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Fredrik Logevall on JFK, with David Nasaw, October 6, 2020, 3. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. But Kennedy's reaction to Billings gay come-on soon changed and he became more amenable to his friend's advances, according to the writer Lawrence J. Quirk, author of 'The Kennedys in Hollywood.' A new book is claiming that John F. Kennedy had more than just a platonic friendship with his life-long gay best friend, Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings. (See below for an exclusive excerpt.). 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. Bobby's next school on his difficult road to a high school diploma was Pomfret, which was having its own troubles. He truly loved the Kennedy's and as Jack's best friend. She told him, 'I don't really care if you have a girl sleep here, but I want it to be the same person all the time because I want my kids to grow to understating that love is good with one person.'. 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. , updated Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he . Lem Speer - BILLINGS, Montana , Smith Downtown Funeral Chapel In 1942, Lem joined the Ambulance Corps, an organization that Bobby had believed Billings' every word. Lem Billings. Still, Billings was viewed by many I interviewed for my biography of RFK Jr. as his gay Svengali who guided and literally tried to control every aspect of Bobby Jr.'s life from the time he was in his mid-teens. Mr. Billings and Mr. Kennedy. Copyright 2023 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. "And we could have made a very different choice. He was born to Otis and Anna Speer on July 14, 1928, in Glasgow, Montana. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a close and long-time friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. Bayard explores the beginnings of the romance between the future Mrs. Kennedy, then the inquiring photographer for the Washington Times-Herald, and young Congressman John F. Kennedy, with Jack's best friend, Lem Billings, serving as a "go-between" for the lovers in 1950s Washington, D.C. They continued to Princeton A planetarium-like darkness, with the two of them swimming like moons. In Jackie & Me, both Jackie and Billings are devoted to the future president and it comes at personal cost. This is one of the questions Louis Bayard raises in his upcoming novel Jackie & Me, which will be published by Algonquin Books in June 2022. and helped gather delegates at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles when JFK Kennedy was allegedly on the receiving end of oral sex. Lem 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. Lem Billings and John F Kennedy were practically inseparable in prep school. But, the Skakels had previously been homophobic to Billings. He had his own room in the White House and advised Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in her redecoration of the White House. By Adam Salandra. Billings made his desire known while the two were still at school by writing Kennedy a love note on a piece of toilet paper. for inventing '50s fad drink Fizzies for the Emerson Drug Company. For the first time, I begin to wonder if Miss Bouvier is nervousthough it's difficult to confirm because she has a small voice and the wind seems to slap every word back down her gullet. He also is responsible 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. "Because of him, I was never lonely. ', 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. Lem also worked for JFK in the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries 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? While the photo of Kennedy cozying up to Monroe is the best known of him with one of his purported lovers, other far less public snapshots show the flip side of Kennedy's intimate relationships. Jfk and his longtime roommate Lem Billings. (Billings was gay) Senator Edward M. Kennedy will speak at a memorial service tomorrow morning at 10 A.M. at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, 90th Street and Fifth Avenue. Cherrydale? His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. . President John F. Kennedy may have had an intimate relationship with a gay friend from his prep school days, claims bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer, who has written two books about the Kennedys. The elder Kennedys at some point desired that the younger Kennedys: Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' Photo / Getty Images. a commission in the U.S. And George Terrian, the alcoholic husband of Ethel Kennedy's alcoholic, pill-popping sister, Georgeann, told me in interviews for my book 'The Other Mrs. Kennedy' that, 'Everyone in the family knew Lem was q***r the Kennedys, the Skakels, everyone.'. Never-before-seen footage captures JFK on vacation months before Miss Bouvier is a destination. None of it came as a surprise to his roommate, Fanning. JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century 1917-1956, 6. Read More. Mr. Billings was active in all of John Kennedy's campaigns as well as those of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. 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. Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful, Address: 743 Stoltenberg Center, Genovevaville, NJ 59925-3119, Hobby: Surfing, Sailing, Listening to music, Web surfing, Kitesurfing, Geocaching, Backpacking. See additional information. Jack and Lem explores the enduring friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne Billings (aka "Lem"). There is nothing, in short, about a "Miss Bouvier" to separate her from her predecessors. While the 35th president has been legendarily known as a womanizer who frequently cheated on his wife, Oppenheimer alleges that JFK's three-decades-long relationship with his former prep school. They adopted a little Featuring interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorenson, friends, family, and many others . David Marciano - Steve Billings (2008, recurring 2005-2007) Benito Martinez - David Aceveda (2002-2008) . Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his "high, screechy laugh," and "high nasal whine of a voice.". The president is seen teeing off, among his guests joining him being Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, lifelong friends Lem Billings and Charles Spalding, and British Ambassador Sir David Ormsby-Gore. Lem even wrote John a love note on toilet paper . Then, when Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, his wife Ethel Skakel had Billings act as the surrogate father to her son Bobby Jr. Lem Billings, from a distinguished old American Protestant family, was taller, bigger, stronger, with a high-pitched voice and a loud laugh. Lem P Speer <p>Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. "I loved the idea of Lem being the go-between for the two lovers and being broker for Jack but also a confidante for Jackie," he says. October 14, 2015. 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. I mean, she doesn't look like she belongs there any more than I do, and I briefly wonder if she's a housemaid or a nanny, taking her one allotted evening out. Did the 35th US President John F Kenned have a secret gay relationship with his childhood friend Lem Billings? Their foresight led to the development of a funeral home dedicated to providing the best quality service possible to families at their . For all I know, she's speculating about the Washington Senators' pennant chances. In June 1961, just months after Kennedy began his presidential term, he and Jackie visited Buckingham Palace, where a black tie banquet was hosted in the President's honour. "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," says Bayard, who did a deep dive into the Kennedy archives and biographies while doing researching for the book. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a close and long-time friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. Lem had several jobs including selling Coca-Cola dispensers to drugstores, working And Bobby was sort of always unkempt.'. Obituaries act as quiet reminders to help us to remember them and all we enjoyed with them while they were with us, a celebration of their life. Lem Billings | Military Wiki | Fandom The Kennedys tolerated his homosexuality, which was considered taboo at the time, Lawrence J. Quirk, the author of'The Kennedys in Hollywood' said Billings and JFK's relationship turned sexual at a point. Bayard, the bestselling author of Courting Mr. Lincoln and The Pale Blue Eye, tells PEOPLE he was "agnostic" about the Kennedy clan until he learned about Billings' personal history. Oppenheimer wrote in the Daily Mail that their intimate relationship would last from their school years to the day of Kennedys assassination. She reportedly had a love-hate relationship with her husband's best friend. Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. The President's Best Friend | AMERICAN HERITAGE '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. The business was started in 1956 by Robert G. Michelotti and John F. Sawyers. Millbrook School would be the first of three schools that Bobby would attend before he was able to secure a high school diploma. Find the obituary of Lem Speer (1928 - 2021) from Billings, MT. getting discharged in 1946. * Originally published in June 2017, updated in 2022. He had his own room in the "But Billings was devastated after the JFK assassination. 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. 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. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. It was Bobby Kennedy Jr. who gave the eulogy. 'He was a man that seemed to obviously be of independent means and have a lot of time on his hands, like a supporting cast kind of person, one those people who traded on the Kennedy name and reputation. Best Friend | Princeton Alumni Weekly But Bayard says that the reality of their marriage including years of reporting about Jack's infidelities gave him a "degree of empathy" for Jackie when approaching her character in the novel. Nature rushes forth, and the car dealers and the Hot Shoppes fall away before dogwoods and tulip trees, tatters of forsythia. Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group. While Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, 'Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. Something quickens in the column of her neck. Kirk LeMoyne Billings, a retired advertising executive and a friend of President John F. Kennedy, died Wednesday at his Manhattan apartment. She never was here.' A telephone conversation between President Kennedy and Lem Billings. Lem Speer Obituary (1928 - 2021) | Billings, Montana - Echovita "It's very clear to me, too, from the research, that she was absolutely besotted with Jack Kennedy," he explains. The point is there's no way of knowing what they're saying, and Jack sometimes gets cross if I talk too much with his dates (unless I'm doing something useful like showing them the door). "And who should that be?". According to Billings' biographer David Pitts, Once JFK decided that Billings was his best friend like it or leave, everybody in the family sort of fell in line with that. 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. "The book posits the idea that there are these given points in our lives where we're making a really important choice," says Bayard. Or see our headlights slicing through the trees? 'They make fun of my voice. You can't even talk to him. Billings, was a prep school roommate and then Billings had a romantic relationship with JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream He's taken over."'. a year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935," Trio arrested during crackdown fall foul of national security law. '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.'. I let him down.'. Ethel's alcoholic, philandering brother, George Skakel Jr., actually booted Billings in the a** at the church, knocking him into the aisle. Kirk Billings, 65, Dies; Friend of the Kennedys, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/29/obituaries/kirk-billings-65-dies-friend-of-the-kennedys.html. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: RFK Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream. of adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste. From all accounts, they became fast friends, drawn to each other by their Kennedy and Billings met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive Connecticut prep school. Were I to search his facehis souldown to the most granular level, I would find no clue, for there is perhaps none to find. It only got worse with the drugs. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was introduced to Bobby Kennedy Jr. the two spent several hours alone in the boy's room at fabled Hickory Hill, Robert and Ethel Kennedy's historic,. ', 'It was that kind of talk, more bragging, but I believed him. In school JFK and Lem were close. Billings had once told Bobby that when. 'We never saw Ethel on the campus again. Irelands most popular baby names of 2022 - by county! And George Terrian, the alcoholic husband of Ethel Kennedy's alcoholic, pill-popping sister, Georgeann, told me in interviews for my book "The Other Mrs. Kennedy" that, "Everyone in the family knew Lem was q***r - the Kennedys, the Skakels, everyone.". Billings enthused to RFK and Ethel in his high-pitched voice, which RFK made fun of behind his back. "Its the story of a really close friendship JFK may have had gay experiences with friend - IrishCentral The Brodes friends included a number of gay men, among them such openly gay politicians as Barney Frank and Gerry Stuuds. '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. , In office January 20, 1961 November 22, 1963. While he told Bobby that he should find a woman like his aunt Jackie, none of Bobby's three wives would be anything like her. Details of Lem Billings and JFK's three decade relationship are revealed in 'Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream'. White House. Among the snapshots is one that shows a handsome pre-presidential Kennedy sunning himself, sprawled on a chaise at Patriarch Joe Kennedy's Palm Beach estate. ", "We'd have to drive clear to New York for that. But that's the kind of kid he was, deep into bad stuff.'. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. If you have recently lost a family member or friend, we hope that you will accept our condolences. He was born to Otis and Anna Speer on July 14, 1928, in Glasgow, Montana. Lem Billings was a strapping, bespectacled, 'grizzly- bearish' fellow with big feet and a large head topped by curly, dirty blond hair, who always seemed to be smiling. Beyond the senator, young Bobby's aunt Jackie had inquired about his welfare but never visited.'. They remained close until Kennedy's assassinationBillings had his own room in the White House, and Joe Kennedy Sr. called him "a second son." (Which is odd considering JFK . The Funeral Home and/or Cemeterys policy is to NOT reproduce any copyrighted or other proprietary materials without verification from the User that they have the lawful right and/or authority to use. Funeral Home in Elkhart IN | Billings Funeral Home 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.. 'Sometimes I answered the phone and I would hear her wispy voice, and then I would get my husband to talk to her.'. Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lem's heart of hearts, one source told Oppenheimer, who is the author of the book Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream. Kirk Lemoyne Billings Memorial Page - Home | Facebook Born 15 Apr 1916 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States. Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from Jackie & Me. In Lem, Jack found a confidant and caretaker; Jack was frequently ill while at Choate, but Lem kept his spirits high . Enter your email below to have our funeral service notifications delivered to you. John F. Kennedy Had A Sexual Relationship With His Gay Best Friend He is survived by a brother, Dr. F. Tremayne Billings, and a sister, Lucretia Billings Fisher. 7:44 PM. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another. The mother of the house, Joanne 'Joey' Brode became a virtual surrogate mother to Bobby who notes years later, 'Ethel didn't even call Bobby on his birthday. 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. Yesterday was Jack's birthday. Lem Billings andBobby Kennedy Jr became close after JFK's death and allegedly took drugs together. Two months after Bobby was expelled, he along with a cousin, Bobby Sargent Shriver III, son of the former U.S. JFK's Friendship with Lem Billings: His Best Friend Never Got Over It was all quite bizarre. Jfk And Jackie Kennedy. 'Bobby wasn't just a pothead. The walls were covered with black sheets with framed photographs of RFK attached to them. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. The book is set in 1981, in New York City, where Jackie has settled after becoming the Widow Onassis and joining the working world. John F. Kennedy with Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Billings would later spend nights in the White House where he had his own room, Schoolboy crush? Knowing the kind of intimate relationship that he had with the president, advisers were concerned about political repercussions, and even blackmail. claims bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer, Lyndon B. Johnson demanded to be sworn in alongside Jackie Kennedy, How you can learn Gaelic literature and culture online with a top Irish university, The story behind Ireland's favorite song, The Cranberries "Zombie", How the Irish (and Welsh) invented romantic love. "Yesterday was Jack's birthday. 'Rob' Bierregaard Jr., who later went on to teach ornithology at the University of North Carolina, recalled, 'Next to the school there was a cow pit where the local dairy farmers threw their dead cows, and it was full of rats. Gay History: John F. Kennedy Had A Gay Best Friend Who - Timalderman Lem Billings relaxed on the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate the summer of 1936. Just a week after his father's funeral, at his brother David's thirteenth birthday party at a grim Hickory Hill, Bobby had spiked everyone's milk with a laxative. I took drugs with him. Published in The Elkhart Truth from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, 2023. Lem also worked for JFK in the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries Her knees are drawn protectively to her chest, and there's something quite exposed about her. '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. David Pitts, author of 'Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship'said Lem was a gay man and he had a 14-year-old, good-looking kid living in his house with him and there have been rumors because of that. Unlike Millbrook and Pomfret, Palfrey Street was a day school, so Billings arranged with the Brode family of Cambridge to house and feed him, and watch out for him. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles. Although there have been several rumors throughout the decades of JFK being romantically involved with Marilyn Monroe, the former president has also faced rumors of a relationship withhis gay best friend Lem Billings. The martyred widow had taken out her anger and frustration on an easy and available target - her third-born, her late husband's namesake, Bobby Jr., who was a behavior problem even before his father's tragic death. Of course, that gave most ofus the thought - does this guy have a job other than caring for Bobby? Inside the relationship between JFK and Lem Billings Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was a bumbling giant, the offspring of a prominent but cash-poor Protestant family. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. List of The Shield characters - Wikipedia He'd say, 'When you're shooting speed it's such a good rush. the Navy, as described more fully in the separate Wikipedia biography of John 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. They both took drugs. Kirk LeMoyne Lem Billings (April 15, 1916 May 28, 1981) was a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. Brode had liberal views, didn't mind that Bobby smoked pot with Lem Billings in Bobby's room. I'm not that kind of boy.'. 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. 16. '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.'. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 'Bobby would take his hawk and go hunting rats in the midst of the rotting cow carcasses and he sort of reveled in how off- the-wall that was.