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. As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. "The agency, which was the 13th largest in the United States in 1971, went bankrupt the following year, listing almost $11 million in liabilities. Billings Murder Accessory Pamela Long Wiggins Dies In Prison Vidal, the author of a best-selling gay World War II novel, published in 1947 at a time when most queer books were ruled obscene and evidence of homosexual acts could bring a prison term, was unabashedly public about his affairs with men. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. [26] When the First Lady was away, Billings organized White House dinner parties for the President and old friends,[27] and when the President traveled he kept the First Lady company. John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings, right, who was a classmate from the Choate School and Princeton University, outside a drugstore, ca. 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. [35] In 1962 he escorted two of the President's sisters, Eunice Shriver and Jean Kennedy Smith, around Europe for more than two weeks. [62], After the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Billings became depressed and started to drink in excess, an addiction that plagued him for most of his life. "He did not want to hear one negative syllable, and there were a lot of negatives going along.". They always remembered him as the nicest German they ever met." Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on May 28, 1981, at the age of 65. Not just any member, either, he was an assassin and the leader of a Viet Cong death squad who had been targeting and killing South Vietnamese National Police officers and their families. Lem Billings is a well known Celebrity. educated at. He may have been the reason I never got married. Billings reportedly wrote the future president a love note on a piece of toilet paper (pictured at the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate), JFK was famous for his womanizing habits, but one of his closest relationships was withLem Billings. [4], Some historians believe that Billings expressed his sexual interest in Kennedy in writing in 1934 and that Kennedy rebuffed his advances. The murder of Curtis Lemansky marked the beginning of the end for the Strike Team. Len Hauss, Pro Bowl center for Washington Redskins, dies at 79 - The Author Louis Bayard focuses much of his upcoming novel Jackie & Me on the relationship between Billings and Kennedy, too. After cocktails, Jackie and JFK proposed some skeet shooting and, legend has it, Williams was a better shot than Jack. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. [18], In 1960, on leave from his job, he worked on Kennedy's presidential campaign. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive selections from new issues of Public Seminar. They were bound together by a love of fun and practical jokes, resentment of Choate, and envy of their higher-achieving elder siblings -- Joe, Jack's brother, and Josh, Lem's brother." Criticisms from others in the Kennedy orbit insinuate that Jack took advantage of Lem's love for him without reciprocating. In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. 73 Photos of Naturally Naked Men by Terry Hastings, 23 Masturbation Tips for People With Vaginas, 22 Terrifying Sexual Fantasies That Must Be Talked About, 30 Kinky Terms Every Gay Man Needs To Know, 10 Sex Toys for All Genders and How to Use Them, Alternative Orgasms: 20 New Ways to Hit the Spot, LGBTQ+ Rights Lawyer Shannon Minter's Home Hit by Tornado, 'First Deep Breath' Is a Moving Story of a Black Family & Queerness, Karine Jean-Pierre on Tennessee Anti-Drag Law: Unacceptable & Unfortunate, Texas GOP May Censure Congressman Over Support for Marriage Equality, 12 LGBTQ+ Films and TV Shows to Watch in March, The Dildo Nazi: Sex Toy-Selling White Supremacist Umasked, Lesbian Gov. 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. Lem Billings also buffered JFK from the toll that infidelity took on the Kennedy marriage. 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. [4] Billings' first visit with the Kennedy family was for Christmas in Palm Beach in 1933, after that, he joined them for holidays, participated in family events, and was treated like a member of the family. "Because of him," Lem Billings once said of President Kennedy, "I was never lonely" When they arrived at the cemetery, it was already in place to be lowered. In which 20 year old John F Kennedy's best friend shows up on his doorstep one evening. Jack, Lem, and Caroline enjoying the water, Hyannis Port, 1963. His name was Lem Billings. as not being gay since they only gave each other BJs (as in Lewinsky/Clinton sex?)! But this may, in fact, just be gossip. COVID-19 became the No. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use. "[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." Their lifelong relationship caused some of the presidents advisers to fear Russian agents may use the information as blackmail. '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. John F. Kennedy bi-sexual or gay? But even more than that, the author said that Billings was intimate friends with the Kennedys despite societal norms of the time ingratiating himself with a most powerful family. (Page 4), "When Jack wasn't trying to get Lem to sing on family occasions, he was cajoling him into playing sports -- usually touch football, a game Lem came to loathe. As Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee recalled much later, "I suppose it's known that Lem was gay.. Billings was a longtime Kennedy family friend, working to preserve the slain president's legacy even after death. 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. It remains the worst such failure in the history of advertising agencies. He may have been the reason I never married.. We might even attach the adjectives exclusive and romantic to this youthful friendship. Lem Billings - Works | Archive of Our Own It would go on to become one of his most prized possessions." Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. He had interests of his own that Jack didn't necessarily share. [36] When the Kennedys spent the weekend at Glen Ora, their Virginia estate, Jacqueline Kennedy invited Billings to join them more often than the President did. Lemp Mansion: Tales of a Cursed Family and Their Haunted House Lem Billings - Wikidata A different side of JFK: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings met atChoate Rosemary Hall and became lifelong friends. Another shows older daughter Caroline, who became the American Ambassador to Japan under Barack Obama, learning to ride her pony. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Sexual Abuse at Choate Went On for Decades. We are a non-profit organization, wholly supported by The New School, and by the generosity of our sponsors and readers. During the night of May 28, 1981-almost two decades after JFK's untimely death - 65-year-old Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. 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. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. [67], On May 28, 1981, Billings died in his sleep following a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment. How remorseless Stephen Bear continued his arrogant antics up until Do not sell or share my personal information. Lem Billings passed away from a heart attack at 65 in 1981. 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. [6][7], In 1941, Billings failed medical tests required by the military. Pictures of the first family are typical of Cold War domestic norms: widely distributed before and after his death, these photographs show him as a conventional, heterosexual husband and a devoted father. [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. ", 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. Lem outlived his friend by eighteen years; he died in 1981, and left his papers to the JFK Presidential library in Boston, MA. (Page 213), "Jack made a big difference in my life. "Because of him, I was never lonely," Billings said once. Causes of death - Our World in Data enwiki Lem Billings; [23] He represented the President when the alumni association unveiled Kennedy's portrait at Choate in May 1963. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was . From 1933 to 1946, Billings and JFK exchanged letters, with Jack often antagonizing Lem in the correspondence. Lem Billings Wiki, Biography, Net Worth, Age, Family, Facts and More 25 Things You May Not Know About JFK - Purple Clover "I was never lonely.". Claire Potter is professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar.