Kennedy family has no comment on Mimi Alford’s book
The new book, "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath," by Mimi Alford, is displayed at a Barnes & Noble bookstore Los Angeles. In the book, Alford, a 69-year-old grandmother and retired church administrator, claims she had an affair with JFK while working as a White House intern. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
As you might expect, the Kennedy clan has no comment on the new book by Mimi Alford, a former White House intern who claims she lost her virginity to then-President John F. Kennedy – in the bed the president shared with his wife, Jackie Kennedy. In “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath,” Alford describes in some detail her alleged 18-month dalliance with the commander in chief, and expresses no regret. She also claims that, at Kennedy’s request, she performed oral sex on Dave Powers, a special assistant to the president who later served for many years as curator of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. “The president swam over and whispered in my ear. ‘Mr. Powers looks a little tense,’ he said. ‘Would you take care of it?’ It was a dare, but I knew exactly what he meant… I don’t think the president thought I’d do it, but I’m ashamed to say that I did . . . The president silently watched.” (Powers died in 1998.) Even as Alford makes the media rounds promoting her tell-all, the Kennedys are remaining mute. A rep for the JFK Library declined to comment today, and a family friend told us there’s nothing to be gained by commenting. “Just more muck from the swamp,” said the Kennedy insider. Alford, whose name was Mimi Beardsley when she worked in the White House press office, claims she and the president began their affair just days after she started the job.
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Mark Shanahan joined The Boston Globe in
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