While he didn't have a chemistry teacher like Walter White, aka 'Heisenberg' of TV's Breaking Bad, the Camelot scion was doing everything he could to get high on whatever drugs he could get his hands on. Adapted from New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer's explosive new book, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' But I'm stuck with the Kennedys emotionally, and I will be to the end of my life. 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. The eyes even wider. We're due at Bobby and Ethel's that night, but Jack instead cuts across Chain Bridge. We learn more curious facts when we read that Lem Billings became a 'surrogate father' to Bobby Kennedy, Jr., after the alleged death of RFK. Make a life-giving gesture. 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. '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.'. According to Jerry Oppenheimer, author of RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy and the Dark Side of the Dream, Kennedy responded, please dont write to me on toilet paper anymore. Irked, Joe Kennedy would sneeringly ask his wife, Rose, 'Do we have to have that queer around all summer? Nature rushes forth, and the car dealers and the Hot Shoppes fall away before dogwoods and tulip trees, tatters of forsythia. Billings maintained close ties to the Kennedys and their children Mind you, there's nothing in that honorific Miss to signify a lady of distinction. A startled Kennedy responded to the note by saying, Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. dachshund they named Dunker but had to give him up because of Jack's allergies. Her knees are drawn protectively to her chest, and there's something quite exposed about her. 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. 'We had a couple of calls from Jackie - "How's my nephew doing?" ', But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. 11 Strict Rules That Elon Musk Makes His Girlfriends & Wives Follow, Justin Bieber Suspected As The Father Of Kourtney Kardashian's Son Reign (Instead Of Scott Disick), Why Kate Moss Was 'Scared' & 'Couldn't Get Out Of Bed For Weeks' After Working With Mark Wahlberg. "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. A planetarium-like darkness, with the two of them swimming like moons. , In office January 20, 1961 November 22, 1963. 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. 'But the one thing that struck me even at that tender age was that I felt Lem was just obsessed with Bobby the way he watched over him, the way he was hugely protective of him. 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. 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. As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. the Navy, as described more fully in the separate Wikipedia biography of John Lem Billings. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. What if Jacqueline Bouvier had chosen differently? Where sits a girl. The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well. It's when we're crossing back over Chain Bridge that she rouses herself to ask: "Jack, what color is your car?". She has dabbed herself with Chateau Krigler 12 (I consider telling her it's my mother's favorite), and there is the complicating counter-aroma of Pall Malls, and somewhere at the back, simple bovine perspiration. Billings and Kennedy took ', Jacqueline Kennedy was reportedly unhappuabout her husband and Billings' three decade long relationship. In school JFK and Lem were close. White House and advised Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in her redecoration of the According to one of the school's leading administrators and teachers, Hagop Merjian, Bobby was doing, as he put it, 'Really bad, s**t drugs heavy s**t'. President Jimmy Carter broke royal protocol by kissing the Queen Mother on the lips during his visit in 1977. In 1965, Mrs. Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to Kennedy at Runnymede. The Letter JFK Wrote His Secret Lover Before He Died, 5. Son of Frederick Tremaine Billings and Romaine Elizabeth (LeMoyne) Billings. The only ties he now had to his family while in school was Lem Billings. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. Bobby finally earned his high school diploma in June 1972 at the experimental and alternative Palfrey Street School, in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where he arrived wearing dirty, faded jeans, smelling like patchouli oil. In May 1981, as Bobby was about to marry his first wife, Emily Black, 65-year-old Lem Billings suddenly died of a heat attack in his sleep, Shortly before he went to bed he got drunk, started to cry and told a friend, 'I made a terrible mistake. He once called Billings the "chief f****t at Camelot." him to drink. RELATED:Jeffrey Epstein's Relationship With Princess Diana Explored In New Book. Their foresight led to the development of a funeral home dedicated to providing the best quality service possible to families at their . And it's a kind of interesting love triangle between these three fascinating people.". Lem was the second person Jack's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called after reaching her sister, Pat Lawford. From Algonquin Books. Published in The Elkhart Truth from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, 2023. Naval Reserve and served in the South Pacific eventually Lem also worked for JFK in the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries Lem had several jobs including selling Coca-Cola dispensers to drugstores, working While Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, 'Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. with remote attendance, or to view the service at alater time, all you need to do is click on the service, scroll down to the bottom of the obituary, and click on the links provided. Did OJ Simpson's Son Jason Kill Nicole Brown & Ron Goldman? They shared an insatiable intellectual curiosity, a robust sense of humor, and a disdain for petty rules. By 'It was disgusting and it wasn't my idea of having a good, healthy time with my hawks, so I let him do his falconry in the dead cow pit, and I went and chased rabbits in the woods,' said Bierregaard, still revolted years later by the memory. As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. He'd say, 'When you're shooting speed it's such a good rush. "And I think he might have been, honestly. Jack and Lem explores the enduring friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne Billings (aka "Lem"). 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. She never visited Bobby,' said James Hejduk, who had arrived to teach music at the same time that Bobby began his Millbrook matriculation. Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary and Crematory is a locally and independently owned and operated full service funeral home and crematory. 'There was no gnashing of teeth and sobbing in the context of his leaving. ", 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.". Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. Billings had even begun calling Bobby 'Jack' by mistake, and Billings had instructed one of Bobby's close cousins, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, also a drug abuser at the time, to be to Bobby what RFK had been to JFK. 11:10 EDT 13 Oct 2015 I'm not that kind of boy.'. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. who established the African-American LeMoyne-Owen College). As George Terrien, Ethel's brother-in-law declared, 'Everyone knew Lem was queer - the Kennedys, the Skakels, everyone.'. 'He was coming up and he was taking Bobby out to dinner and things like that. 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 . When their brother Bobby married Ethel Skakel in a royal-like wedding in Greenwich, Connecticut, the staunchly conservative republican and seemingly homophobic Skakels let their feelings about Billings' gayness be known. 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. 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. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. Jack and Lem explores the enduring friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne Billings (aka "Lem"). By the middle of Bobby's second year at Millbrook, around January 1970, he was placed on a secret short list of students considered too difficult to remain enrolled. Lem's father died in 1933 placing additional strain on the family's Young Jfk. Credit: JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Featuring interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorenson, friends, family, and many others . TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. '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.'. In Victorian Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. I can't even tell. ', 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. Extent: 82 digital pages. JFKPP-001-012-p0005. In 1942, Lem joined the Ambulance Corps, an organization that Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com. But Billings remained closeted publicly for his life. "But Kirk LeMoyne Billings, a retired advertising executive and a friend of President John F. Kennedy, died Wednesday at his Manhattan apartment. ", "We'd have to drive clear to New York for that. He says Billings even had his own room in the White House, much to Jackie Kennedys chagrin. Please consult your doctor before taking any action. ", But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms - he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.. ', Rose Kennedy, however, had a different, more positive view of Billings. Supposedly Billings had written a love note on a piece of toilet paper while the two were still in school. Bobby finally earned his high school diploma in June 1972 at the experimental and alternative Palfrey Street School, in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where he arrived 'wearing dirty, faded jeans, smelling like patchouli oil,' recalled classmate John Cuetera, who became a psychologist. finances. 'He played with Bobby, if you will, more than a father probably would, was just devoted to him, and there was reallyl honest affection between them.'. Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' 'Sometimes I answered the phone and I would hear her wispy voice, and then I would get my husband to talk to her.'. Lem P Speer <p>Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. 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. According to The Telegraph, Cecil Beaton claimed that Kennedy was unimpressed by the palace furnishings and by the Queen's dress and hairstyle. Gore Vidal claimed that Jackie described the queen as pretty heavy going.. In the spring of 1972, with graduation approaching, Bobby took the SAT college board exam, and filled out his application for college. Lem Billings had heard about the school from Adam Yarmolinsky, a one-time trusted aide to both RFK and JFK, whose son had graduated a year before Bobby's arrival. ', By 'Ethel never had any contact about her son. 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. Kirk LeMoyne Billings was Jack's very best friend from their time at Choate prep school in 1933 to that fateful day in Dallas 1963. Still, the Kennedy clan accepted even welcomed Lem Billings into their exclusive inner-circle, practically adopting him, and he became a part of the family. 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? Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Tglich werden Tausende neue hochwertige Bilder hinzugefgt. Lem even wrote John a love note on toilet paper . His name was Lem Billings. Kirk Lemoyne Billings Memorial Page. 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. Featuring interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorenson, friends, family, and many . But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. Kirk Lemoyne (Lem) Billings. They continued to Princeton Jackie Kennedy, who liked Billings for The teenagers worked together on their classs yearbook, and Billings became sexually attracted to the handsome young Kennedy. While on the road, the only person he touched base with was Lem Billings. and one of the guys just happened to be what we think of today as gay," It was pretty clear he had some intravenous drug use back then, and he was the only person we knew who did.'. Our website services, content and products are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Billings Funeral Home. 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. 14:55 EDT 13 Oct 2015. 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. Cherrydale? Lem Billings would play many roles in Bobby's life, as adventurer accompanying him on expeditions in the wild, as fellow druggie, and as his Dear Abby, advising him on who to date and who not to. 'I got the impression he felt an obligation that somebody had to care for Bobby because Mrs. Kennedy was not a hands-on mother at all. And, for once, Billings, who serves as the story's narrator, has as big a voice as the Kennedys. As Lindsey Cole Miesmer, a member of the class of 1972, who later became one of the school's trustees, noted, 'There was no school with any structure that Bobby could go to because Bobby was in trouble emotionally. '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, he said. I still to this day see him standing there in his black necktie that he wore every day over a blue oxford Brooks Brothers shirt and a beat-up tweed jacket, and wearing the wildest bell-bottoms that were purple with Day-Glo green stripes like he was some soul band guy, and in his funky boots. Lem Billings, from a distinguished old American Protestant family, was taller, bigger, stronger, with a high-pitched voice and a loud laugh. "Yesterday was Jack's birthday. Details of Lem Billings and JFK's three decade relationship are revealed in 'Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream'. "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 . RFK's assassination had naturally devastated his 40-year-old wife, Ethel, who was pregnant with her eleventh child. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: RFK Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream. Although Joe Kennedy, the family patriarch, was reportedly suspicious of Billings close relationship with his son, the Kennedy family welcomed Billings into their exclusive family circle. Kirk LeMoyne Billings was Jack's very best friend from their time at Choate prep school in 1933 to that fateful day in Dallas 1963. In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. 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. Monroe and JFK were first introduced in 1954 by Peter Lawford, JFK's brother-in-law. Only a very liberal school [like Pomfret] that needed money would take him.'. 'We couched it in terms of what was best for Bobby. 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. Yesterday was Jack's birthday. 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. 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?'. JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript. But the one thing that struck me even at that tender age was that I felt Lem was just obsessed with Bobby. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings, was a prep school roommate and then lifelong close friend of President John F. Kennedy. RELATED VIDEO: Carly Simon Opens Up on Unlikely Friendship with Jackie Kennedy and Jackie's Thoughts on JFK, Aristotle Onassis & More, By now, of course, I'm extricating myself from the front of the car and inserting myself with no great grace into the back, and the operation is so consuming that, for a second or two, I lose all consciousness of her, and then I hear her sayin that voice, like a ghost whispering through the pipes"You must be Lem.". 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. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Remembering JFK's Bond with His Boyhood Best Friend, Who Never Got Over the Assassination, Robert McNamara's Son Craig Remembers Playing with JFK Jr. and Caroline Kennedy After JFK's Death, PEOPLE Picks the Best New Books of the Week, Jackie Kennedy Knew JFK Relationship Would Involve 'Heartbreak' & More Details from New Book, How Lady Bird Johnson and a Pregnant Jackie Kennedy Worked Together: 'The Wren Protected the Dove', Santana Talks New Album 'Africa Speaks', 20th Anniversary of 'Smooth' and Return to Woodstock, The Truth About Jackie Kennedy's Turbulent, Loving and Dramatic Bond with Sister Lee Radziwill, Happily Ever After: See All of the Celebrity Weddings of 2021. David Marciano - Steve Billings (2008, recurring 2005-2007) Benito Martinez - David Aceveda (2002-2008) . 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. While Lem Billings was an actual Kennedy intimate, narrator Lem is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby's Nick Carraway, and his fictional reminiscences structure the novel around the triangular friendship he shares with Jack and Jackie in the years leading up to their wedding in the early 1950s. However, the relationship between The prestigious Kennedy name practically ruled the institution. Meadowrockalpacas is a website that writes about many topics of interest to you, a blog that shares knowledge and insights useful to everyone in many fields. ', 'It was that kind of talk, more bragging, but I believed him. Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. Girls in these days are instructed to shoot out a clean, firm thread of inquiry at all times. I'd known him then for a few months and knew he'd do anything. According to biographer James Spada, When Kennedy tired of her, he passed her off to his brother in 1962. to Frederic Tremaine Billings, a prominent physician and Romaine LeMoyne (direct 'Haggard, tired' Ethel was ready for some calm. What happened when Jackie Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II met? He was 65 years old. The elder Kennedys at some point desired that the younger Kennedys: 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?". Were I to search his facehis souldown to the most granular level, I would find no clue, for there is perhaps none to find. In his heartfelt and rather candid eulogy, Bobby said, '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. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. At Pomfret, Bobby didn't change his ways, despite his pot bust, and expulsion from Millbrook. Billings had actually fallen in love with Bobby as he had fallen in love with Bobby's uncle Jack when they had become close chums while working together on the Choate [their prep school] yearbook. Lem Billings had a romantic relationship with JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream