The Colombian Secret Service prostitution scandal is small potatoes by historical standards. Once upon time, our president, JFK was the one ordering sex a la carte, and using his staff to cover his tracks.
Forget Secret Service agents hiring hookers. JFK had them hustled into the White House.
So much for Camelot.
JFK was a serial cheater who not only risked his political career, but national security because of his uncontrolled impulses. At 44, he was still a rich kid, a spoiled brat.
…One such liaison that Hoover learned about was Kennedy’s relationship with Judith Campbell, later Exner. Kennedy was introduced to Campbell by Frank Sinatra during his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. At the same time, Sinatra also introduced Campbell to mobster Sam Giancana, and they too began an affair. In 1961, Hoover learned of Kennedy and Campbell’s affair from wiretaps placed on Mafia leader John Roselli’s phone. The FBI learned that Campbell frequently called the White House and spoke with Kennedy’s personal secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, who was charged with making the arrangements for her visits. With this information, Hoover went to Bobby and informed him that his brother was engaged in a relationship with a woman who was involved with mobsters. In March 1962, Kennedy broke off relations with Campbell and in May, upon Bobby’s advice, he severed all ties with Sinatra.
Hoover also knew of another of Kennedy’s affairs. This time it was with Ellen Rometsch, a twenty-seven-year-old German-born call girl. Bobby Baker, the Senate secretary to the Democrats, was responsible for their introduction. Although it was a short-term fling, Rometsch became a frequent visitor to the White House for naked pool parties during the spring and summer of 1963. On July 3, Hoover informed Bobby that Rometsch might be a spy. On August 21, Bobby had her deported back to West Germany.
This, however, failed to put an end to the matter. One month later, Bobby Baker, who frequently paired call girls with senators, came under the scrutiny of the Senate Rules Committee, which was investigating whether he was involved in unethical financial transactions. Rather then face scrutiny from his colleagues, Baker resigned on October 7. In the meantime, Bobby Kennedy came to an agreement with Baker for his silence about Rometsch. Nevertheless, on October 26 the Des Moines Register reported the story about Rometsch and “some prominent New Frontiersmen from the executive branch of Government.”
In response, Bobby quietly arranged for a meeting between Hoover and Senate leaders Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen on October 28. Bobby wanted to make sure that the Senate refrained from investigating the Romestch matter. At the meeting, Hoover reported that there was no evidence to suggest that Rometsch was a German spy. Further, he noted that the FBI investigation had turned up interesting evidence that Baker had provided call girls to numerous senators, and he had the list of names to prove it. The meeting had the desired result. When the investigation into Baker’s activities continued, Rometsch was never brought up.
Although Kennedy escaped the revelation of his tainted private life on this occasion, many details would come out after his death. In November 1975, a Senate subcommittee, which was charged with investigating the CIA’s assassination plots, uncovered the details of Kennedy’s affair with Campbell. Although it comprised just a small footnote, which was buried deep into the report, it was nevertheless exposed. In addition to the affair with Campbell, it was revealed that during Kennedy’s administration, the CIA had given the go ahead for Sam Giancana, Campbell’s other sexual liaison, to carry out a plot to kill Castro. These two revelations of sex and mobster dealings tainted Kennedy’s reputation.
Kennedy also had an affair with Jackie’s press secretary Pamela Turnure. Turnure was a twenty-three-year-old who received the job upon Kennedy’s urging. She was inexperienced, having never worked in a press position, but Kennedy urged Jackie to hire her. Jackie did as he wished, and he continued on with his three-year relationship with Turnure.
At the same time, Kennedy was having an affair with reporter Ben Bradlee’s sister-in-law, Mary Pinchot Meyer. It began in early 1962 after Kennedy propositioned her at a White House reception in December 1961. Meyer was from a political family and Kennedy found solace in their relationship because of her understanding of his political trials. From 1962 to 1963, she visited the White House at least thirty times. The affair was exposed in 1976. Kennedy also had affairs with the White House secretaries he called “Fiddle” and “Faddle,” and with numerous other women.
There’s more, much more.
