Book claims Kennedy had affair with young intern

Published on Tuesday 13 May 2003 01:00

PRESIDENT John F Kennedy had an affair with a teenage White House intern and had sex with her while travelling on official business, a noted historian revealed yesterday.

Robert Dallek, author of a new Kennedy biography, An Unfinished Life, said the intern hired by JFK had only the barest of qualifications.

"She had no skills. She could answer the phone," Mr Dallek told the NBC programme, Dateline. "Apparently her only skill was to provide sexual release for JFK on trips, and maybe in the White House."

His revelations stem from a sealed 17-page oral history submitted to the Kennedy Library by 77-year-old former aide Barbara Gamarekian.

Ms Gamarekian, who still refuses to name the mysterious intern, gave her permission for the secret document to be made public after she was approached by Mr Dallek looking for evidence to support his new biography.

JFK’s extra-marital affairs were an open secret in the White House, but prompted little public debate in an era when the president’s private life was considered sacrosanct.

But in the years since his death, historians and journalists have progressively unravelled the dark side of "Camelot".

When Jacqueline Kennedy was out of town, the chief executive juggled a harem of attractive girlfriends.

They included Judith Exner, a close friend of both the singer Frank Sinatra and the Chicago gangster Sam Giancana.

She later claimed to have acted as a go-between for the Kennedy family and the Chicago mafia, suggesting Mr Giancana had arranged an abortion when she became pregnant by the president.

Another was Mary Pinchot Meyer, who was mysteriously killed a few months after Mr Kennedy was shot.

There are also rumours of a fling with Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe and an east German "party girl" later suspected of having Communist connections.

There are stories, too, of insatiable romps with a pair of presidential aides known only as ‘Fiddle’ and ‘Faddle’.

One former White House reporter, now a retired news anchorman, vividly recalls a young intern thought to have been involved with the president.

The newsman, who asked not to be identified, described the young girl as "young and very trim", with limited clerical skills.

On one business trip, the young intern was seen entering a hotel freight elevator leading to the presidential suite.

"I don’t have anything but the vaguest idea what went on up there," said the reporter. "She could have been up there shining his shoes."

Along with the intern scandal, Mr Dallek’s book includes startling revelations about the president’s poor health - which was kept hidden from public view.

Mr Kennedy, who suffered from a chronic back problem and Addison’s disease - a rare endocrine disorder - was given his last rites three times before his 40th birthday.

Mr Dallek, who has written respected biographies of presidents Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt, said Kennedy was desperate to cover up his ill health, along with the extensive medication he took.

"I think it would have stopped him from being elected," said Mr Dallek.