He said, she said: the 'loves' ... and 'loves' of Tom Jones, oops I mean JFK.

 

Yeah, I know, he was pretty good looking.

And, I think he found his true best friend, when he met Sinatra.  Ah, the Rat Pack.

I realize I touched upon this subject in one of my first blog posts, but recently I watched a documentary that reminded me of how pissed I was at our former (and tragic) president, John F. Kennedy.  I know what you might be thinking Dear Reader:  why not let the poor man's memory rest in Valhalla? Hey:  Historian, remember? : )

Here's the documentary (it's a bit biased) if you're curious:

A little warning:  this film is not complimentary to our fallen/murdered president.

So, where shall we begin? How about a gal named Inga Arvad Petersen (d.1973)?

Inga was a beauty queen.  Well, in 1931 at least.  As a younger woman, she studied journalism at Columbia.  And, in 1935, she scored an interview with -- wait for it -- Adolf Hitler.  He ended up talking with Inga three times.--something pretty rare for that freak.  From her description of this gag worthy guy, she rather liked him:  "He seems lonely.  The eyes, showing a kind heart, stare right at you."  

Ohhhh-Kaaaaaay.  Let's just digest that for a moment....

She was Hitler's personal guest at the 1936 Olympics.....

 Eventually, Inga migrated to America by 1940, and got a job with the Washington Times-Herald.  Scuttlebut says that she struck up a relationship with John's sister 'Kik' (Kathleen), who worked at the same newspaper.  She met JFK through his sister.  I guess you know what happened next, right?

In 1941, JFK was working at the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) as a junior officer.  And, believe me, this was a real 'top secret' gig.  The couple began a rather torrid liaison.  Are you seeing a minute problem yet?  Sigh.

Of course, Hoover's G-men immediately began surveillance.

Let us pause here for a lustrous moment, shall we?  ONI? A beautiful German lover who interviewed Hitler and said he had bitchin' eyes? A brother who was a high ranking Nazi? Yeah, I forgot to mention that.

The FBI set up wire taps, but was apparently unable to firmly establish any wrongdoing from their 'pillow talk.'  Now, conventional history states that this affair was merely kind of guilt by association.  There is truth in this.  And yet, this was wartime, and we were dealing with a "man" like Hitler.  I think that it was only prudent to have officers in the ONI avoid any and all contact with anyone whose motives might be suspect, right? Please refer to above image.

Well, once the affair was known to Kennedy's superior officers, they sure thought so, and so prepared to boot the young sod out on his ear.  Special emphasis on the word young.  The assistant director of ONI, Cpt. Klingman, called in Kennedy's supervisor, and insisted on the young ensign's immediate removal.  But, there was one big "however."  Papa Joe Kennedy.  Daddy, after all, had been an ambassador.  And, when Daddy found out about the affair, he placed a couple of key phone calls, and Johnnie's ass was saved:  he was quite literally shipped out to the South Pacific, where he eventually found himself in command of a PT boat.

Alright.  She was pretty striking.  Night smile too.

After Johnnie's transfer, the torrid affair ended.  Problem solved.  Alas, not quite.  This early liaison demonstrated Kennedy's utter lack of discretion when he let his 'little Johnny' out to play.  It would be a life long habit/problem.

After the war, Kennedy returned a hero, due to some necessary actions he took on board PT-109, the light vessel he commanded.  Upon returning home, his Dad had a plan:  politics!   Thus it was that young Johnnie found himself running for Congress...and won.  Not without help from his father.  His record as a junior congressman was not stellar, but this was a mere stepping stone to bigger and better things.  Before long, Kennedy ran for the Senate...and won again.  By this time, he'd become known as a 'player' around DC--as  far as the ladies were concerned.  

Somewhere around this time, he managed to meet and marry Jaqueline Bouvier.  

 Pretty gorgeous wasn't she?

Enter Judith Exner:

Another beauty.

Judith Exner, in the 1950s, was both a divorcee and "associate" of the Chicago mob, which was partially run by boss Sam Giancana.  Frankie Sinatra was also associated with these guys.  It was during the early part of his bid for the presidency, that Kennedy met the Rat Pack.  And, it was after a concert with Sinatra, that Jack met Exner.  

She later claimed that JFK called her every day after meeting her, for more than a month.  They commenced an affair.  At one point, Exner claimed that she was pregnant, and Kennedy allegedly set her up with a doctor in private practice, who would perform a discreet abortion.  Now, these were her claims, OK? Yes, 'he said, she said.'

When the Justice Dept. (i.e. FBI) initiated an in-depth investigation into some prominent crime families, the danger of Kennedy's association became too hot, and the relationship ended.

The first Monica Lewinsky?  Mimi Alford

A nice, fresh-faced kid, right?

With the establishment of Camelot (i.e. the Kennedy White House), came the inevitable problem with the interns.  Mimi Alford was a 19 year old kid.  Is this sounding familiar yet? 

The year was 1962, and she'd been working in the press office.  One day, a top Kennedy aide supposedly asked her if she'd like to come to a gathering in the White House swimming pool--yeah, they have one.  She was invited to join in the swimming activities, and was then 'shocked to find that there was gambling going on in the casino!' I mean, of course, that the President soon joined the group poolside.  I guess they had fun there, because she was then invited to a cocktail party in the private quarters that very night.  

Sigh.

Kennedy offered her a 'private tour.'  Again, sigh.  Alford stated later in her expose, that he took her into Jackie's bedroom, where they had sex.  Ewww.  As she later wrote, she lost her virginity right then and there.  Gross.

Alford contends that she and John carried on an off again, on again affair over the next year.  During this time, she got engaged to a fellow student at Wheaton College.  It seems that her relationship with JFK cooled, although she kept on working in his offices.  

She later wrote that she was not able to accompany him on the fateful trip to Dallas, because Jackie was going.  Also, by that time, she was actively making plans to get married.  She states that Kennedy 'gave her a present of two hundred dollars' and told her to get a pretty outfit, and then to come back and wear it for him.

Nice.

So, who's next on the list? How about Ellen Rometsch?

OK.  She was a bombshell.

Rometsch was, at one time, a waitress at the Quorum Club, where a lot of movers and shakers in the capital city drank and played.  It was apparently through her connections there, that she was to meet Kennedy.  She was born in East Germany, and this was the early sixties.  Cold War, anyone? There was a lot of 'talk' that she had a well established relationship to a well known espionage (read spy) guy in E. Germany named Walter Ulbricht.  Uh, not exactly a good association for the President, right? At the time she was briefly seeing the chief executive, Rometsch was reputedly carrying on with other prominent Washington insiders.  Notice that I'm using a lot of conditional phrases here, OK?

Now, what happened next, was interesting.  Rometsch's liaisons became the source for a lot of gossip within Washington circles, so much so that it was becoming a potential liability to the White House.  Attorney General Bobby Kennedy found out about the alleged affair, and immediately set about deporting her back to Europe.  Although later FBI investigations stated that their relationship was just a fantasy, the rumors persisted.  It was later thought that Rometsch received a pay off from the Kennedy family for her continued silence, but we'll never know.  

Oh yeah:  just for shits and giggles:  the FBI report on Rometsch is over 400 pages in length.  It's also been recently made public.  Check it out, if you're curious:  https://www.paperlessarchives.com/rometsch.html

Various and Sundry Actresses (not Marilyn)

The number of actresses that Kennedy was rumored to have slept with, was (if true) astounding.  Check this out:  

Yeah, that's Audrey Hepburn (frankly, I find this one a little hard to believe).

In case you don't know, this is Angie Dickinson, who famously said that sex with Kennedy was "the best seven minutes of my life."

And that's Gene Tierney.

Beautiful, aren't they?

But, again, I'd like to stipulate (as I've already done here, ad nauseum) that there is virtually no corroborative evidence of these relationships.  

Yup, I've saved the worst for last:  the tragedy with Marilyn.

Sometimes, and in sunlight, I think that she is one of the more beautiful women I've ever seen.  Luminosity is the word that comes to mind, you know?

But, I prefer the following pictures best, because I think that they were some of the best ones ever taken of her:

I guess those images kind of speak for themselves, right?

So, how did they meet? How did it all begin? Did it ever happen at all? Donnez-moi une break.  Just take a look at this:

Happy birthday to you, John.

So, how did they meet? Again, rumor has it that it was at a dinner given by the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, in 1962, whereas others (Peter Lawford) stated that Kennedy actually met her in 1954.  Urban legends, anyone?

Where were their assignations? Well, no one really knows.  Lots of people, like author Norman Mailer, once confirmed said affair, and then later retracted his statements.  Others (like Monroe's masseuse) reported speaking to Marilyn while Kennedy was still in the room.  Sigh.  It's a tad frustrating, but one needs some proof, n'est-ce pas?

One indirect connection between Kennedy and Monroe (via Sinatra) might have been through Kennedy's brother in law, Peter Lawford.  Well, I suppose that's actually a fairly direct connection--Lawford was a close friend of Monroe, and also a member of Sinatra's rat pack.  Frank was also a big supporter of Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election.  If you believe in guilt by association, those overlaps are pretty intriguing.

So:  proof? Not too impressive, actually.  There is a picture that was released by a photographer Cecil Stoughton:

Yeah, that's Monroe with Bobby and Jack.

I know, right?

And then there are the phone records, showing a phone number later linked to the White House:

And, this wasn't the only Kennedy brother she was rumored to have had a relationship with, yeah I mean Bobby.  Now, this relationship really wasn't substantiated.  While details of this relationship are sketchy, there is one interesting fact, and that was Bobby's presence in Los Angeles on the day of her death.  I know, so what? Still, I find it a compelling coincidence.  There have been people (many) who said that he visited her that fateful day, and that they had a violent argument.  Still others contended that he was actually present at the time of her death.  Did she liaise with him? Who the hell knows.  However, in recent years a letter has surfaced that was written by Jean Kennedy Smith (JFK's sister) to Monroe in which she wrote:  "understand that you and Bobby are the new item! We all think that you should come with him when he comes back East!" This was according to the English newspaper, The Daily Mail.  

Ah, the effervescent allure of gossip.

But, who knows? In the documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe:  the unheard tapes, there are some pretty awful revelations.  It's on Netflix, if you're curious.  Some say that, on the night of her death, the FBI appeared, and subsequently scrubbed the scene (perhaps removing a paper with a Kennedy phone number on it), and made certain that her autopsy reflected suicide.

But, to this day, conspiracy theories surround her tragic, early death.  I'm not gonna go into these here.

The official story was that Monroe died of a barbituate overdose, a probable suicide, at her home in Brentwood, LA, in 1962.  The coroner's verdict on her demise, was due to the large amount of drugs in her blood--concluding that it was clearly intentional.

She was in her thirties.

If it was true that the Kennedy brothers did have relations with Monroe, and then ostensibly dumped her, what does this say about the attitude of both men towards women in general?  I know.  I shouldn't generalize from any particular, right? Yet, sometimes I can't help myself.  I take a really dim view of adultery.  Think of Jackie.  Think of Ethel.  Was such behavior any way to value them?

There is another urban legend that one of JFK's favorite musicals was "Camelot," the story of King Arthur, Queen Guenivere, and the knight Lancelot.  According to the story, the queen sleeps with the knight, and the king was tricked into sleeping with his sister, Morgana.  I know that this is not exactly nice of me, but I will always find this particular association between the Arthurian legend and the Kennedy White House tragically apt.  I often think, in a dogmatic fashion, of what marvels the brothers might have accomplished--in addition to what they did--had their sexual appetites been, well, less.

I'll leave you with those thoughts, Dear Reader.  Until next week....

 

But, let's not a little thing like that interrupt us! Onwards!