Jolie Rouge
05-15-2003, 12:20 PM
Her name is Marion (Mimi) Fahnestock.
When she was 19 years old, she worked in the White House as an intern and became the mistress of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. And while she really didn't want the world to know it, Fahnestock admitted to the media on Thursday that it's a relief to unburden the secret of her life. The news of the affair--dubbed "Kennedy's Monica"--is part of a new biography of JFK that has gotten rave reviews. As scholarly a work as it is, "An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek did have this bombshell buried in its 700 pages.
Fahnestock, who now works as a church administrator in New York City, said in a statement to the media, "From June 1962 to November 1963, I was involved in a sexual relationship with President Kennedy." She met JFK when she came to the White House as a high school student to interview the first lady for her school newspaper. The president was so taken by her that she was hired as an intern a year later even though she couldn't type, a job requirement at that time. Weeks before JFK was assassinated, Fahnestock left the White House to get married. She is now divorced.
While researching the book, Dallek found a sealed oral history of the Kennedy administration by former White House aide Barbara Gamarekian, now 77. He convinced her to disclose it even though Gamarekian, who is now suffering from a rare form of ovarian cancer, could not recall the intern's last name and refused to reveal her first name. Of the woman we now know to be Mimi Fahnestock, Dallek said on last Sunday's "Dateline NBC": "She had no skills. She could answer the phone. Apparently, her only skill was to provide sexual release for JFK on those trips and maybe in the White House." AP notes that while it's common knowledge Kennedy had numerous extramarital affairs, this is the first known liaison with a White House intern.
When she was 19 years old, she worked in the White House as an intern and became the mistress of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. And while she really didn't want the world to know it, Fahnestock admitted to the media on Thursday that it's a relief to unburden the secret of her life. The news of the affair--dubbed "Kennedy's Monica"--is part of a new biography of JFK that has gotten rave reviews. As scholarly a work as it is, "An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek did have this bombshell buried in its 700 pages.
Fahnestock, who now works as a church administrator in New York City, said in a statement to the media, "From June 1962 to November 1963, I was involved in a sexual relationship with President Kennedy." She met JFK when she came to the White House as a high school student to interview the first lady for her school newspaper. The president was so taken by her that she was hired as an intern a year later even though she couldn't type, a job requirement at that time. Weeks before JFK was assassinated, Fahnestock left the White House to get married. She is now divorced.
While researching the book, Dallek found a sealed oral history of the Kennedy administration by former White House aide Barbara Gamarekian, now 77. He convinced her to disclose it even though Gamarekian, who is now suffering from a rare form of ovarian cancer, could not recall the intern's last name and refused to reveal her first name. Of the woman we now know to be Mimi Fahnestock, Dallek said on last Sunday's "Dateline NBC": "She had no skills. She could answer the phone. Apparently, her only skill was to provide sexual release for JFK on those trips and maybe in the White House." AP notes that while it's common knowledge Kennedy had numerous extramarital affairs, this is the first known liaison with a White House intern.