Many posts here critical of JFK so far, including one agreeing with link calling him a monster. Somebody posted here "Its not sexual abuse when you're either the President or in Hollywood," as if his position or location was relevant. The relevant point is everyone was adult and participated voluntarily.<p>We are all free to share our opinions, but different people have different values. 19-year-old women and 45-year-old men are adults free to decide to do what they want. If they choose to do something you disagree with, others disagree with what you do.<p>Name-calling and criticizing adults for doing what everyone involved consented to is opinion and they go both ways.
I was born after JFK and never really "got" the mystique with the Kennedy family. Whenever a Kennedy family special show used to broadcast (pre-cable) I'd always just switch the channel to something more interesting or just turn it off. On the few occasions my Grandmother or Parents insisted I always found the obsessive fawning very tiresome.<p>The brief bits I learned over the years seem to point to a pretty seedy family history full of unprosecuted white-collar crime and general hustling before anybody caught on and criminalized it. Then turned the family wealth into political connections (as organized criminals are wont to do) and was put in charge of "campaign contributions" and the rest is history. "America's Royal Family" is a shameful appellation. I never thought they were terribly photogenic or glamorous or really all that interesting.<p>Using that as a background framework, none of the "scandalous" things I've ever heard about JFK or the family ever really surprised me. This is just yet another thing to add to the list. So...meh?
I hate to say it, but quite a few US presidents have a psychological profile that closely, if not entirely, fits that of a socio/psychopath -- in fact, these traits are invaluable when you are running for president (having this condition, as pop culture likes to hint, does not make you a murderer necessarily). A sociopath is risk-adverse, does not take responsibility or feel guilty, and often is outwardly charming. These days more than ever, a president is required to "look the other way" or remain "blissfully ignorant" when the biggest lobbyists secure major contracts, enact laws that benefit them, or sidestep laws that don't. As a side note, both of my parents are psychiatrists who have dealt with every variety (including the criminally insane) - this does not in the least make me an expert, but they did teach me a lot (for my own safety) about spotting these types of disorders.
Noah's take on this story seems about right:<p><a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/timothy-noah/100566/jfk-monster" rel="nofollow">http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/timothy-noah/100566/jfk-mons...</a>
One of the terrible things about Nixon's presidency was that when he got caught in Watergate, presidents stopped taping all their Oval Office conversations.<p>We are losing a generation of precious history. Nowadays, if you're anywhere national public office, you don't leave a paper trail and there are no smoking guns. Teams of lawyers followed Bill Clinton around getting affidavits from anybody that might have a chance of releasing anything salacious.<p>That's a shame, because presidents are all too human -- warts and all. In my mind JFK was a sexual predator and junkie, but it's better for history that we know the truth. Instead I fear that all we're going to get from 1975 onward is a plastic version of the people who occupied the office.<p>ADD: One point of interest about this particular U.S. President: Mimi Alford's story is nowhere near being unique. If anything, hers is a tame version of JFK's lifestyle. Dont' forget that Marilyn Monroe was a mistress, as were many other people. I've seen estimates of his sexual conquests that number in the hundreds. Then there's the drug use, including IV drugs administered in the White House by "Dr. Feelgood".<p>If anything, JFK's story reinforces for me the great amount of latitude we can have in a president without fearing that the world is going to blow up.
"Anyone who thinks they know what's best for 300 million people is a titanic asshole. So we're just voting for king of the assholes."<p>--Shit My Dad Says
I always remember a psychologist commenting on someone asking why Bill Clinton, most powerful man in the world would risk it all, and their reason was pretty simple.<p>The point is the wrong way round, it's why you become the most powerful man in the world. Power, money, these are all just proxies, even if the people who have and want them don't know it.
Just being curious here: Is there anything "illegal" in that story? Sure, questionable morals of cause. But it looks a lot like a sexual relationship between two consenting adults.
I love how most of the general public (especially those who lived through it) think Camelot was so classy... like ya know that time the President asked his manipulated teenage mistress to blow his best friend in the pool.
> On one excursion, she met Vice President Lyndon Johnson. When she told the president about the introduction, he lost his composure.<p>> “Stay away from him,” he commanded, likely worried that Johnson could use knowledge of the affair against him.<p>This probably wasn't the only reason. For all of JFK's misbehavior, he was nothing next to LBJ. When one of his secretaries was staying at his ranch, Johnson confronted her in the middle of the night in her bed, saying "Move over. This is your president." He was also fond of urinating in public and once urinated on one of his secret service agents. In another incident, he got frustrated at some reporters asking why he sent troops to Vietnam, pulled out his (reportedly large) penis, and said "this is why".
Don't know why this in on HN, but I enjoyed reading it. Hot stuff! This discussion about it looks pretty lame - arguing over whether or not Kennedy was abusing his power or sexually abusing this woman is ridiculous as it robs this woman of both her agency as an 18 year old and now. At 18, like it or not, she was an adult. There is not any "raping" described, and she acknowledges having thought deeply about why she agreed to do this or that. She used her own adult (teen, yes, but also adult) mind to decide what to do. Sure there is a power differential, and in this case an extreme one, but so what... THERE ALWAYS IS! All relationships, especially sexual relationships, involve a power differential / dynamic. This is what makes it fun. Each person is trying to achieve a certain level of "control" over the other, even if that is done counterintuitively by ceding that sense of control to the other. If one brutally and forcibly wrests control over the other, then it is rape. But, if both people are adults making their own decision, then it's simply a typical human sexual relationship!
"He taught her how to scramble eggs." Can somebody tell me what exactly is that? Urban dictionary didn't help much. <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=scrambled%20egg" rel="nofollow">http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=scrambled%20e...</a>
Two words: Character Assassination.<p>These seemingly mild form of abuse are precursors to physical violence. You really have to understand how clandestine operations work to fully grasp the concept.<p>I suggest you guys watch/listen to his final speech on youtube and really pay attention and listen to what he was saying before he got assassinated. Quite a few of the elite didn't like JFK.<p>You don't just get rid of someone arbitrarily. Especially if they have a public following and great influence. You have to destroy their credibility first and demonize them to prevent the public from inquiring and asking to many questions.<p>JFK and Michael Jackson are the prime examples of this. Listen to MJ's songs and the message he was trying to convey. Does it really align to what he was accused of? and ohh by the way the F.B.I. realized a statement after his death saying that none of the accusations were true and that he was innocent.<p>Never take anything at face value, do the research yourself.
Sorry I am not american.<p>Is it a fact that this really happened? Or just her word?<p>Did she work there?<p>have other people confirmed anything related to it?<p>Thanks