"You learn a lot about how he met Jackie, about how intrigued he was by her, how intrigued he was by them," says Bayard of listening to Billing's testimony stored in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Bayard's novel takes place primarily in the months leading up to Jack and Jackie's wedding on Sept. 12, 1953. Billings enthused to RFK and Ethel in his high-pitched voice, which RFK made fun of behind his back. 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? 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. Standing next to Jack, or lying close beside him in a lawn chaise at the Kennedy oceanfront estate in Palm Beach, as one old photograph showed, Billings appeared to dwarf his chum. And it was pretty common, of course in those days and that culture, for men not to be that way.". They continued to Princeton Kirk LeMoyne Billings, a retired advertising executive and a friend of President John F. Kennedy, died Wednesday at his Manhattan apartment. But that's the kind of kid he was, deep into bad stuff.'. and helped gather delegates at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles when JFK ', Another classmate, Brian Carroll, remembered 'this odd character' Billings, who was always on campus fawning over Bobby: '"Bobby, are you eating? An intimate of Billings, writer Lawrence J. Quirk, claimed that Billings, whom he met in 1946 when both worked in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign, had confided to him that their relationship did, in fact, involve sex acts 'a friendship that included oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end. ", "I thought, 'What a great cat-bird seat he would've had, and wouldn't he make a great narrator?' Lem had several jobs including selling Coca-Cola dispensers to drugstores, working Billings was buried near his mother's grave in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Lem Billings andBobby Kennedy Jr became close after JFK's death and allegedly took drugs together. In truth, the Kennedys did have criticisms of Queen Elizabeth following their meeting. . 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. David Pitts, the author of Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship, told him: 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. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a close and long-time friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. education of free black Americans after the Confederate States of America was It's when we're crossing back over Chain Bridge that she rouses herself to ask: "Jack, what color is your car?". "I think she went into this thinking that she was getting the conventional husband, even though her own father was a complete philanderer and she knew that," Bayard says. But as I began to research him, I realized he was also very good friends with Jackie," the novelist says. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. according to David Pitts' 2007 biography Jack and Lem. The result is a meditation on the definitions . . He is survived by a brother, Dr. F. Tremayne Billings, and a sister, Lucretia Billings Fisher. 'Sometimes I answered the phone and I would hear her wispy voice, and then I would get my husband to talk to her.'. 'I had written a report on Bobby, and Billings answered it and didn't agree with me, and that's when I thought, "Uh-oh, he's in charge here. "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. 2023byTango Publishing Corporation All Rights Reserved. A startled Kennedy responded to the note by saying, Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. Heide Knop. The Brodes friends included a number of gay men, among them such openly gay politicians as Barney Frank and Gerry Stuuds. 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. At fourteen and fifteen, Bobby was proving his bad-boy bona fides with Jesse Pinkman zeal. Where sits a girl. With "Jack and Lem," Pitts has indeed turned over a new stone. As depicted in Netflix's The Crown, Queen Elizabeth II did actually host President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy at Buckingham Palace in 1961. Monroe and JFK were first introduced in 1954 by Peter Lawford, JFK's brother-in-law. Lem Billings passed away from a heart attack at 65 in 1981. Terrien had been RFK's roommate at Harvard and later at the University of Virginia Law School, and he was particularly upset about what he saw clearly as Billings's growing infatuation with young Bobby. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he . Young Jfk. To virtually attend a service live I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]". She never visited.'. All I can make out through my encrusted specs are a row of white pilasters and a front portico. Brode had liberal views, didn't mind that Bobby smoked pot with Lem Billings in Bobby's room. Then, when Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, his wife Ethel Skakel had Billings act as the surrogate father to her son Bobby Jr. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). Kennedy was allegedly on the receiving end of oral sex. to the arrival of the Mayflower and were ardent abolitionists who championed the Their lifelong relationship caused some of the presidents advisers to fear Russian agents may use the information as blackmail. President Kennedy with his wife, Jacqueline, and Texas governor John Connally with his wife, Nellie, in the presidential limousine, minutes before the assassination. "Yesterday was Jack's birthday. In what was later viewed as a twisted relationship, Billings was pumping up Bobby for a high political future at the same time he was sharing drugs with him, from marijuana to heroin through their years together. But I'm stuck with the Kennedys emotionally, and I will be to the end of my life.". him to drink. Ethel Kennedy "booted" Bobby, Jr. out of the Hickory Hill home at age 14 and basically fed him to Billings. But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. Lem Billings. ', The Kennedy patriarch, Joe, a noted philanderer himself, was suspicious of Billings' sexual preference from the start of his son's close friendship with him. I'm not that kind of boy.'. 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 Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, "Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. Writer Gore Vidal once called Billings the chief f****t at Camelot and said Kennedy felt quite comfortable in the company of homosexuals as long as they were smart enough to hold his interest.. In the spring of 1971, Bobby was sacked once again. Supposedly. He attended one of the parents' weekends, but was never seen on campus again. ", But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms - he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. It just reeks of arrogance, but I did not experience Bobby as arrogant.'. Because Jack had no intention of ever being a faithful husband. Lem Billings was the ultimate "wing man." Billings was quietly gay, at a time when such things were not admitted to, particularly for those people who wanted to stay in high society. 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. In the early spring of 1971, Bobby was being carefully watched by the administration because of drugs. 'It was clear to me,' said Miesmer, 'that Bobby felt like an outsider, so he felt way more comfortable with the black kidshis father was a champion of helping blacks, so this kid who just lost his father goes to a school where there's a presence of black kids and he felt more comfortable with them.'. Published in The Elkhart Truth from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, 2023. Two months after Bobby was expelled, he along with a cousin, Bobby Sargent Shriver III, son of the former U.S. But Kennedy's reaction to Billings gay come-on soon changed and he became more amenable to his friend's advances, according to the writer Lawrence J. Quirk, author of 'The Kennedys in Hollywood.' I can't even tell. "The result is this book, which looks at Jackie before she was Jackie the Jackie that we all think we know. 'They make fun of my voice. Bobby had believed Billings' every word. Hidden away high up on a bookshelf was a small bronze bust of his father. 14:55 EDT 13 Oct 2015. 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. 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. "The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well.". Jack was in love with Lem being in love with him and considered him the ideal follower adorer.. The Kennedy patriarch, Joe, a noted philanderer himself, was suspicious of Billings' sexual preference from the start of his son's close friendship with him. His name was Lem Billings. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another. Even when Bobby was invited to weekend lunches at the Bontecou estate, it was Billings who accompanied him. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. One of the most credible accounts of the Kennedy-Billings relationship was told by David Pitts, who I interviewed extensively for my book, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream, because the strapping, bespectacled Billings, with a high-pitched, effeminate voice, would later become the fawning surrogate father - and fellow drug user - of JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr., with whom Billings also had intense romantic feelings. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was introduced to Bobby Kennedy Jr. the two spent several hours alone in the boy's room at fabled Hickory Hill, Robert and Ethel Kennedy's historic,. John F. Kennedy with Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Miss Bouvier is a destination. Queer question. He was 65 years old. Jack for his health reasons and Lem for his eye sight. /. They both kept diaries documenting, in words and pictures, their adventures, mishaps, and observations along the way. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. 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. Brother of Frederic Billings Jr. [spouse (s) unknown] [children unknown] Died 28 May 1981 at age 65 in New York City, New York, United States. Quirk alleged thatBilling and Kennedys relationship included oral sex with JFK always being on the receiving end. She might be a cashier at the Montelle Pharmacy or Finland's deputy chief of mission, and you won't know until you've pulled up in front of her apartment building and seen her tottering through the front gate, a blonde in a crew-neck cardigan or a brunette in a bullet bra, and it's always the latter who raises her hand for you to kiss and the former who comes at you straight on like an encyclopedia salesman, and whoever it is remains "Miss" in our conversation until such time as the business is consummated, at which point she devolves into her component parts. At Pomfret, he also ignored most of the white kids and hung out with a small group of black students who were part of a program to help underprivileged boys from the mean streets of New York City, some of them gang members. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings, was a prep school roommate and then lifelong close friend of President John F. Kennedy. '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. 'Ethel never had any contact about her son. Jack and Lem explores the enduring friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne Billings (aka "Lem"). Girls in these days are instructed to shoot out a clean, firm thread of inquiry at all times. ', Drugs had become part of the scene at Millbrook, and Bobby would become a major player. Kirk Lemoyne (Lem) Billings. Knowing the kind of intimate relationship that he had with the president, advisers were concerned about political repercussions, and even blackmail. 'Rob' Bierregaard Jr., who later went on to teach ornithology at the University of North Carolina, recalled, 'Next to the school there was a cow pit where the local dairy farmers threw their dead cows, and it was full of rats. In her memoir, published eleven years after the first Kennedy assassination, she wrote that Billings had 'remained Jack's lifelong close friend, confidante, sharer in old memories and new experiences . 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. See the article in its original context from. Nature rushes forth, and the car dealers and the Hot Shoppes fall away before dogwoods and tulip trees, tatters of forsythia. In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. He once called Billings the 'chief f****t at Camelot.' Mark Bontecou, a scion of the wealthy Bontecou family of Millbrook, which had once owned a good part of the land on which Millbrook School resided, also recalled how Billings was a constant companion of Bobby's during the school year. In his second year at Millbrook, Bobby began boasting that he was doing certain drugs intravenously - shooting up, like any street junkie. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Kenne. By Sydney Taylor Written on Nov 06, 2021. We have 2 volunteers within fifty miles of your requested photo location. Peter Cole, who taught English, noted, 'We as faculty members all seemed to have this awareness of Bobby's behavior and were totally unable to do anything about it, We did catch him finally and he was going to get tossed.'. Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. October 14, 2015. Im 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. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. 'But Bobby was doing a little more than some of the rest of us - a little more and maybe harder stuff than the rest of us.'. Later Years. In June 1961, just months after Kennedy began his presidential term, he and Jackie visited Buckingham Palace, where a black tie banquet was hosted in the President's honour. The piece featured here was a gift from Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings, a high school friend and lifelong confidant who helped Kennedy amass his scrimshaw collection, which included more than 30 . 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. All the Kennedys were very much aware of Billings's sexual preference, or suspected it, accepted it, and welcomed him into their exclusive inner circle - practically adopted him - although the patriarch Joe Kennedy found him annoying at times. Wanting to be around family . 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. Billings was devastated after the JFK assassination. RELATED:Britney Spears Blames Her Mom For Conservatorship Inside Lynne Spearss Complicated Role In Singers Life, Quirk explained this '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. It was pretty clear he had some intravenous drug use back then, and he was the only person we knew who did.'. Bayard says it was a "gas" creating fictional narratives for these historical figures. lifelong close friend of President John F. Kennedy. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. In 1941, Jack and Lem both tried out for the military but were both declined, 121 likes. The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years. After Kennedys assassination, Billings was devastated. Find the obituary of Lem Speer (1928 - 2021) from Billings, MT. 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. (In September, Jack joined ', 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. Sixteen days after RFK was buried, Ethel and her brood were aboard a yacht destined for Hyannis Port and the Kennedy compound. This page is created to honor his memory and is dedicated to his family and friends. ", "We'd have to drive clear to New York for that. Love Irish history? Billings reportedly told Kennedy of his romantic intentions in prep school (JFK pictured chatting with Marilyn Monroe and Robert F Kennedy). Billings had once told Bobby that when. He served with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, then attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business. 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 . He was by all accounts JFK's best. Extent: 82 digital pages. Ethel virtually abandoned 14-year-old Bobby after RFK's assassination in 1968, suddenly and inexplicably turning over his care, feeding and education to Lem Billings. 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. Ethel Kennedy issued the requisite concerned parent statement, calling Bobby a 'fine boy, and we have always been proud of him. 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. The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well., In her memoir, Times To Remember, published eleven years after JFKs assassination in Dallas in 1963, matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy 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., Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy pictured at the Kennedy familys Palm Beach estate. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. I don't know whether she wrote to Bobby, but she certainly didn't telephone or visit him. Jackie O. Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary and Crematory is a locally and independently owned and operated full service funeral home and crematory. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. From 1946 to 1948, Lem attended Harvard Business School. "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 . In the spring of 1972, with graduation approaching, Bobby took the SAT college board exam, and filled out his application for college. 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, reports Daily Mail. Lem Billings was a strapping, bespectacled, 'grizzly- bearish' fellow with big feet and a large head topped by curly, dirty blond hair, who always seemed to be smiling. Bobby Kennedy Jr. read the eulogy. They shared an insatiable intellectual curiosity, a robust sense of humor, and a disdain for petty rules. Reprinted by permission. When Jack Kennedy and Billings were at Choate and later, when they were seemingly joined at the hip at Princeton for a time before Kennedy transferred to Harvard at his father's behest, Billings always accompanied him home on vacations.
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