"Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship" Kennedy knew Billings was in love with him (Billings declared his love and was rejected by Kennedy) and Kennedy liked that, the attention and knowing the power he has over billings also his wife Jackie Kennedy hated Billings and hated that he and . Lem Billings Wiki, Biography, Net Worth, Age, Family, Facts and More [24], Billings visited the White House for most weekends during the Kennedy Administration. 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. From the time John F. Kennedy and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings met at Choate, until the President's assassination thirty years later, Jack and Lem remained best friends. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. Billings had once told Bobby that. 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. When JFK was assassinated, he turned his attention to his nephew Bobby Kennedy Jr. 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. (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. Kennedy. Although Jack and Bobby were of different temperaments -- Jack, detached and cerebral, Bobby, intense and emotional -- Lem saw so much of Jack in Bobby. But the point of the picture is the grief any couple would feel at the loss of a much-wanted child. 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. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. 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. Williams, a handsome gay southerner, had already written seven hit plays. Lem felt that the physical regimen at the Kennedy vacation homes was even more exacting than that at Choate. 1 leading cause of death among Native Americans in Montana during 2020 and the third-leading cause of death for the general population. However, an earlier book by Hollywood writer Lawrence Quirk alleges that Billings was not rebuffed. 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. 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. Later accounts detailed how Billings had found himself adrift as a student at Choate in the wake of his father's death: "The Kennedys provided family and support and so forth," his nephew told Princeton University's alumni magazine in 2017. It would go on to become one of his most prized possessions." "[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. According to author Christopher Bram (2012), Vidal told the playwright he shouldnt cruise our next president, then repeated the remark to Kennedy. The . The elder Kennedys began to discourage the boys from associating with Billings because of his excessive recreational drug use (including alcohol). Billings Murder Accessory Pamela Long Wiggins Dies In Prison He claimed he had no idea who the Kennedys were, but they wanted to meet Williams, and Vidal produced him. 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. Murder of Curtis Lemansky | The Shield Wiki | Fandom In 1958, when Kennedy decided to launch a campaign for the presidency from his Massachusetts Senate seat, the United States had not yet experienced a sexual revolution that would challenge and change many people. Article. 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 Billings Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images To order a copy, click here. [11], After working on Kennedy's successful campaign for Congress in 1946, Billings toured seven Latin American countries with Robert F. 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. COVID-19 became the No. '"[39], Most recognized that Billings and Kennedy had been friends from youth and did not question their relationship or Billings' presence. 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. Billings then prepared responses and read them aloud to her. Lem Billings is a member of famous Celebrity list. Lemp Mansion: Tales of a Cursed Family and Their Haunted House "He did not want to hear one negative syllable, and there were a lot of negatives going along.". ', 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. 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. 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. (Page 80), Lem examines a damaged ambulance door following the Messerschmitt attack, Sirte, Libya, 1943. Elisa Lam's Cause of Death & Autopsy: Cecil Hotel Mystery - Heavy.com 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. In their own words: 'each death is attributed to a single underlying cause the cause that initiated the series of . Published online July 6, 2017. Part One Looking Out of the Frame: Camelot's Gay - OutHistory He was also plagued by ill health. "[Billings] was a witness to so much of what was going on. "[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. John F. Kennedy Had A Sexual Relationship With His Gay Best Friend 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?'. 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. Gore Vidal, the writer who claimed he viewed homosexuality as normal as heterosexuality, disparaged the JFK-Billings relationship during the Kennedy administration. Kennedy first met Billings when they were teenagers at a school called Choate. Search - Lipstick Alley He had interests of his own that Jack didn't necessarily share. 1934: John F Kennedy in hospital: enemas, porn and blondes - Past Peculiar Kara Kennedy's Heart May Have Taken 'Direct Hit' by Cancer Cure "'Of course, there was always Cape Cod in Massachusetts when the president wanted to be near the water,' Lem remarked. 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. On some weekends, Jack and Lem would go up there. Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I don't think it's true that he did not have views of his own, as some have said. "And everything ready for a big, big party.". After the assassination of Robert Kennedy, a distraught Ethel turned over her son, Bobby Jr., to Billings to act as his surrogate father, sparking her brother-in-law, Terrien RFK's roommate at the University of Virginia law school to wonder why she would allow 'Lem to have such an intimate relationship' with her troubled third born, who would go on to have a a bizarre relationship with Billings, including the taking of drugs. 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.. Lem Billings may have been present for, but just outside the frame, of these pictures. Even worse, many such slurs aren't from men but 'I couldn't do it without you': Victoria Beckham poses with her whole family after her PFW show - as she Brooklyn Beckham puts on a loved-up display with wife Nicola Peltz as they head back to hotel after Cruz Beckham supports his mother Victoria as he carrying his very own VB handbag on the way to her show Like father, like daughter! Both men are being held in . Lem and Jack were insulated by money, and by the reticence of journalists to open closet doors that powerful men, gay and straight, preferred to leave closed. One famous shot shows the toddler John, Jr., a man who would also die tragically young, playing peek-a-boo under the desk. 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. He remained in the closet until his death in 1981 at the age of 65, according to Pitts. 0 references. This may have been true of his wife, although perhaps she understood from the beginning that their marriage would be non-monogamous. [25]:364 According to Kennedy family members, such as Peter Lawford, and others, Billings began using drugs[25]:365 due to the influence of the Kennedy and Lawford boys. [4] The non-sectarian, wooded hillside park is located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, and bounded by the Bloomfield, Garfield, and Stanton Heights areas. 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. Billings would later spend nights in the White House where he had his own room, Schoolboy crush? He helped handle even some of Jack's most personal affairs, Pitts writes in his book: "Jack's dates would be managed by Lem. But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. [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. 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. Jack, Lem, and Caroline enjoying the water, Hyannis Port, 1963. Lem Billings - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia 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). 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. They soon began spiraling toward their eventual demise. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. as not being gay since they only gave each other BJs (as in Lewinsky/Clinton sex?)! President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem Billings. Eventually, the two friends made contact, however, and began exchanging letters just as they had when both were at home." His name was Lem Billings. 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. Lem Billings relaxed on the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate the summer of 1936. Vidal thought Jacqueline Kennedy thought Billings "was kind of a nothing but Jack needed him and she was practical. 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. "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.". I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. 0 references. 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!' His father was a prominent physician and a graduate of the U.S. (Page 100). 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. [64], Billings' behavior changed drastically in the late 1960s. Lem was no civilian; he was a member of the Viet Cong. 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. With his political influence, Jack Daniels became a monopoly as the only legal whiskey distillery in 1947 in Tennessee. He may have been the reason I never married.. 12 pdf icon; leading cause of death data, including firearm, homicide, and drug poisoning mortality data, and infant mortality . The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as 'probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.'. Lem's team was attempting to take down a number of South Vietnamese officials. 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. Newly-Digitized Documents (218,000 of them!) from the Archives When their brother Bobby married Ethel Skakel in a royal-like wedding in Greenwich, Connecticut, the staunchly conservative republican and seemingly homophobic Skakels let their feelings about Billings' gayness be known. Len Hauss, Pro Bowl center for Washington Redskins, dies at 79 - The As one source told me, 'Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lem's heart of hearts.'. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. [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. He sent one letter to Lem's mother addressed to the American Field Service PO Box in New York. "[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." "[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. [66], In 1987, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin described how Billings structured her interviews with him. From 1933 to 1946, Billings and JFK exchanged letters, with Jack often antagonizing Lem in the correspondence. Lem Billings - Later Years 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. John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings - Internet Archive ", 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. Ironically, Motlow, who had sustained a stroke in 1940, died that same year . In 1929, Billy's brother, the reclusive, never married Charles Lemp had moved back into the Lemp Mansion with his dog. In 1965, Mrs. Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to Kennedy at Runnymede. and yet you still think JFK was alive in December 1963! Now thats very exciting! said Kennedy with a grin.. Could he have been the third leg of what was clearly an unconventional marriage? Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. Date (s) of Materials: 25 March 1964. When the boy died at 4:19 a.m. Kennedy was clutching his little fingers. Variability in proportionate mortality in 363 Latin American cities by country. Jack and Lem on Apple Books John F. Kennedy (right) and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings sit in a wicker chair outside the Kennedy family home in Palm Beach. Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy met as teenagers at their Connecticut prep school and remained lifelong friends. Remembering JFK's Bond with His Boyhood Best Friend, Who Never Got Over And the White House itself seems to have been welcoming to other non-heteronormative men in the Kennedy years. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/661850801540d07650fabf52ced798bc30b638466ac906855c1e19da231d68b5.jpg. [56] Charles L. Bartlett, a journalist who introduced Kennedy to Jacqueline Bouvier[57] and friend of both Billings and Kennedy, described their relationship: "Lem was a stable presence for Jack. An autopsy report says Billings' cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Here is a look at their friendship. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). 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. 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. "Because of him, I was never lonely," Billings said once. (Note my reply) I think the interview I have reference to is less than a year ago! Claire Potteris professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. Where you live matters: Life expectancy and causes of death in Latin [1] The Billings family were Episcopalians and Republicans.[2]. Though his name isn't as well-known as that of his boyhood best friend, Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was an important confidante for one of America's presidents and lived a life no less full of its own twists and turns. 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. Bobby Kennedy Jr's surrogate father was JFK's gay best friend Release of Secret JFK Assassination Records Delayed by Biden, Angering Some of the Kennedys. 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 never lost this.". [13] He later had several jobs, including selling Coca-Cola dispensers to drugstores and working at a General Shoe store. John Fitzgerald Kennedy & Lem Billings: elisa_rolle - LiveJournal They remained close until Kennedy's assassinationBillings had his own room in the White House, and Joe Kennedy Sr. called him "a second son." (Which is odd considering JFK . 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. 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. 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. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. But there is also an important story about race, and social class, to be told here. "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. [17] In 1956 he was an usher at the wedding of Kennedy's sister Jean to Stephen Edward Smith. Jack and Lem Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive selections from new issues of Public Seminar. We might even call it a romantic friendship. You can follow her on Twitter . And did he personally lend a hand from time to time? [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. Kirk Lem Lemoyne Billings (15 Apr 1916 - 28 May 1981) 0 references . Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. And for Lem and Mark Chesmore, there's nothing more they enjoy doing than participating in their chosen sport of boxing. Lem Billings may have been present for many of these events, but if he was, he was just outside the frame of these pictures. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.'. Access Restriction Status: Open. I'd read a bit about Lem Billings in various Kennedy bios . Sexual Abuse at Choate Went On for Decades. In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. 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. Aangirfan: GAY KENNEDYS - Blogger ', But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. Lem Billings is a well known Celebrity. Criticisms from others in the Kennedy orbit insinuate that Jack took advantage of Lem's love for him without reciprocating. [4], In 1939, Billings graduated from Princeton where he majored in art and architecture[5] and wrote his senior thesis on Tintoretto. Lem's raison d'tre was Jack Kennedy. 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. 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. Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors. 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. '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.