Then US president John F. Kennedy took the virginity of a White House intern in a side room a few feet away from where staffers were drinking at an after-work party, the Daily Mail Sunday quoted a new book as saying.
Then US president John F. Kennedy took the virginity of a White House intern in a side room a few feet away from where staffers were drinking at an after-work party, the Daily Mail Sunday quoted a new book as saying.
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Mimi Alford, now a 69-year-old grandmother, related how Kennedy led her into "Mrs Kennedy's room" during a personal tour, where he proceeded to have sex with her. The retired New York church administrator's tell-all memoir also details how, during a passionate 18-month affair with Kennedy, he told her to perform a sex act on his friend as he watched.
And she claims the then 45-year-old Kennedy also stuffed party-drug amyl nitrate, more commonly known as poppers, under her nose after telling her it would enhance their sex life. But during their romance, she said he never properly kissed her and that she was often forced to play "a waiting game" as to when she would see him.
Alford's book "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F Kennedy and Its Aftermath" tells the story of when the 19-year-old debutante from New Jersey landed a job in the White House press office. It was just four days into her internship that she was invited for a midday swim in the White House pool, where Kennedy exercised to ease his chronic back pain, and where they spoke briefly, the Mail said.
Later that day, she was invited by his best friend Dave Powers to an after-work party. After drinking several cocktails, Kennedy took her on a "personal tour", where she says he moved "closer and closer" until he was standing above her, guiding her onto the edge of a bed.
She wrote in the book: "Slowly, he unbuttoned the top of my shirtdress and touched my breasts. Then he reached up between my legs and started to pull off my underwear. "I finished unbuttoning my shirtdress and let it fall off my shoulders." She said Kennedy pulled down his trousers, but kept his shirt on, and paused when he noticed she seemed reluctant. He asked her if she had done this before and she initially replied "No" but then changed her mind and said "Yes".
After intercourse, she said: "He hitched up his pants and smiled at me." She claims he pointed her to the bathroom and went back to the West Sitting Hall where they had met. She said: "I was in shock. He, on the other hand, was matter-of-fact, and acted as if what had just occurred was the most natural thing in the world. On the ride home, it kept echoing in my head: I'm not a virgin anymore."
She went swimming with him again the next week and, although he "barely acknowledged" her arrival, they later ended up in another bedroom which was, she says, the start of the affair. She said: "The fact that I was being desired by the most famous and powerful man in America only amplified my feelings to the point where resistance was out of the question. That's why I didn't say no to the president. It's the best answer I can give."