Lem's raison d'tre was Jack Kennedy. Get that ass! he said to Vidal. He had a very independent mind. 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). But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. 7 Gay Presidential Rumors You Won't Believe (But Maybe Should) Jack and Lem : John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Featuring interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorenson, friends, family, and many others, award -- winning journalist David Pitts begins the story with the early friendship between the men. 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. 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. 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 Quirk, Billings revealed that his friendship with the future president of the United States 'included oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end. Billings, Kirk LeMoyne: Oral History Interview - JFK #1, 3/25/1964 An autopsy report says Billings' cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. A telephone conversation between President Kennedy and Lem Billings. Lem Billings (right) was Kennedy's roommate at Choate and Princeton and an usher at his wedding, Spending most weekends at the White House during JFK's presidency, he became known as the "first friend." Although Billings kept his homosexuality private, it wasn't entirely a secret. Where you live matters: Life expectancy and causes of death in Latin At least one of these intimates, Kirk LeMoyne Lem Billings, was one of Jacks cherished body men, and he lived part-time in the White House throughout the three years of Kennedys presidency. 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. [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. Lem Billings was a lifelong friend of Kennedy's, beginning from when they were roommates at Choate, continuing til Kennedy's assassination in 1963. Lem's sister, Lucretia, who knew Jack as well, said, 'I think he had to do something because Jack was doing so much.' ", Last edited on 24 December 2022, at 15:36, "JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript | JFK Library", Princeton University Undergraduate Senior Theses, 1924-2018 Art and Archaeology, 1926-2018, Alfred E. Clark, "Adolph Toigo, Ex-Chairman of Advertising Agency Dies," January 1, 1982, "End Comes at Lennen & Newell," April 12, 1972, "Miss Jean Ann Kennedy Married," May 20, 1956, "Kennedy Names Friend," September 20, 1961, "U.S. Board Formed to Advise on Fair," January 12, 1962, "Choate Unveils Kennedy's Portrait," May 5, 1963, "Prayer for Nation Joined by Kennedy," January 2, 1961, "Caroline Learns Father Isn't Much of a Kite Pilot," July 7, 1963, "Caroline's 2 Hamsters Hunted in White House," March 5, 1961, "2 Kennedy Sisters in Poland for Visit," September 2, 1961, "Huntington Hartford Weds Diane Brown in New Jersey," October 8, 1962, Luther Turmelle, "Book details JFK's friendship with gay man," May 16, 2007, "Friend of Kennedy Named To Head Memorial Group," July 8, 1964, "Humphreys Attend a Gala Ballet Premiere," January 19, 1966, Nan Robertson, "Glittering Audience Attends Kennedy Center's Opening," September 9, 1971, Michael C. Jensen, "Managing the Kennedy Millions," June 12, 1977, Doris Kearns Goodwin, "Fitzgeralds and Kennedys," March 8, 1987, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lem_Billings&oldid=1129296144, This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 15:36. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. Newly-Digitized Documents (218,000 of them!) from the Archives 1 leading cause of death among Native Americans in Montana during 2020 and the third-leading cause of death for the general population. Sprawling home where JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in 1996 is listed for sale for $7 MILLION by current Royal Mail increase price of first class stamp by 15p to 1.10 in record-breaking hike. 12 pdf icon; leading cause of death data, including firearm, homicide, and drug poisoning mortality data, and infant mortality . They were especially fanatical about football. 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?'. This essay was originally published at OutHistory.orgon November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. 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. Young John F. Kennedy (35th U.S President) with his gay - reddit 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. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. 228. 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. "[25]:244 Sometimes he stayed for longer periods. In recent years, there has also been talk of a movie adaptation. Jack & Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untol This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. Ironically, Motlow, who had sustained a stroke in 1940, died that same year . "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. A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). It is a historic rural cemetery. ", Matriarch Rose Kennedy wrote in her biography that Billings was "one of 'Jack's surprises,' " and soon found a place for himself: "He has really been part of 'our family' since that first time he showed up at our house. Authorities have identified the woman found dead Tuesday in a residence on Avenue B in Billings as Shanna Lynn Booth. As the then-Senator stepped up for his turn, Williams admired his body. Jack, Lem, and Caroline enjoying the water, Hyannis Port, 1963. Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on May 28, 1981, at the age of 65. Plastic surgeon reveals five cosmetic procedures she would NEVER get - from dangerous Brazilian butt lifts BEL MOONEY:Why does caring for my dad take over my life? 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. 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. 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. Gore Vidal, the writer who claimed he viewed homosexuality as normal as heterosexuality, disparaged the JFK-Billings relationship during the Kennedy administration. 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. Have a nice one! Remembering JFK's Bond with His Boyhood Best Friend, Who Never Got Over 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, for his part, never married and eventually became a marketing executive and worked on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. When they arrived at the cemetery, it was already in place to be lowered. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. 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. [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. However he does quote Billings admission that he may have been in love with Kennedy his whole life. 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. 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. Part One Looking Out of the Frame: Camelot's Gay - OutHistory ', White House visitor: Billings often spent the night at the White House, which upset Jackie Kennedy. 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' 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. Lem (Kenny Johnson) refuses to live the rest of his life as a fugitive in Mexico.S5E11 - Postpartum (FX The Shield)I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE VIDEO CLIPS. "[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." 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. But was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with him, and that he often stayed overnight at the White House. Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors. 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, Lem (Kirk LeMoyne), 1916-1981. Wikipedia (3 entries) edit. Billings was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1916, the third child of Frederic Tremaine Billings (18731933) and Romaine LeMoyne (18821970). One of their friends thought "that Jackie was trying to close Lem out. 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!' Causes of death - Our World in Data Bobby Kennedy Jr's surrogate father was JFK's gay best friend [4], In 1939, Billings graduated from Princeton where he majored in art and architecture[5] and wrote his senior thesis on Tintoretto. ", 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.". Witch, Harridan, Harpy, and new insults like Karen and Terf. Did JFK And Lem Bellings Have A Relationship? Details Of - YourTango '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. Vessey paid Masters with meth and a vehicle in exchange for the death of Billings. 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. (Page 276). Kennedy and Billings remained intimate in part by managing Jacks sex life, his career, and his family, together. '"[39], Most recognized that Billings and Kennedy had been friends from youth and did not question their relationship or Billings' presence. I have also studied the forensics of the assassination for 21 years. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. When the boy died at 4:19 a.m. Kennedy was clutching his little fingers.