12 pdf icon; leading cause of death data, including firearm, homicide, and drug poisoning mortality data, and infant mortality . 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. 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. "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," Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the president's sister, said in a eulogy. She reportedly had a love-hate relationship with her husband's best friend. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Naval Academy. He wanted to be with him, to be a part of whatever he wanted to do to continue Jack's legacy." I mean, I could have had a wife, and family, but what the hell -- do you think I would have had a better life having been Jack Kennedy's best friend, having been with him during so many moments of his presidency, having had my own room at the White House, having had the best friend anybody ever had, or having been married and settled down and living somewhere." 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. In many ways, Kennedy was also enjoying the kind of sex life that would later characterize the gay mens party of the 1970s. John F. Kennedy bi-sexual or gay? ', White House visitor: Billings often spent the night at the White House, which upset Jackie Kennedy. 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?'. (Page 80), Lem examines a damaged ambulance door following the Messerschmitt attack, Sirte, Libya, 1943. 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. [35] In 1962 he escorted two of the President's sisters, Eunice Shriver and Jean Kennedy Smith, around Europe for more than two weeks. As Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee recalled much later, "I suppose it's known that Lem was gay.. Billings would later spend nights in the White House where he had his own room, Schoolboy crush? To order a copy, click here. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3269576/How-Ethel-Kennedy-.. view all Lem Billings's Timeline In "Jack and Lem", author David Pitts looks at the relationship between the late president and Kirk LeMoyne Billings or "Lem". Billings once admitted that he made a pass at Jack early on. Here is a look at their friendship. But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. To begin with, why would JFK give him a private room at the white house, to come and go at his leisure? "[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." "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. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. 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 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. 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. When Jack reached home, the two friends greeted each other like there was no tomorrow." (Page 276). He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. Jack" he said as he gazed at him softly, It's been a long time. Why should a historian care about Kennedys sex life at all? Billings, who was a year older than Jack Kennedy, made his desire known while the two were still at Choate in a bizarre love note, penned on a piece of toilet paper that could be disposed of easily to avoid incrimination at a time when homosexuality was illicit. Published online July 6, 2017. Claire Potteris professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. Pitts' 2007 book helped spur renewed interest in the friendship between President Kennedy and Billings. He might have been the reason I never got married. The . 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 . JAMIE RICHARDSON: John F. Kennedy had no shortage of people who considered themselves friends of the 35th president. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. ', Jacqueline Kennedy was reportedly unhappuabout her husband and Billings' three decade long relationship. Billings remarked (at the end of the story) that had he married and settled down, he would not have been happier than he was as . EXCLUSIVE: Head teacher of leading grammar school is sacked for sending parents a list of striking teachers. He certainly didn't have the same interest in politics and women that Jack had. They soon began spiraling toward their eventual demise. [67], On May 28, 1981, Billings died in his sleep following a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment. It is important to understand what is meant by the cause of death and the risk factor associated with a premature death:. A different side of JFK: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings met atChoate Rosemary Hall and became lifelong friends. After saying in a quiet voice, "He put up quite a fight. During that time, he told researchers, "All the kids came over to see me. Ethel's alcoholic, philandering brother, George Skakel Jr., actually booted Billings in the a** at the church, knocking him into the aisle. Could he have been the third leg of what was clearly an unconventional marriage? He became Jackies confidant and the trusted recipient of her views about the other women who flitted in and out of her husbands life. You can follow her on Twitter . Who was Jack Lemmon's wife? 'Haven't heard a word from you,' Jack wrote. 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. Lem's raison d'tre was Jack Kennedy. This may have been true of his wife, although perhaps she understood from the beginning that their marriage would be non-monogamous. [11], After working on Kennedy's successful campaign for Congress in 1946, Billings toured seven Latin American countries with Robert F. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. Bobby Kennedy Jr. read the eulogy. "Jack was anxious to reach Lem and to find out how he was doing. Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors. I don't think it's true that he did not have views of his own, as some have said. As a younger man, he also served as something of a "go-between" for a young Jack Kennedy and the woman who would become Kennedy's wife, Jackie Bouvier, in 1950s Washington, D.C. 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. Have you heard from him?' [9] He saw action in North Africa in 194243. [44] "Jack made a big difference in my life," Billings said. I'm not that kind of boy.' Born in 1916, Billings was the son of a Pittsburgh doctor. Lem never really left Jacks orbit after boarding school. As we both know, homosexual relationships in English boarding schools were put down to adolescent hijinks and men *grew out of them*. Co-executive Editor, Public Seminar and Professor of History, The New School for Social Research, Photo credit: Cecil Stoughton/Wikimedia Commons. 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. Kirk Lem Lemoyne Billings (15 Apr 1916 - 28 May 1981) 0 references . "[27] Billings never had a White House pass and said: "Jack and Jackie were so nice about this that I didn't even have to tell them whether I was coming or going. Billings took leave from his business career to work on Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign. "[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. In 1958, her cousin Gore Vidal brought playwright Tennessee Williams to the Kennedy home in Palm Beach, FL. Jack and lem billings jfk Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. 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. ", 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.". Their lifelong relationship caused some of the presidents advisers to fear Russian agents may use the information as blackmail. Billings could best be described as Kennedy's "wingman", closest male friend, and boon companion as they moved into adulthood. But the point of the picture is the grief any couple would feel at the loss of a much-wanted child. "[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. 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. "[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. It is a historic rural cemetery. 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. "The agency, which was the 13th largest in the United States in 1971, went bankrupt the following year, listing almost $11 million in liabilities. "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. [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. John F. Kennedy's best friend for three decades was a gay man, according to a new book titled, "Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings.The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship;" the book documents the relationship between the two men from its beginnings at a New England prep school in 1933 until the gunfire in Dallas in 1963. "'Of course, there was always Cape Cod in Massachusetts when the president wanted to be near the water,' Lem remarked. Both Jack and Lem were crazy about dogs and soon fell totally in love with little Dunker. The 51-year-old daughter of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died Sept. 16 while working out at her Washington, D.C., gym. Because of him, I was never lonely. Billings served with Sargent Shriver as a trustee for the Kennedy family trusts. Lem Billings also buffered JFK from the toll that infidelity took on the Kennedy marriage. He never lost this.". I was pleased to note that things picked up after your arrival,' referring to Montgomery's battle with Rommel at El Alamein. 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. As the then-Senator stepped up for his turn, Williams admired his body. 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. [3] They became fast friends, drawn to each other by their mutual distaste for their strict school. In its final year, Lennen & Newell had domestic billings of $140 million, and Mr. Toigo had said that the agency was worth between $12 million and $15 million and that he owned about 95 percent of the stock. "He needed Lem Billings to get around better than a trained nurse" that would have made his political career impossible. President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem Billings. 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. 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! In recent years, there has also been talk of a movie adaptation. While Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, 'Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. We are a non-profit organization, wholly supported by The New School, and by the generosity of our sponsors and readers. educated at. Kirk LeMoyne Billings and John F. Kennedy. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. [8] In 1942, supported by a recommendation from Joseph Kennedy Sr., his friend's father, who called him "my second son," he won admission to the American Ambulance Field Service, where his poor eyesight was not a disqualification. Didnt Lem confess to a friend that he loved JFK? . Kennedy and Billings remained intimate in part by managing Jacks sex life, his career, and his family, together. Perhaps, given his deep personal knowledge of the President and his friendship with the First Lady, he even gave directions as the photographer snapped the candid shots that would charm both the nation and historians. 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. Both boys kept diaries on the trip, although Lem's was more of a scrapbook. He had clearly been adopted into the larger Kennedy clan, and Jackie drew him into her family circle as well. The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. 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. And seated close to Kennedy is his shirtless, tanned and oiled best friend forever, his very gay chum, Kirk LeMoyne 'Lem' Billings. (Page 95), Jack and Lem on leave, Palm Beach, 1944"It's not clear whether Lem wanted to join the navy and see combat because Jack had, or because he wanted it for himself. "And everything ready for a big, big party.". 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. Needless to say, JFK may have had, in a sense, two widows. (Page 213), "Jack made a big difference in my life. 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? Get that ass! he said to Vidal. As Vice President at the Emerson Drug Company in Baltimore, he was responsible for inventing the 1950s fad drink Fizzies by adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste. [6][7], In 1941, Billings failed medical tests required by the military. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. A Catholic couple, the Kennedys hoped for more children: Jack had been one of nine, while Bobby and Ethel Kennedy had eleven. 0 references. [18], In 1960, on leave from his job, he worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign. Lem Billings relaxed on the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate the summer of 1936. Although Alford refused, she did not always have the self-confidence to say no: earlier, she had fellated a staff member in Jacks presence. "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. Felicia Farr m. 19622001 Cynthia Stone m. 19501956 Jack Lemmon / Wife He was 76. This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. John F. Kennedy (right) and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings sit in a wicker chair outside the Kennedy family home in Palm Beach. [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.