Though Billings who was working as a New York City advertising executive at the time of the assassination continued on at his firm for another decade, his life was never the same. Allegheny Cemetery - Wikipedia This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. 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? Lem outlived his friend by eighteen years; he died in 1981, and left his papers to the JFK Presidential library in Boston, MA. The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. According to the book, a gift from Billings a whale's-tooth scrimshaw was buried with him. "The agency, which was the 13th largest in the United States in 1971, went bankrupt the following year, listing almost $11 million in liabilities. "He needed Lem Billings to get around better than a trained nurse" that would have made his political career impossible. EXCLUSIVE: Head teacher of leading grammar school is sacked for sending parents a list of striking teachers. [67], On May 28, 1981, Billings died in his sleep following a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment. 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. 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. According to Pitts, Billings never recovered from the death of his friend, suffering from a "deep depression" in the weeks and months after President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 'Haven't heard a word from you,' Jack wrote. ', But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. After the assassination of Robert Kennedy, a distraught Ethel turned over her son, Bobby Jr., to Billings to act as his surrogate father, sparking her brother-in-law, Terrien RFK's roommate at the University of Virginia law school to wonder why she would allow 'Lem to have such an intimate relationship' with her troubled third born, who would go on to have a a bizarre relationship with Billings, including the taking of drugs. cause of death. ", 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.". One famous shot shows the toddler John, Jr., a man who would also die tragically young, playing peek-a-boo under the desk. [1] The Billings family were Episcopalians and Republicans.[2]. However, gay men played another role in Kennedys history that was not overtly sexual: they were part of an avant-garde cultural world that Jackie Kennedy cultivated, as she linked the Kennedy name to national arts, letters and music for the first time. 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. He may have been the reason I never married.. "[21] In September 1961, he accepted an appointment to the board of trustees of the planned National Cultural Center, which later became the Kennedy Center. [4] The non-sectarian, wooded hillside park is located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, and bounded by the Bloomfield, Garfield, and Stanton Heights areas. However he does quote Billings admission that he may have been in love with Kennedy his whole life. Kennedy first met Billings when they were teenagers at a school called Choate. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. In a third, the President is walking on the beach with the late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, as they grieved the death of their premature son Patrick. "Lem was sixteen, and Jack was fifteen, when they met while working on the school yearbook at Choate School for Boys, the prestigious New England preparatory school located in Wallingford, Conn. From all accounts it was instant friendship. University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died of "cocaine intoxication" after ingesting an unusually pure dose of the drug that stopped his heart within minutes, Maryland's chief medical . Criticisms from others in the Kennedy orbit insinuate that Jack took advantage of Lem's love for him without reciprocating. Where you live matters: Life expectancy and causes of death in Latin Claire Potter is professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. In Jackies absence, Lem managed the Presidents dinner parties, social life and children. (Page 64), Harry Dixon, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, John Coleman, Charlotte McDonnell, Jack and Lem, Palm Beach, Christmas 1940, "After his sojourn in Hollywood, Jack returned to the East Coast in time for the Christmas vacation period, during which he liked to spend time with his family and Lem. [56] Charles L. Bartlett, a journalist who introduced Kennedy to Jacqueline Bouvier[57] and friend of both Billings and Kennedy, described their relationship: "Lem was a stable presence for Jack. JFK's gay widow - Dallas Voice His name was Lem Billings. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a prep school roommate and then lifelong close friend of President John F. Kennedy (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963). Billings remarked (at the end of the story) that had he married and settled down, he would not have been happier than he was as . [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. Date (s) of Materials: 25 March 1964. They were especially fanatical about football. 50 Lemoyne Billings Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images 'They make fun of my voice. Was this part of his commitment to the Presidents good health? When Billings learned that the love of his life was dead on November 22, 1963, Pitts writes: It was as if he had been struck by lightning; he was consumed by grief. Lem was the second person Jacks sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called after reaching her sister, Pat Lawford. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was an American businessman known for his close and long-time friendship with John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. "[52] One historian wrote that after the 1963 assassination Billings was: "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows'. Billings once admitted that he made a pass at Jack early on. I dont buy it. "[41] Gore Vidal, who was banned from the White House after a run-in with Billings,[42] was critical of Billings,[43] but also thought Billings played an important role as an aide to Kennedy, who was often ill or in pain. This essay was originally published at OutHistory.orgon November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. [68] He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[69]. After cocktails, Jackie and JFK proposed some skeet shooting and, legend has it, Williams was a better shot than Jack. Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. Oscar Cainer tells all. Ironically, Motlow, who had sustained a stroke in 1940, died that same year . ', One of Jack's five sisters, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, found it hard to describe her brother's relationship with Billings, once stating, 'It was a complete liberation of the spirit' for Jack, and that her brother was a 'complete liberated man when he was with Lem. '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. Lem Billings relaxed on the Kennedys' Palm Beach estate the summer of 1936. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use. Like millions of other young Americans, they faced an uncertain future. I'm enclosing a letter to Lem, which I wish you would forward, as I haven't any idea where he is. Booth, 32 years old, died of "undetermined causes" with no obvious signs of . Sexual Abuse at Choate Went On for Decades. He remained in the closet until his death in. According to author Christopher Bram (2012), Vidal told the playwright he shouldnt cruise our next president, then repeated the remark to Kennedy. [17] In 1956 he was an usher at the wedding of Kennedy's sister Jean to Stephen Edward Smith. He may have been the reason I never got married. Billings was so much a part of the extended Kennedy clan that he was regularly included in family gatherings, and Attorney General Robert Bobby Kennedy named his son Michael LeMoyne Kennedy. To begin with, why would JFK give him a private room at the white house, to come and go at his leisure? While web sleuths and conspiracy theorists were looking for the person who killed her . Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. To order a copy, click here. [55] Kennedy knew that homosexual behavior on the part of Billings had been revealed by a fellow Choate student during their years there. Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Jackie Romance - Peoplemag "[25]:244 Sometimes he stayed for longer periods. Needless to say, JFK may have had, in a sense, two widows. It would be the last Christmas in which the United States would be at peace for more than four years. A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys' boarding school, in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). Get that ass! he said to Vidal. Billings kept the letters JFK wrote to him between 1934 and 1939, and he donated the entire collection to the Library in the 1970s. Jack" he said as he gazed at him softly, It's been a long time. Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy met as teenagers at their Connecticut prep school and remained lifelong friends. (Page 307)Listen to a short phone conversation between the two of them: DAVID PITTS is a longtime journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post and other leading newspapers. Published online July 6, 2017. 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. 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. [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. JFKs numerous affairs (before, during and after his marriage to Jackie) and his friendships with gay men suddenly had a social and cultural context that was neither gay or straight, but a harbinger of the sexual freedom and experimentation that would soon be championed in the counterculture and the mainstream.