New book says Clinton wasn't the only one having an affair with an intern

AgPete · 05-12-2003, 08:19 PM

Author says JFK had affair with 19-year-old intern
Claim comes from ex-White House aide
Monday, May 12, 2003 Posted: 2:15 PM EDT (1815 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- President John F. Kennedy had an affair with a 19-year-old intern who traveled with him on official trips, according to a new biography of Kennedy.

"She had no skills. She could answer the phone," Robert Dallek, author of "An Unfinished Life," told "Dateline NBC" in an interview that aired Sunday. "Apparently, her only skill was to provide sexual release for JFK on those trips and maybe in the White House."

Dallek learned of the affair from a White House aide, Barbara Gamarekian, whose oral history was recently unsealed.

Gamarekian told the Daily News that she remembers only the young intern's first name, which she refused to reveal.

"It amazes me there continues to be such fascination with all things Kennedy," Gamarekian, 77, told the newspaper.

Kennedy is known to have had numerous extramarital liaisons, but this is the first report of an affair with an intern.

"There were lots of women," Dallek, whose book comes out Tuesday, told the newspaper. "The real question is: Did it distract him from his job as president? I think it really didn't."

Gamarekian had asked that the 17 pages in her oral history dealing with the intern be kept secret for a decade, then later asked the Kennedy Library in Boston, where her account is archived, to keep it sealed.

Dallek discovered the blacked-out pages while researching his book and persuaded her to disclose the information.

JeeberD · 05-12-2003, 08:32 PM

JFK was a pimp...

oykib · 05-12-2003, 08:42 PM

The fascination with the sexual doings of powerful men is just ridiculously out of hand. All this focus on it is more likely to cause problems than the actual funny business.

Young women are attracted to powerful men and all men like attractive young women. As long as it doesn't affect his job, who cares.

Draft Dodger · 05-12-2003, 08:45 PM

I'm shocked

ice4277 · 05-12-2003, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AgPete

Dallek learned of the affair from a White House aide, Barbara Gamarekian, whose oral history was recently unsealed.

Does anybody else find that line exceedingly funny?

Draft Dodger · 05-12-2003, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ice4277
Does anybody else find that line exceedingly funny?

I'd like to unseal Alicia Silverstone's oral history.

sterlingice · 05-12-2003, 09:08 PM

Oh boy, there's a suprise. Presidents getting head while in office? No way!

Next you're going to tell me that women don't sleep their way into jobs or that some major corporation heads don't get, well, head (that was awkwardly worded) from their secretaries and such.

SI

AgPete · 05-12-2003, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Draft Dodger
I'm shocked

LOL

Well I never....

tucker342 · 05-12-2003, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by oykib
The fascination with the sexual doings of powerful men is just ridiculously out of hand. All this focus on it is more likely to cause problems than the actual funny business.

Young women are attracted to powerful men and all men like attractive young women. As long as it doesn't affect his job, who cares.

I couldn't agree more

Easy Mac · 05-12-2003, 10:58 PM

Was anyone thinking this was going to involve Hilary Clinton and a ring-tailed lemur?

Samdari · 05-13-2003, 08:46 AM

Actually Mac, my first thought was that it was going to involve Hilary and a 19 year old female intern.

QuikSand · 05-13-2003, 08:56 AM

In American Rhapsody, Joe Ezsterhaus alludes several times to LBJ having a "room full of secretaries who couldn't type." Of course, his work may not have been all that well researched... and it might contain some flat-out lies, but it was a fascingating read nonetheless. (Guilty pleasure)

Senator · 05-13-2003, 09:35 AM

Read Robert Caro's life of LBJ. No offense Quik, I mean, you read it for enjoyment, not educational benefits, but Ezsterhaus is full of it. LBJ was really paranoid about "a stupid little girl selling her story to Life magazine." His daliances were usually with an educated woman who had a reason to keep her repuation. He had an affair with Alice Glass (a very prominent wife of a newspaper publisher Charles Glass) for decades.

QuikSand · 05-13-2003, 09:38 AM

I prefer fantasy writing to straight biography. Joe's was the former, of course.

Senator · 05-13-2003, 09:48 AM

That surprises me a little Quik. You "seemed" like a bio man to me. Learn something new about you guy's every day.

CHEMICAL SOLDIER · 05-13-2003, 01:18 PM

I have nothing to say but .... JFK You Da Man!

AgPete · 05-16-2003, 10:02 PM

Update on this story! The intern who had the affair has gone public. Well whadya know, she spends her time volunteering for a church as a good Christian woman! Another shocker!

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/...ern/index.html

Woman says she had affair with JFK
New presidential biography mentions affair with an intern

In a statement handed to media outside her East Side apartment, Mimi Fahnestock said, "From June 1962 to November 1963, I was involved in a sexual relationship with President Kennedy.

"For the last 41 years, it is a subject that I have not discussed. In view of the recent media coverage, I have now discussed the relationship with my children and my family, and they are completely supportive.

"I will have no further comment on this subject, period. I would request that the media respect my privacy and the privacy of my family in this matter."

In an interview with the Daily News, which broke the story Thursday, Fahnestock said she was the White House intern in question and that the relationship with Kennedy started when she was 19. She is now a 60-year-old grandmother.

The revelations about Kennedy's alleged affair take up just a few lines in historian Robert Dallek's 700-plus page book titled An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Dallek said he obtained the information from a former Kennedy staffer who did not give the intern's name.

Most of the book describes the health problems Kennedy struggled with throughout his life.

A friend of Fahnestock, interviewed by the media outside her apartment, said she was "surprised" to learn of the romance, "but it's kind of a 'so what.' "

"She is the least likely person I would have expected to have had a romance, but I think probably Jack Kennedy would have gone to bed with anybody," said Joan "Bitsy" Tatnall.

She quickly indicated she wasn't being dismissive of Fahnestock, saying her friend is attractive, smart and athletic.

Fahnestock's story recalls President Clinton's sexual indiscretions with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was impeached by the House in December 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from his affair with Lewinsky when she was a White House intern. The Senate acquitted Clinton in February 1999.

There have been numerous reports about Kennedy's sexual dalliances while in the White House. But Dallek's biography is the first to describe an affair involving a White House intern.

Dallek said he obtained the information about Fahnestock, who worked in the White House press office, from a 1960s oral history transcript by Barbara Gamarekian, a press aide in the Kennedy White House. In the oral history, she recalled her experiences for the Kennedy Library.

Dallek told CNN that 17 pages of the history were blacked out, but Gamarekian agreed to give him access to them.

"I guess, almost 40 years later, she felt there was no harm," Dallek said. But Gamarekian refused to give the author the intern's name.

"She understandably said, 'I don't want to embarrass her. I won't give you the name,' and I said fine," Dallek said. He said he was unable to turn up the name anywhere else.

Gamarekian said the intern traveled with Kennedy during the summers as part of her job, according to Dallek.

Asked whether first lady Jacqueline Kennedy knew about the infidelities, Dallek told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I think Jacqueline Kennedy knew about the infidelities, but I don't know that she had any specific knowledge of this intern."

Fahnestock, who has two married daughters, works at a Presbyterian church as a Web site manager. She was married to Anthony Fahnestock, who died in 1993.

The pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church where Fahnestock works expressed support for her. "She's a very respected, trusted member of our church and our staff family, and we all love her and we're behind her 100 percent," said Tom Tewell.

Meanwhile, the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, is looking forward to Dallek's appearance at a forum Tuesday, library spokesman Tom McNaught said. The library had invited Dallek to the forum before the news about Fahnestock broke.

"We're delighted to be the first forum in the country to host him," McNaught said. "We are a presidential library and we're devoted to making presidential history accessible. Besides, not everyone has to agree with his findings."

The library just hosted its biggest event of the year, the annual Profiles in Courage awards, named after a book written by Kennedy.

05-12-2003, 08:32 PM	#2
JeeberD General Manager Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: The Town of Flower Mound	JFK was a pimp... __________________ UTEP Miners!!! I solemnly swear to never cheer for TO

05-12-2003, 08:45 PM	#4
Draft Dodger Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Keene, NH	I'm shocked __________________ Mile High Hockey

05-12-2003, 09:08 PM	#7
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	Oh boy, there's a suprise. Presidents getting head while in office? No way! Next you're going to tell me that women don't sleep their way into jobs or that some major corporation heads don't get, well, head (that was awkwardly worded) from their secretaries and such. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

05-13-2003, 08:46 AM	#11
Samdari Roster Filler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Cicero	Actually Mac, my first thought was that it was going to involve Hilary and a 19 year old female intern. __________________ http://www.nateandellie.net Now featuring twice the babies for the same low price!

05-13-2003, 09:35 AM	#13
Senator FOFC's Elected Representative Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The stars at night; are big and bright	Read Robert Caro's life of LBJ. No offense Quik, I mean, you read it for enjoyment, not educational benefits, but Ezsterhaus is full of it. LBJ was really paranoid about "a stupid little girl selling her story to Life magazine." His daliances were usually with an educated woman who had a reason to keep her repuation. He had an affair with Alice Glass (a very prominent wife of a newspaper publisher Charles Glass) for decades. __________________ "i have seen chris simms play 4-5 times in the pros and he's very clearly got it. he won't make a pro bowl this year, but it'll come. if you don't like me saying that, so be it, but its true. we'll just have to wait until then" imettrentgreen "looking at only ten games, and oddly using a median only, leaves me unmoved generally" - Quiksand

05-12-2003, 08:42 PM	#3
oykib College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	The fascination with the sexual doings of powerful men is just ridiculously out of hand. All this focus on it is more likely to cause problems than the actual funny business. Young women are attracted to powerful men and all men like attractive young women. As long as it doesn't affect his job, who cares.

05-12-2003, 10:58 PM	#10
Easy Mac Registered User Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Here	Was anyone thinking this was going to involve Hilary Clinton and a ring-tailed lemur?

05-13-2003, 08:56 AM	#12
QuikSand lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Annapolis, Md	In American Rhapsody, Joe Ezsterhaus alludes several times to LBJ having a "room full of secretaries who couldn't type." Of course, his work may not have been all that well researched... and it might contain some flat-out lies, but it was a fascingating read nonetheless. (Guilty pleasure)

05-13-2003, 09:38 AM	#14
QuikSand lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Annapolis, Md	I prefer fantasy writing to straight biography. Joe's was the former, of course.

05-13-2003, 09:48 AM	#15
Senator FOFC's Elected Representative Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The stars at night; are big and bright	That surprises me a little Quik. You "seemed" like a bio man to me. Learn something new about you guy's every day. __________________ "i have seen chris simms play 4-5 times in the pros and he's very clearly got it. he won't make a pro bowl this year, but it'll come. if you don't like me saying that, so be it, but its true. we'll just have to wait until then" imettrentgreen "looking at only ten games, and oddly using a median only, leaves me unmoved generally" - Quiksand

05-13-2003, 01:18 PM	#16
CHEMICAL SOLDIER College Starter Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Henderson, Nevada	I have nothing to say but .... JFK You Da Man! __________________ Toujour Pret

05-16-2003, 10:02 PM	#17
AgPete College Prospect Join Date: Jan 2001	Update on this story! The intern who had the affair has gone public. Well whadya know, she spends her time volunteering for a church as a good Christian woman! Another shocker! http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/...ern/index.html Woman says she had affair with JFK New presidential biography mentions affair with an intern In a statement handed to media outside her East Side apartment, Mimi Fahnestock said, "From June 1962 to November 1963, I was involved in a sexual relationship with President Kennedy. "For the last 41 years, it is a subject that I have not discussed. In view of the recent media coverage, I have now discussed the relationship with my children and my family, and they are completely supportive. "I will have no further comment on this subject, period. I would request that the media respect my privacy and the privacy of my family in this matter." In an interview with the Daily News, which broke the story Thursday, Fahnestock said she was the White House intern in question and that the relationship with Kennedy started when she was 19. She is now a 60-year-old grandmother. The revelations about Kennedy's alleged affair take up just a few lines in historian Robert Dallek's 700-plus page book titled An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Dallek said he obtained the information from a former Kennedy staffer who did not give the intern's name. Most of the book describes the health problems Kennedy struggled with throughout his life. A friend of Fahnestock, interviewed by the media outside her apartment, said she was "surprised" to learn of the romance, "but it's kind of a 'so what.' " "She is the least likely person I would have expected to have had a romance, but I think probably Jack Kennedy would have gone to bed with anybody," said Joan "Bitsy" Tatnall. She quickly indicated she wasn't being dismissive of Fahnestock, saying her friend is attractive, smart and athletic. Fahnestock's story recalls President Clinton's sexual indiscretions with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was impeached by the House in December 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from his affair with Lewinsky when she was a White House intern. The Senate acquitted Clinton in February 1999. There have been numerous reports about Kennedy's sexual dalliances while in the White House. But Dallek's biography is the first to describe an affair involving a White House intern. Dallek said he obtained the information about Fahnestock, who worked in the White House press office, from a 1960s oral history transcript by Barbara Gamarekian, a press aide in the Kennedy White House. In the oral history, she recalled her experiences for the Kennedy Library. Dallek told CNN that 17 pages of the history were blacked out, but Gamarekian agreed to give him access to them. "I guess, almost 40 years later, she felt there was no harm," Dallek said. But Gamarekian refused to give the author the intern's name. "She understandably said, 'I don't want to embarrass her. I won't give you the name,' and I said fine," Dallek said. He said he was unable to turn up the name anywhere else. Gamarekian said the intern traveled with Kennedy during the summers as part of her job, according to Dallek. Asked whether first lady Jacqueline Kennedy knew about the infidelities, Dallek told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I think Jacqueline Kennedy knew about the infidelities, but I don't know that she had any specific knowledge of this intern." Fahnestock, who has two married daughters, works at a Presbyterian church as a Web site manager. She was married to Anthony Fahnestock, who died in 1993. The pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church where Fahnestock works expressed support for her. "She's a very respected, trusted member of our church and our staff family, and we all love her and we're behind her 100 percent," said Tom Tewell. Meanwhile, the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, is looking forward to Dallek's appearance at a forum Tuesday, library spokesman Tom McNaught said. The library had invited Dallek to the forum before the news about Fahnestock broke. "We're delighted to be the first forum in the country to host him," McNaught said. "We are a presidential library and we're devoted to making presidential history accessible. Besides, not everyone has to agree with his findings." The library just hosted its biggest event of the year, the annual Profiles in Courage awards, named after a book written by Kennedy. __________________ Click here for the FOF2004 World Football League Dynasty (WFL) - Football Goes Global! OOTP5 Psychology Experiment (Incomplete but fun read for MLB fans.) The FOFC All-Time NFL Team - Voted on by FOFC members.

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