Mimi Alford

Mimi Alford
Born Marion Fay Beardsley
(1943-05-07) May 7, 1943
Texarkana, Arkansas, U.S.
Other names Marion Beardsley Alford
Marion Fahnestock
Spouse(s) Tony Fahnestock (1964–1989; divorced)
Richard Alford[1]

Marion Fay "Mimi" Alford (née Beardsley; born May 7, 1943)[2] is an American woman who served as an intern in the Press Office of the White House during 1962 and 1963. During that time, she had an affair with United States President John F. Kennedy.

In 2003, the affair became public knowledge after being uncovered by a researcher in previously classified documents. In 2011, Alford wrote a book about the affair that had begun 50 years earlier when she was a 19-year-old intern. Her book is titled Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath.[3]

Early life

Marion Fay Beardsley was born in Texarkana, Arkansas but raised in Red Bank, New Jersey in privileged circumstances and educated at Miss Porter's School. In 1961, while an editor at her high school newspaper, the Salmagundy, she wrote to The White House requesting an interview with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Onassis was unable to fit a meeting into her schedule, but invited her to the White House to meet with Letitia Baldrige.[4]

Beardsley went on to enroll at Wheaton College, a private women's college in Norton, Massachusetts. In her first year at Wheaton, she was invited by the White House to apply for a position as a summer intern in the White House press office, and she began her internship in 1962.

White House intern and Kennedy affair

On her fourth day in the White House press office, President Kennedy’s special assistant Dave Powers asked Alford if she would like to join a group in the residence's swimming pool, where to her surprise they were joined by President Kennedy. Asked to join a cocktail party in the residence that evening, the President offered her a personal tour of the property, and after showing her into Jackie Kennedy's powder blue bedroom, she and Kennedy had sex, which was Alford's first sexual encounter.[5]

The resultant affair lasted 18 months, during which Alford and the President had regular trysts.[6] Alford says they did not have sexual relations after August 1963, though she retained her position in the White House.[7] She would have been in Dallas, Texas with Kennedy on November 22, 1963, but that weekend she was with her parents and the parents of her fiance, Tony Fahnestock, in Connecticut arranging their forthcoming wedding; President Kennedy had already given her a $300 wedding gift.[6]

Later life

The night of Kennedy's murder, Alford broke down and confessed her affair to her fiancé. Fahnestock still wanted to marry, but he insisted that Alford remove all reference to her time at the White House from her résumé; the marriage took place in January 1964. The marriage produced two daughters but ended in divorce in 1989.[6] She then later married Richard Alford. Alford is currently a grandmother and a retired New York City church administrator.[3][8]

Revelation of affair

Alford never spoke to others about the affair, and kept it a secret between herself and her first husband. In 2002, while historian Robert Dallek was researching his biography An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963, he came across declassified documents that mentioned Alford by name.[9][10]

It was previously confirmed in general terms by Kennedy press aide Barbara Gamarekian, identifying "Mimi" by name in her oral memoir transcribed by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in 1964, and unsealed in 2003.[11] After the interview transcript was leaked in 2003, on May 13 the New York Daily News headline ran: “Fun and Games with Mimi in the White House”. Alford confirmed the affair at that time but made no further comment.

In 2011, Alford released her autobiographical book Once upon A Secret, My Affair with John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath.[6] In an interview with Ann Curry on February 9, 2012, Alford stated that at the time she did not feel guilty about the fact that the President was married, although in hindsight, "I feel guilty about not having felt guilty about Mrs. Kennedy."[12]

In a subsequent interview for People magazine she stated, "if I was 19...I would do it again—it's hard to say I wouldn't."[13]

References

  1. ↑ Motoko, Rich (2009-05-22). "Paramour of Kennedy Is Writing a Book". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  2. ↑ OTRS 2012041910007893
  3. 1 2 Fagan, Cynthia (2012-02-05). "Teen mistress addresses relationship, pol's Cold War fears in memoir". New York Post. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  4. ↑ "No Typing Required". People.com. 2003-06-02. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  5. ↑ Alford, Mimi. Once upon A Secret, My Affair with John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath, p. 125
  6. 1 2 3 4 Alford, Mimi. Once upon A Secret, My Affair with John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath
  7. ↑ Alford, Mimi. Once upon A Secret, My Affair with John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath. p. 125
  8. ↑ "JFK mistress Mimi Alford reveals new details in book". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  9. ↑ David J. Garrow (2003-05-23). "Books of the Times; Substance Over Sex In Kennedy Biography". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  10. ↑ Jessica Hopper. "Former White House intern Mimi Alford reveals details of Kennedy affair". Rock Center with Brian Williams. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  11. ↑ "JFK Had An Intern Too". The Smoking Gun. 2003-05-13. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  12. ↑ Stump, Scott (February 9, 2012). "Former intern: JFK affair was imbalanced, but not abusive". Today.
  13. ↑ Mascia, Kristen (February 27, 2012). ed. Laurenza, Michael. "Books: My Love Affair with JFK", People, Time Inc. p. 45.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.