We might even attach the adjectives exclusive and romantic to this youthful friendship. [9] He saw action in North Africa in 194243. He managed the campaign in the Third Congressional District in the Wisconsin primary and then served as general troubleshooter and coordinator of television in the West Virginia primary. In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. Oscar Cainer tells all. 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. 'It was very hard for him, but he wanted to do it and he stuck with it,' Lucretia added. As we both know, homosexual relationships in English boarding schools were put down to adolescent hijinks and men *grew out of them*. Have you heard from him?' Perhaps, however, Billings simply chose not to come out for his own reasons, devoting much of the rest of his life to preserving the memory of the man he loved. "I just became fascinated with Lem because he was a closeted but as they used to say 'practicing homosexual,' and he was very much part of the inner Kennedy circle from very early in his life," Bayard said. ', But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem Billings. 7 Gay Presidential Rumors You Won't Believe (But Maybe Should) [4], Some historians believe that Billings expressed his sexual interest in Kennedy in writing in 1934 and that Kennedy rebuffed his advances. [20] He later said: "I realized that I did not want to work for the president because I felt it would change our relationship. Lem Billings passed away from a heart attack at 65 in 1981. Jacqueline Bouvier would have the same problem, using every possible excuse to avoid the game, after she and Jack were married in 1953." Kennedy was allegedly on the receiving end of oral sex. ", 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.". "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. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. 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. Were Lem and Jack sexually intimate as well? Part Two Looking Out of the Frame: Camelot's Gay Court - OutHistory "Depending upon where the lung cancer was, her heart could have taken a direct hit," said Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist and founder of the Women's Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. Needless to say, JFK may have had, in a sense, two widows. Release of Secret JFK Assassination Records Delayed by Biden, Angering Some of the Kennedys. Lem's team was attempting to take down a number of South Vietnamese officials. And all the while, Lem Billings was there: waiting, serving, comforting and helping the Kennedy family adjust to the public glare. "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. "The agency, which was the 13th largest in the United States in 1971, went bankrupt the following year, listing almost $11 million in liabilities. (Page 307)Listen to a short phone conversation between the two of them: DAVID PITTS is a longtime journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post and other leading newspapers. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. You can follow her on Twitter . Health Insurance data come from Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, 2014 pdf icon; 2014 birth data come from National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. Lem Billings and John F Kennedy were practically inseparable in prep school. Smith, 433-4; see also: Smith, 113: "The only counterbalance to the [Kennedy] family's philistinism had been Lem Billings, whose passion for art and antiques had begun with his Princeton theses on Tintoretto, a precociously sophisticated study. And the White House itself seems to have been welcoming to other non-heteronormative men in the Kennedy years. 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. In 1929, Billy's brother, the reclusive, never married Charles Lemp had moved back into the Lemp Mansion with his dog. Collier and Horowitz described Billings, later in life, as invariably enmeshed in his late friend's larger family. 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." Princeton University. You can follow her on Twitter. 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. Otherwise he attended without female accompaniment. 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. (Note my reply) I think the interview I have reference to is less than a year ago! Billings was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1916, the third child of Frederic Tremaine Billings (18731933) and Romaine LeMoyne (18821970). Kirk Lem Lemoyne Billings (15 Apr 1916 - 28 May 1981) 0 references . [28] One presidential aide later said that "some people saw him so much they thought he was the Secret Service. The two became friends, then roommates. Claire Potteris professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. Stats of the State of Montana - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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. 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. The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well. Here is a look at their friendship. "[25]:244 Sometimes he stayed for longer periods. While JFK is legendarily known as a master womanizer who frequently cheated on his first lady, his curious three-decades long intimate friendship with Billings suggests more than a simple bromance. Those who knew Charles described him as a sour, angry man. It would be the last Christmas in which the United States would be at peace for more than four years. Lem Billings - Wikipedia Witch, Harridan, Harpy, and new insults like Karen and Terf. "[52] One historian wrote that after the 1963 assassination Billings was: "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows'. He may have been the reason I never married.. Naval Academy. 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? 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. This essay was originally published at OutHistory.orgon November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. Inside the intimate relationship between JFK and Lem Billings (2023) Lem was a virtual fixture in the Kennedy family who even had his own room at the White House. Kara Kennedy's Heart May Have Taken 'Direct Hit' by Cancer Cure It impressed . JFK's Queer White House - Public Seminar [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. John Fitzgerald Kennedy & Lem Billings: elisa_rolle - LiveJournal 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. [18], In 1960, on leave from his job, he worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign. [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 . [67], On May 28, 1981, Billings died in his sleep following a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment. [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. He never lost this.". Later Years. He once called Billings the 'chief f****t at Camelot.' Inside the relationship between JFK and Lem Billings as not being gay since they only gave each other BJs (as in Lewinsky/Clinton sex?)! Criticisms from others in the Kennedy orbit insinuate that Jack took advantage of Lem's love for him without reciprocating. Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy met as teenagers at their Connecticut prep school and remained lifelong friends. Ironically, Motlow, who had sustained a stroke in 1940, died that same year . Major Character Death; John F Kennedy/ Lem Billings; John F. Kennedy; Lem Billings; Friends to Lovers; Hurt/Comfort; Summary. Ted Sorensen called him "an admirer almost a fawning admirer of his friend. "[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. He certainly didn't have the same interest in politics and women that Jack had. JFK, or 'Jack' as he was known by his close friends and family, had a gay best friend named Lem Billings, who he met in prep school when Kennedy was 15 and Lem . When Jack discovered that Billings was gay once declining an amorous overture from Billings the friendship is thought to have gone on unharmed. He escorted Mrs. Stephen Smith, sister of the late President, to . By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use. Eventually, the two friends made contact, however, and began exchanging letters just as they had when both were at home." "He was in a very deep depression; sometimes didn't want to live," Pitts told the New Haven Register in 2007. "At Choate, boys who were interested in sexual involvement with other boys were courteous and discreet, writing notes on toilet paper so they could be easily swallowed or flushed," David Pitts writes in his 2007 book Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship. Lem's sister, Lucretia, who knew Jack as well, said, 'I think he had to do something because Jack was doing so much.' Date (s) of Materials: 25 March 1964. Bobby Kennedy Jr. read the eulogy. JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript. 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. [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. 228. He didn't want to share his friendship with Jack. Lem Billings (left) with John F Kennedy (right) Kennedy and Billings had a sexual relationship including 'oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end.' Kennedys in Hollywood by Lawrence J. Quirk / The Dark Side Of The Dream As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. "[58] Though Gore Vidal thought Billings was "absolutely nobody," he also believed "it was a good idea that Jack had somebody he could trust like that around him." John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings - Internet Archive 25 Things You May Not Know About JFK - Purple Clover and yet you still think JFK was alive in December 1963! 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. Billings, for his part, never married and eventually became a marketing executive and worked on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Yesterday was Jack's birthday. Lem was no civilian; he was a member of the Viet Cong. [34] He joined the President's entourage for his tours of Europe in both 1961 and 1963. Lem Billings - Later Years After saying in a quiet voice, "He put up quite a fight. Like millions of other young Americans, they faced an uncertain future. 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. 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.. [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. enwiki Lem Billings; In many ways, Kennedy was also enjoying the kind of sex life that would later characterize the gay mens party of the 1970s. One famous shot shows the toddler John, Jr., a man who would also die tragically young, playing peek-a-boo under the desk. Murder of Curtis Lemansky | The Shield Wiki | Fandom [49], Friends from the 1970s confirmed that Billings was homosexual, but not open to discussing it. Intimate relationship between JFK and his gay friend 'Dear Mrs. Billings. [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. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. 1 leading cause of death among Native Americans in Montana during 2020 and the third-leading cause of death for the general population. If you want to discuss this further my e-mail:pscheck2@gmail.com). [11], After working on Kennedy's successful campaign for Congress in 1946, Billings toured seven Latin American countries with Robert F. He sent one letter to Lem's mother addressed to the American Field Service PO Box in New York. ', Jacqueline Kennedy was reportedly unhappuabout her husband and Billings' three decade long relationship. 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. Adapted from New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer's explosive new book, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: RFK Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream. Jackie and Vidal werent cousins. Pitts' 2007 book helped spur renewed interest in the friendship between President Kennedy and Billings. Born in 1916, Billings was the son of a Pittsburgh doctor. What happened Lem Billings? - Celeberinfo In recent years, there has also been talk of a movie adaptation. Lemp Mansion: Tales of a Cursed Family and Their Haunted House cause of death. "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.". Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. I have one additional comment, probably to be regarded as politically incorrect. ", Billings' family could chafe at his adoration: "My uncle was not someone you could have a reasonable conversation with about what was going on with the Kennedys," his nephew said in Princeton's alumni magazine. Although Jack and Bobby were of different temperaments -- Jack, detached and cerebral, Bobby, intense and emotional -- Lem saw so much of Jack in Bobby. 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. Lem outlived his friend by eighteen years; he died in 1981, and left his papers to the JFK Presidential library in Boston, MA. Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' Use Restriction Status: None. The 51-year-old daughter of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died Sept. 16 while working out at her Washington, D.C., gym. "[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. As the previous article mentions more has to be explored regarding the relationship between Lem and JFK! Authorities have identified the woman found dead Tuesday in a residence on Avenue B in Billings as Shanna Lynn Booth. 'I would take the shuttle down to Washington, go to the White House and we would be picked up by helicopter there -- flown to Andrews (Air Force Base) and taken by Air Force One to Otis on the Cape. Their mothers just married the same man. One reason is that, in retrospect, the Kennedy presidency provides a transition from the years of what historian David K. Johnson calls the lavender scare and the unbuttoned, experimental 1960s that launched the gay rights movement. Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was . During that time, he told researchers, "All the kids came over to see me. [1] The Billings family were Episcopalians and Republicans.[2]. 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. 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. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. I dont buy it. Causes of death - Our World in Data And seated close to Kennedy is his shirtless, tanned and oiled best friend forever, his very gay chum, Kirk LeMoyne 'Lem' Billings. "[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. She needed Billings to keep the President company while she went horseback riding. Harvard University. It remains the worst such failure in the history of advertising agencies. 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. Article. COVID No. 1 cause of death among Montana Native Americans Though Billings who was working as a New York City advertising executive at the time of the assassination continued on at his firm for another decade, his life was never the same. educated at. Soon I discovered that he glared with equal suspicion at anyone whose friendship with JFK postdated his own. Because of him, I was never lonely. Knowing the kind of intimate relationship that he had with the president, advisers were concerned about political repercussions, and even blackmail. [66], In 1987, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin described how Billings structured her interviews with him. "[41] Gore Vidal, who was banned from the White House after a run-in with Billings,[42] was critical of Billings,[43] but also thought Billings played an important role as an aide to Kennedy, who was often ill or in pain. Felicia Farr m. 19622001 Cynthia Stone m. 19501956 Jack Lemmon / Wife He was 76. While at Choate, they formed a club and called themselves "The Muckers". But there is also an important story about race, and social class, to be told here. 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). I am gay and this relationship was more than relieving sexual tension! [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. The Story Behind the Man Who was Killed in the Famous "Saigon Execution The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as 'probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.'. Billings worked on the 1960 campaign, and then lived at the White House for long stretches of time, a room permanently set aside for his visits. 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. COVID-19 became the No. John F. Kennedy Had A Sexual Relationship With His Gay Best Friend But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. The year also brought a staggering . Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. I'd read a bit about Lem Billings in various Kennedy bios . It would go on to become one of his most prized possessions." 'What the hell have you been doing? [14] In 1958, he moved to the Manhattan advertising firm Lennen & Newell[15] as an advertising executive. Billings reportedly told Kennedy of his romantic intentions in prep school (JFK pictured chatting with Marilyn Monroe and Robert F Kennedy). JFK Tapes - Boston & New York (Lem Billings) - YouTube Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. 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. I'm not that kind of boy.' Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings and Mary Lasker attend a party at the New York City home of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. On June 14, 1977. 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. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was an American businessman known for his close and long-time friendship with John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family.