The murder of Curtis Lemansky marked the beginning of the end for the Strike Team. Major Character Death; John F Kennedy/ Lem Billings; John F. Kennedy; Lem Billings; Friends to Lovers; Hurt/Comfort; Summary. ', 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. Like many gay men of his generation, Lem may have been very comfortable with his own sexuality and the privacy of his relationship to Jack. Billings, he said, "had a natural jealousy. [68] His dying wish was for the young Kennedy men to carry his casket to its final resting place. [50] In 2006, looking back to the Kennedy Administration, Ben Bradlee said: "I suppose it's known that Lem was gay.It impressed me that Jack had gay friends. However, he avoided the notoriety of coming out even after Kennedys death, perhaps because he feared that it would draw more negative attention to the extended Kennedy family, which soon struggled with a range of scandals: Chappaquidick, alcoholism, divorce and drugs were but a few. "[53] Though newspapers often mentioned Billings' attendance at major social events, they identified him either as the escort of a member of the Kennedy family or included him in a list of Kennedy friends. In Jackies absence, Lem managed the Presidents dinner parties, social life and children. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. In 1965, Mrs. Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to Kennedy at Runnymede. Sexual Abuse at Choate Went On for Decades. And all the while, Lem Billings was there: waiting, serving, comforting and helping the Kennedy family adjust to the public glare. Details of Lem Billings and JFK's three decade relationship are revealed in 'Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream'. [49], Friends from the 1970s confirmed that Billings was homosexual, but not open to discussing it. Here is a look at their friendship. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. For many other Americans as well, Bobby became the last best hope for resurrecting Camelot, for a return to the kind of liberal idealism that Jack had epitomized. He escorted Mrs. Stephen Smith, sister of the late President, to . ', White House visitor: Billings often spent the night at the White House, which upset Jackie Kennedy. Witch, Harridan, Harpy, and new insults like Karen and Terf. [60] In 1965, Jacqueline Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to President Kennedy at Runnymede. ', 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. myocardial infarction. For Jack and Lem, the carefree period of their lives -- their school and college years -- were now behind them. As Vice President at the Emerson Drug Company in Baltimore, he was responsible for inventing the 1950s fad drink Fizzies by adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste. Yesterday was Jack's birthday. Joe generously paid for half the cost of Lem's ticket on the way over, saying Lem could pay at least part of it back when he graduated from Princeton. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. But even more than that, the author said that Billings was intimate friends with the Kennedys despite societal norms of the time ingratiating himself with a most powerful family. Billings would later spend nights in the White House where he had his own room, Schoolboy crush? Billings, a 16-year-old third-year student, and Kennedy, a 15-year-old second-year student, met at Choate, an elite preparatory school, in the fall of 1933. 73 Photos of Naturally Naked Men by Terry Hastings, 23 Masturbation Tips for People With Vaginas, 22 Terrifying Sexual Fantasies That Must Be Talked About, 30 Kinky Terms Every Gay Man Needs To Know, 10 Sex Toys for All Genders and How to Use Them, Alternative Orgasms: 20 New Ways to Hit the Spot, LGBTQ+ Rights Lawyer Shannon Minter's Home Hit by Tornado, 'First Deep Breath' Is a Moving Story of a Black Family & Queerness, Karine Jean-Pierre on Tennessee Anti-Drag Law: Unacceptable & Unfortunate, Texas GOP May Censure Congressman Over Support for Marriage Equality, 12 LGBTQ+ Films and TV Shows to Watch in March, The Dildo Nazi: Sex Toy-Selling White Supremacist Umasked, Lesbian Gov. The . "[52] One historian wrote that after the 1963 assassination Billings was: "probably the saddest of the Kennedy 'widows'. "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 . Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. In the fictionalAmerican Adulterer (2009), novelist Jed Mercurio s imagines a Kennedy who believes that ejaculating several times a day was crucial to maintaining good health and mental alertness, a form of self-care and that controlled his attacks of Addisons Disease by preventing seminal fluid from backing up into his body. "At Choate, boys who were interested in sexual involvement with other boys were courteous and discreet, writing notes on toilet paper so they could be easily swallowed or flushed," David Pitts writes in his 2007 book Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship. In reference to this relationship, I came across another interview in which JFKs sexuality was discussed and that interviewer defended JFKs relationship with Lem? Health Insurance data come from Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, 2014 pdf icon; 2014 birth data come from National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. I suppose if you dont do the missionary sex position thing you can call yourself straight and for any other position, it is just experimental straight sex? He helped handle even some of Jack's most personal affairs, Pitts writes in his book: "Jack's dates would be managed by Lem. It is important to understand what is meant by the cause of death and the risk factor associated with a premature death:. Authorities have identified the woman found dead Tuesday in a residence on Avenue B in Billings as Shanna Lynn Booth. [28] One presidential aide later said that "some people saw him so much they thought he was the Secret Service. The book "Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship," details the extraordinary relationship between two unlikely friends. President John F. Kennedy has become infamous for his vivid, and some might say almost compulsive, heterosexual affairs. (Page 100). A crew jock, he met Jack at Choate, a boys boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut (it is now co-ed). In 1929, Billy's brother, the reclusive, never married Charles Lemp had moved back into the Lemp Mansion with his dog. [4], Some historians believe that Billings expressed his sexual interest in Kennedy in writing in 1934 and that Kennedy rebuffed his advances. 'Dear Mrs. Billings. 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. A Princeton friend and former business partner confided to Pitts about Billings that after Jacks death: He didnt want to live anymore, and other friends claimed that he never recovered from the loss. To order a copy, click here. As of 2018 Lem Billings is 65 years (age at death) years old. "Jack made a big difference in my life," Billings said in his oral history for the Kennedy library, adding, "He may have been the reason I never got married.". I am gay and this relationship was more than relieving sexual tension! It remains the worst such failure in the history of advertising agencies. This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. In "Jack and Lem", author David Pitts looks at the relationship between the late president and Kirk LeMoyne Billings or "Lem". 384 pages, $26.95 THE OLD black-and-white photograph shows two good-looking young men sitting close together on the back bumper of a car, their fingers touching gently as they fondle a dachshund pup. He may have been the reason I never got married. 1934: Young JFK in hospital The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years In the summer of 1934, future United States president John F Kennedy was in his junior year at the prestigious Choate School in Connecticut. He reportedly never entertained or enjoyed social outings. 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. [3] They became fast friends, drawn to each other by their mutual distaste for their strict school. They were bound together by a love of fun and practical jokes, resentment of Choate, and envy of their higher-achieving elder siblings -- Joe, Jack's brother, and Josh, Lem's brother." This may have been true of his wife, although perhaps she understood from the beginning that their marriage would be non-monogamous. Vidal thought Jacqueline Kennedy thought Billings "was kind of a nothing but Jack needed him and she was practical. Booth, 32 years old, died of "undetermined causes" with no obvious signs of . Kennedy first met Billings when they were teenagers at a school called Choate. Prince Andrew has 'offered to manage prestigious Royal estates including Balmoral but King Charles has told PLATELL'S PEOPLE: Yes, Madonna toyboys are fun but not if you value your dignity. A funny photo of Senator John McCain catching himself after he nearly left the stage in the wrong direction after shaking hands with Senator Barack Obama. [54] Billings had his own room in the White House. In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. [64] Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included Billings as a guest at a party marking the birthdays of her children Caroline (21st) and John Jr. (18th) in 1978. He might have been the reason I never got married. [64], Billings' behavior changed drastically in the late 1960s. 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. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/661850801540d07650fabf52ced798bc30b638466ac906855c1e19da231d68b5.jpg. Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors. This is fascinating, Claire. ", Still, he was well aware of his proximity to history. 0 references. His book Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship, from which the text of this slideshow is excerpted, was one of The Advocate's five best books of 2007. Lem Billings and John F Kennedy were practically inseparable in prep school. 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.' [17] In 1956 he was an usher at the wedding of Kennedy's sister Jean to Stephen Edward Smith. "Jack was anxious to reach Lem and to find out how he was doing. The parents who fear their 11-year-olds will be scarred for life by the graphic sex education lessons that Two Insulate Britain protesters are jailed for contempt of court after they defied a judge's orders not to 'Derek fights on, it makes me fall in love with him all over again:' Kate Garraway reveals there are days French authorities fear 'narco-tourists' could flock to Normandy beaches after 'more than two tonnes of Hopes for cervical cancer vaccine after trials in mice showed it reduced tumours 80 per cent of the time. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. Published: 16:57 GMT, 9 June 2017 | Updated: 19:00 GMT, 9 June 2017. In many ways, Lem was like a father to me and he was the best friend I will ever have.' Allegheny Cemetery. Bobby's decision to pick up Jack's torch was important to Lem as well. I have also studied the forensics of the assassination for 21 years. Collier and Horowitz described Billings, later in life, as invariably enmeshed in his late friend's larger family. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women. 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. 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. You can follow her on Twitter . [1] The Billings family were Episcopalians and Republicans.[2]. Inside Matt Hancock's 41-hour battle to save his career when photo of 'a snog and heavy petting' with aide Will Vladimir Putin's empress pay the ultimate price for his war on the West? 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.'. But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. July 24, 2015. (Page 35), Jack and Lem in a Palm Beach photo booth just before their European tour, 1937, "Jack and Lem's summer in Europe began on July 1, 1937. He sent one letter to Lem's mother addressed to the American Field Service PO Box in New York. 0 references. We might even attach the adjectives exclusive and romantic to this youthful friendship. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. [16], On September 12, 1953, Billings was an usher at the wedding of Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Princeton University. The pair matriculated at Princeton together in the fall of 1935, although Jack had to withdraw for health reasons, probably early signs of the Addisons disease that would plague him the rest of his life. [55] Kennedy knew that homosexual behavior on the part of Billings had been revealed by a fellow Choate student during their years there. Knowing that, like many men who lived double lives, he could have had a wife and family, Billings regarded his friendship with Jack as a gift. I really got to know them well. In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has one specific cause. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up. [4] Billings' first visit with the Kennedy family was for Christmas in Palm Beach in 1933, after that, he joined them for holidays, participated in family events, and was treated like a member of the family. I don't know how we will carry on without him. Later accounts detailed how Billings had found himself adrift as a student at Choate in the wake of his father's death: "The Kennedys provided family and support and so forth," his nephew told Princeton University's alumni magazine in 2017. "Depending upon where the lung cancer was, her heart could have taken a direct hit," said Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist and founder of the Women's Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic. If you want to discuss this further my e-mail:pscheck2@gmail.com). Jack's best friend was Lem and he would want me to remind everyone of that today." I'm not that kind of boy.' [47], Billings spent less time with the President in the fall of 1963. Even worse, many such slurs aren't from men but 'I couldn't do it without you': Victoria Beckham poses with her whole family after her PFW show - as she Brooklyn Beckham puts on a loved-up display with wife Nicola Peltz as they head back to hotel after Cruz Beckham supports his mother Victoria as he carrying his very own VB handbag on the way to her show Like father, like daughter! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive selections from new issues of, what historian David K. Johnson calls the lavender scare, According to author Christopher Bram (2012), her fictional account of the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt. Because of him, I was never lonely, Billings said once. LeMoyne Billings and Ethel Kennedy attend Liza Minnelli Concert on May 23, 1970 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. Jack, Lem, and Caroline enjoying the water, Hyannis Port, 1963. Born in 1916, he was the son of a Pittsburgh doctor. "[27] Arthur Schlesinger thought Billings "used to glare at me when we occasionally encountered each other in the company of JFK, and for a time I took this rather personally. Deadline reported in 2018 that it was to be the basis for a forthcoming boipic as well. I'm not that kind of boy.'. Why should a historian care about Kennedys sex life at all? Harvard University. [9] He saw action in North Africa in 194243. cause of death. Billings, for his part, never married and eventually became a marketing executive and worked on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A Catholic couple, the Kennedys hoped for more children: Jack had been one of nine, while Bobby and Ethel Kennedy had eleven. As for Kennedy himself, Vidal asserted that the president 'felt quite comfortable in the company of homosexuals as long as they were smart enough to hold his interest. Jack & Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship, John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings by David Pitts Carroll & Graf. Sprawling home where JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in 1996 is listed for sale for $7 MILLION by current Royal Mail increase price of first class stamp by 15p to 1.10 in record-breaking hike. Gore Vidal, the writer who claimed he viewed homosexuality as normal as heterosexuality, disparaged the JFK-Billings relationship during the Kennedy administration. (Page 80), Lem examines a damaged ambulance door following the Messerschmitt attack, Sirte, Libya, 1943. The affair was socially isolating for a very young and sexually un-liberated woman, causing her to deceive friends, boyfriends and ultimately her husband and children for most of her adult life. "Because of him," Lem Billings once said of President Kennedy, "I was never lonely" 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. Bobby Kennedy Jr. gave the eulogy. 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. He never lost this.". (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. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). She reportedly had a love-hate relationship with her husband's best friend. I have one additional comment, probably to be regarded as politically incorrect. Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Courtship with Jackie as Imagined in New Novel PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Louis Bayard's upcoming Jackie & Me By Sam Gillette Published on. When Jack discovered that Billings was gay once declining an amorous overture from Billings the friendship is thought to have gone on unharmed. But straight men can have a gay side, and JFKs life was filled with prominent gay men, friendships which open the door to other histories. Claire Potter is professor of history at The New School, and Executive Editor of Public Seminar. JAMIE RICHARDSON: John F. Kennedy had no shortage of people who considered themselves friends of the 35th president. But I'm stuck with the Kennedys emotionally, and I will be to the end of my life. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. From the time John F. Kennedy and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings met at Choate, until the President's assassination thirty years later, Jack and Lem remained best friends. 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. During that time, he told researchers, "All the kids came over to see me. (Note my reply) I think the interview I have reference to is less than a year ago! Lem (Kenny Johnson) refuses to live the rest of his life as a fugitive in Mexico.S5E11 - Postpartum (FX The Shield)I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE VIDEO CLIPS. Billings could best be described as Kennedy's "wingman", closest male friend, and boon companion as they moved into adulthood. For example, in Once Upon a Secret (2012), former White House intern Mimi Alford describes a prolonged affair she had with Kennedy, beginning in the summer of 1962 when she was 19 and ending shortly before his assassination on November 22, 1963. It is a historic rural cemetery. Billings, Lem (Kirk LeMoyne), 1916-1981. Lem Billings passed away from a heart attack at 65 in 1981. [21][22] The next year, Kennedy named him to a board to plan America's participation in the New York World's Fair of 19645. "He needed Lem Billings to get around better than a trained nurse" that would have made his political career impossible. As the previous article mentions more has to be explored regarding the relationship between Lem and JFK! Pitts' 2007 book helped spur renewed interest in the friendship between President Kennedy and Billings. David Pitts quotes Vidal cruelly calling Billings a lifelong slave, the principal fag at court, and a nurse who helped Jack deal with the pain caused by Addisons disease. In addition, gay and lesbian people often have reasons for not coming out, or not seeking the liberation of living in queer communities, lives that are worth exploring for what we might learn about queer milieus that do not fit a conventional liberationist narrative. Author Louis Bayard focuses much of his upcoming novel Jackie & Me on the relationship between Billings and Kennedy, too. I've had enough of life': Grandmother, 86, is reduced to tears after killjoy Tory RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: As Florida governor and Donald Trump rival Ron DeSantis steps up his bid to win the Hairy Bikers star Dave Myers speaks out on his deep depression after chemotherapy which left him having 'How I snatched JK Rowling's baby out of her abusive husband's arms - and helped her flee with the Harry Top equestrian rider, 39, once known as the 'golden girl' of horse eventing, is facing jail after being A possum feared extinct is discovered by an amateur naturalist in Papua New Guinea being cooked on a Now California reparations panel RAISES amount it wants to give 1.8m black people from $220,000 to $360,000 My weekly horoscope: What will March 4th 2023 bring for MY star sign? Jack and Lem, as a reviewer for The New York Daily News put it in 1996, engaged in the kind of sexual experimentation not unknown at all-boys boarding schools.. Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old woman on an adventure when she died at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles' skid row. Jackie and Vidal werent cousins. JFK also shared women with male friends and relatives, a homoerotic impulse often seen in fraternities or other male organizations where men reinforce intimacy by having sex with the same woman. However he does quote Billings admission that he may have been in love with Kennedy his whole life. "[44], Many testify to Billings' wit and ability to help the President relax. He believed Billings loved Kennedy. Didnt Lem confess to a friend that he loved JFK? But even before then, Billings was a Kennedy fixture. The two grew so close over the following months that Billings was invited to the Kennedy family home in Palm Beach, Florida, for the holiday season and, months later, to their Hyannis Port compound, where he was badly burned in a defective shower and hospitalized for three weeks. 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. 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. However, an earlier book by Hollywood writer Lawrence Quirk alleges that Billings was not rebuffed. ", Last edited on 24 December 2022, at 15:36, "JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript | JFK Library", Princeton University Undergraduate Senior Theses, 1924-2018 Art and Archaeology, 1926-2018, Alfred E. Clark, "Adolph Toigo, Ex-Chairman of Advertising Agency Dies," January 1, 1982, "End Comes at Lennen & Newell," April 12, 1972, "Miss Jean Ann Kennedy Married," May 20, 1956, "Kennedy Names Friend," September 20, 1961, "U.S. Board Formed to Advise on Fair," January 12, 1962, "Choate Unveils Kennedy's Portrait," May 5, 1963, "Prayer for Nation Joined by Kennedy," January 2, 1961, "Caroline Learns Father Isn't Much of a Kite Pilot," July 7, 1963, "Caroline's 2 Hamsters Hunted in White House," March 5, 1961, "2 Kennedy Sisters in Poland for Visit," September 2, 1961, "Huntington Hartford Weds Diane Brown in New Jersey," October 8, 1962, Luther Turmelle, "Book details JFK's friendship with gay man," May 16, 2007, "Friend of Kennedy Named To Head Memorial Group," July 8, 1964, "Humphreys Attend a Gala Ballet Premiere," January 19, 1966, Nan Robertson, "Glittering Audience Attends Kennedy Center's Opening," September 9, 1971, Michael C. Jensen, "Managing the Kennedy Millions," June 12, 1977, Doris Kearns Goodwin, "Fitzgeralds and Kennedys," March 8, 1987, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lem_Billings&oldid=1129296144, This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 15:36. [35] In 1962 he escorted two of the President's sisters, Eunice Shriver and Jean Kennedy Smith, around Europe for more than two weeks. Once, Alford remembered, Kennedy suggested that she would be doing him a favor if she agreed to help his younger brother, Ted, a newly elected Senator, with his own tensions, while the President watched from across the pool. To begin with, why would JFK give him a private room at the white house, to come and go at his leisure? He remained in the closet until his death in. He claimed he had no idea who the Kennedys were, but they wanted to meet Williams, and Vidal produced him. Lem Billings may have been present for, but just outside the frame, of these pictures. 'I borrowed the other half from an inheritance I was about to receive from my grandmother after I graduated from college,' remembered Lem. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. Co-executive Editor, Public Seminar and Professor of History, The New School for Social Research, Photo credit: Cecil Stoughton/Wikimedia Commons. Billings had once told Bobby that. Lem had caught a cold in July by swimming in the Loire River at Chenonceau and Jack developed his own problems in Southampton on August 27 while saying goodbye to his mother and siblings Joe and Kick as they departed for America. [25]:364 According to Kennedy family members, such as Peter Lawford, and others, Billings began using drugs[25]:365 due to the influence of the Kennedy and Lawford boys. As the then-Senator stepped up for his turn, Williams admired his body. This essay was originally published at OutHistory.orgon November 22, 2013; it has been updated and re-edited. Though his name isn't as well-known as that of his boyhood best friend, Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was an important confidante for one of America's presidents and lived a life no less full of its own twists and turns. ", 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.".