings and JFK exchanged letters, with Jack often antagonizing Lem in the correspondence. 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. Kirk LeMoyne Billings and John F. Kennedy. Jacqueline Bouvier would have the same problem, using every possible excuse to avoid the game, after she and Jack were married in 1953." May I come inside?" Language: English Words: 1,469 . "[38] Another said: "Members of the president's staff thought of him as a 'handy old piece of furniture. A Catholic couple, the Kennedys hoped for more children: Jack had been one of nine, while Bobby and Ethel Kennedy had eleven. Naval Reserve and served in the South Pacific until being discharged in 1946. Stats of the State of Montana - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Born in 1916, Billings was the son of a Pittsburgh doctor. 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. 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. 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. When Jack reached home, the two friends greeted each other like there was no tomorrow." 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. Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem book by David Pitts Billings took leave from his business career to work on Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign. Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors. John F. Kennedy, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated this year with a Kennedy Centennial postage stamp, TV memorials, a slew of books, and much media coverage, was revered as the 35th president of the United States. John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings, right, who was a classmate from the Choate School and Princeton University, outside a drugstore, ca. But above all, Bobby was very important to Lem personally. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was . (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. Len Hauss, Pro Bowl center for Washington Redskins, dies at 79 - The Pamela Long Wiggins, who was convicted of accessory to murder after the fact in connection with the Billings murders, died Thursday in state prison. Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Jackie Romance - Peoplemag Both boys kept diaries on the trip, although Lem's was more of a scrapbook. JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript | JFK Library She had to submit questions in advance. Still, the Kennedy clan accepted even welcomed Lem Billings into their exclusive inner-circle, practically adopting him, and he became a part of the family. With that out of the way, their relationship continued essentially unchanged until JFK's assassination thirty years later.". Lem Billings '39's Life | Princeton Alumni Weekly It was Bobby Kennedy Jr. who gave the eulogy. And did he personally lend a hand from time to time? 'It was very hard for him, but he wanted to do it and he stuck with it,' Lucretia added. The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well. 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. 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 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. Billings as a teenager was 6' 2", weighed 175 pounds, and was the strongest member of the Choate crew. When they arrived at the cemetery, it was already in place to be lowered. (Page 24), Lem and Bobby, Waterville Valley, N.H., circa 1967"'When Bobby joined the political fray, no one was happier than Lem. 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. ', Jacqueline Kennedy was reportedly unhappuabout her husband and Billings' three decade long relationship. John F. Kennedy (right) and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings sit in a wicker chair outside the Kennedy family home in Palm Beach. . 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. Lem profited from the friendship--he was an official member of the Kennedy clan, he went to fancy White House parties and even had his own friendship at the presidential mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The parents who fear their 11-year-olds will be scarred for life by the graphic sex education lessons that Two Insulate Britain protesters are jailed for contempt of court after they defied a judge's orders not to 'Derek fights on, it makes me fall in love with him all over again:' Kate Garraway reveals there are days French authorities fear 'narco-tourists' could flock to Normandy beaches after 'more than two tonnes of Hopes for cervical cancer vaccine after trials in mice showed it reduced tumours 80 per cent of the time. Published: 16:57 GMT, 9 June 2017 | Updated: 19:00 GMT, 9 June 2017. PHOTOS: Memories of JFK From His Gay Best Friend - Gay News, LGBT [66], In 1987, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin described how Billings structured her interviews with him. (Page 276). Jack & Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untol In less than a year, the country would be at war." Ironically, Motlow, who had sustained a stroke in 1940, died that same year . "[48] Billings spent the last weekend of October 1963 with the couple, the last time he saw them together. Kennedys social intimacy with gay and bisexual men, and his comfort around homosexuality, is remarkable at a time when those friendships were stigmatizing and when gay and lesbian people were still prohibited from working on most federal jobs. Lem Billings - Wikiwand I really got to know them well. A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). 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.. Bobby Kennedy Jr's surrogate father was JFK's gay best friend 64, No. When the boy died at 4:19 a.m. Kennedy was clutching his little fingers. 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. About Lem Billings A long time best friend and alleged secret Gay lover of President JFK and later a surrogate father for Robert Kennedy Jr. after the murder of his father. [17] In 1956 he was an usher at the wedding of Kennedy's sister Jean to Stephen Edward Smith. 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. Otherwise he attended without female accompaniment. While web sleuths and conspiracy theorists were looking for the person who killed her . 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. A historian wrote that after Kennedy's assassination 50 years ago Billings was "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows.'" University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died of "cocaine intoxication" after ingesting an unusually pure dose of the drug that stopped his heart within minutes, Maryland's chief medical . "[Billings] was a witness to so much of what was going on. We are a non-profit organization, wholly supported by The New School, and by the generosity of our sponsors and readers. Inside Matt Hancock's 41-hour battle to save his career when photo of 'a snog and heavy petting' with aide Will Vladimir Putin's empress pay the ultimate price for his war on the West? You can follow her on Twitter. What is most interesting to me is the relationship between sexual abuse and power and how idolized men in particular seem to some along with this inability/unwillingness to be kind.Lems story seems tragic, good material for a play or musical. It is a historic rural cemetery. 50 Lemoyne Billings Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images "[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. Billings was so much a part of the extended Kennedy clan that he was regularly included in family gatherings, and Attorney General Robert Bobby Kennedy named his son Michael LeMoyne Kennedy. [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 was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. He wanted to be with him, to be a part of whatever he wanted to do to continue Jack's legacy." But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. Now thats very exciting! said Kennedy with a grin.. 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. 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).