I think that it was a great friendship going back many years and they were bosom buddies and kindred spirits. Love exists in a multitude of ways and should not be reduced to sexuality.
Exactly. I've never heard of him before but if he was John Kennedy's best friend since childhood, then that really was a good friend. He looked like a lot of fun, from the photos....😢
C'est vrai, l'amour n'est pas forcément lié exclusivement à la sexualité.... Ceci dit, si JFK qui aimait beaucoup les femmes, ce qu'il a d'ailleurs souvent prouvé, ait pu avoir aussi dans sa vie, une attirance physique pour un homme, il n'est surement pas le seul dans ce cas...Beaucoup de "tombeurs" du beau sexe, célèbres et reconnus comme tels, ont fait parfois "quelques exceptions" dans leur choix....Idem pour certaines femmes de grand renom, surnommées pourtant "mangeuses d'hommes", tout particulièrement des Stars de cinéma, qui ont quelquefois opté pour le même sexe....Ce qui n'est d'ailleurs pas nouveau, mais au contraire, vieux comme le monde....
JFK will be loved forever. If this story has any merit, this facet of his life only adds amazement about this incredible and unforgettable man who embraced his life instead of tormenting over it. God bless, JFK
They were school mates, obviously very close, it was a dedicated friendship over many decades, it says a lot about loyalty, trust, and so many other traits that are admirable and honorable. For two guys to be so close over the years until JFK untimely end, that speaks volumes. An emotional closeness, if it involved intimate sex or affection, who's being harmed by it, it's just nobody's business. 8ve heard thus story several times, and what impresses me is that JFK never turned his back on Lem, and never through him under the bus, or threw him to the wolves, it was just a close bond of friendship that is exemplary for all to follow... RIP Fine Gentlemen of Camelot. :-)
Who's being harmed? You conveniently left out the president's wife. You guys be living in delusion about this stuff sometimes, believing so badly it's no big deal when it actually is.
It's not so much about gay stuff but facts in general, we're no longer content with hearing about an old uncle that was a life long bachelor, we now feel free to say, the gay uncle and his real life. Every person in the world that I have met have a story about gay friends, family, school mates and even about themselves. Our family has come to the point of being honest about our lives and there's many gays and one lesbian in the family. Our friends and neighbors have similar stories but they're in the closet about such matters!
Kennedy had a lot of affairs with women. And J.Edgar Hoover had recordings of some of them. But Kennedy had recordings of Hoover with men. Google Clyde Tolson.
I’m not exactly shocked by this Kennedy was a very sexually motivated person! He was incredibly intelligent man too! I would not be surprised if it was true. ❤
It is, he and his friend would lock Jackie’s door to his bed room and unlock his best friend’s door to his bedroom in the White House and they would have marvelous sex, Kennedy kept coming back for more and more!!!❤🎉😊
@@maryfox7440 lmao! Looks like he was far from being gay no doubt but sexually fluid yes. At least had a special relationship with his man. Look I’m gay I’ve had sexual relationships with men which lasted for years like this one did.men who got married and had children! It doesn’t make them gay
Yes, I believe Lem was definitely Gay, and I believe he and JFK would "mess around". That only makes JFK Bi. I heard that Peter Lawford, who was also definitely Bi would crawl into bed with JFK and Marilyn mainly to be able to get next to JFK. When someone around JFK once remarked about Gay men to him, he allegedly said, "Aw leave them alone". In those pre Stonewall days, I think he was sympathetic to Gay men
THIS DL LIFE IS VERY COMMON AMONG DL BISEXUAL BLACK MEN & MANY OF THESE MEN ARE HAVING LITTERS OF CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT WOMEN TO HIDE THEIR GAY LIFESTYLES IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY; JASON EVANS MD … ❤️🇯🇲❤️JJLOVESTAR❤️🏳️🌈❤️ … CHRISTIANITY HAS CAUSED MANY PEOPLE TO BEHAVE THIS WAY WITH ITS HOMOPHOBIC TEACHINGS … THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Work's for me! My mother was so in love with JFK. Nothing could shock me anymore ! In 7th grade. I was the only kid in my block class, that broke down and cried. When it was announced, that the president was dead. My family went into real mourning! We were just getting over the murder of our friend, Mrs. Thompson , by her husband. Just brutal. Our two families, vacationed together. Shared a wonderful cabin. On Forest Lake. Two huge life changing things in our family. How ever JFK got off. I could care less!
Lem did make his feelings about JFK known to him. The story goes that while JFK still wanted him to be his friend, he made it clear that he could not and would not ever consider him or any other man in such a relationship. Lem had a terrible downward spiral after the assassination, becoming a part time drug dealer... sometimes to the younger Kennedy family members.
He was the candy man for Bobby's sons and Ted's daughter Kara. At some point in the mid 70s he was banned from any contact with the family, though they did keep correspondence with him through birthday and Christmas cards, and they did attend his 1981 funeral.
Love between men is a very common thing it's been going on since the beginning of time. it's only evangelicals and Republicans that think it's something horrible. And they would be wrong. it's more common than most people think.
A naive statement. The women may have been a carefully constructed image, constructed by the power behind the rise of JFK, his father. It is also true that men with ravenous sexual appetites get sex whenever, and with whomever they can get it from. C’mon, his own bedroom on the 3rd floor of the White House?
People from the upper classes in the UK and the United States have never made a big deal of a friend being homosexual. I don't think there was anything going on between them. I think it was simply one of his best friends. Your sexuality doesn't define you completely as a person. Can a straight person not have gay friends?
Jackie referred to Billings as "Jack's other wife." Followings JFK's assassination, Billings was lost, and turned to drugs and alcohol. Jackie did not want him near her children, but the widow Ethel allowed Billings to hang out with her sons. The poor man never really recovered from Jack's early death.
Ethel Skakel allowed Billings around her children, particularly her sons, namely RFK Jr., who was mentored by Billings. She was overwhelmed by her children and was willing to hand them off to anyone who was willing to take them off her hands.
@@real2143 I wasn't referring to the Kennedys in that regard. But children are also gay or bi, just in case this fact has never dared to enter the hollowed out emptiness inside that glorified hat-rack sitting atop your shoulder blades.
The story of Lem Billings and the close brotherly relationship with JFK is well documented. Lem Billings was a very, very kind and loving friend to all the Kennedy's. Joseph Kennedy and Rose adored this man as they rose above Lem's homosexuality and accepted him as one of their own. JFK and Lem were the best of friends always and JFK knew of Lem's homosexuality right from the start of their friendship and just didn't care. JFK was always an active heterosexual man and NO, despite how liberal the Kennedy's were, nothing sexual was ever between them as far as confirmed by multiple sources. . That said, YES, Lem had a strong sexual attraction to JFK. YES, he was in love with JFK, but that love, while freely expressed to JFK and returned in a platonic fashion did not develop to anything sexual. And also, even Jackie approved and loved Lem for the great friend he was to the family and to her. Sadly, Lem had an alcohol addiction; possibly due in part to his self-imposed homophobia and died at only age 65 despite having a lucrative career with various Kennedy business' and remaining close family relations with the Kennedy's. Really a sad life of self-hate, homophobia, unrequited love, low self-esteem and alcoholism.
0:01 So that bigots can see that one of the world's most respected presidents had a gay friend whom he loved...as person. This doesn't mean that Kennedy was gay or even bi. ALL of my best friends are STRAIGHT and I get treated in the same fashion as Kennedy is treating this guy in those old pictures (cuz I'm such a clown). And they are NOT attracted to men. PERIOD!Self-hating gays might learn something from this video as well. I think it's all good (whatever the motive is behind showing this). And even if this video does suggest Kennedy was bi, in this day and age, it doesn't cause any loss of respect from most of the people who already respected him. The only negative thing I can say about this video is that it's prying and it's nosey (but most humans are nosey by nature) but I think it' beneficial in several ways. Just my opinion.
@@Willowtree4876 because it's a part of our gay history as oppressed and despised humans. We the people who create the most wondrous and beautiful works of art on the planet.
Gore Vidal, in one of his many memoirs on the late '40's early '50's, related how a male friend of his was picked up in Times Square by Billings for a tryst. It lead him to wonder about the nature of Lem's relationship with young Jack. I suppose male friendships, begun in boarding school way back in the day, especially when they were all single sex bastions, were indeed intimate in certain ways, and life long, without necessarily being gay or queer, even. I suspect that's what JFK and Billings had. 🤔
As a gay man, I have many intimate (NOT sex) relationships with straight men. Now that I’m 66 years old, I’ve come to learn many straight men don’t have an emotional outlet. Spouses and buddies of these straight guys come with a set of expectations that does not include a space for emotional expression. Gay men tend to excel in the deep-dive of emotional matters providing a safe haven for our straight male friends. We do pretty good with women too, I say humbly.
@@springsummerwinterorfall Obviously he wasn't gay. But do you mean bisexual?? Doubtful. Did he get his pee pee sucked when he was young by another boy? That didn't make him gay if he did. and who really cares? He dead 60 years. People should leave the Kennedy's alone and leave celebrities alone. It's nobody's business.
Lots of wealthier/ boarding school attendees ( JFK) have male friends that love them,besides their wives! Lem, would stay with JFK and Jacqueline knew he had a boy crush on her husband! In wealthier circles, these type of relationships are not rare! Jacqueline knew Lem, loved her husband in boy love sort of way!
We should focus more on the love and humanity of both men as exemplified by their lives. Both loved humanity, and in their own way worked to achieve a more just and equitable society for ALL. As far as their sexuality is concerned, it's no one's business. Two very distinct and honorable humans.
Jack definitely had a very strong sex drive, I do not doubt for a second that he had more than several activities sexually!!! A man or woman he could care less as long as he was having fun sexually, my girlfriend, an actress, had sex with him, she told me all about it!! As with Clinton, I'm from ak, sane story, it doesn't matter!!!
Jackie told the chief usher of the White House when informed that Mr. Billings had arrived, "Oh, Mr. West (chief usher), Lem has been a house guest in every home we've had!" It was pretty much an open secret. This is from "Upstairs At The White House" by J.B. West, which covered his time in service at the White House from 1940 to 1969. A very interesting book.
For sure they had a great love for each other, but any profound sexual bound was only in Lem's mind, once that was what he always wanted as a dream to come true. but I said. only a dream!
There's no such thing as being gay/straight or whatever. It's called sexual activities. Why do people need to label these activities? Some do it with a same-sex partner, others with an opposite-sex partner, and/or others with both genders. It's just a sexual activity.
I doubt it: he was a man who was secure in his manhood- like many guys then- and who could hug, fun around with his guy friends in an innocent way, without sexual thoughts.
Wt a beautiful friendship 😉❤ story. Looking at the pictures of the two w/ Jackie, it almost looked-felt like she knew about the feelings but didn’t care. A John Travolta moment.
Yeah he went a bit crazy doing drug use With. The older boys went off the rails and Had a hard time after RFK. It was sad Ethel Was cold and resentful to the older boys. Probably the pain of remembering their Father . A large family to look after by herself, Ethel had a harder job than Jackie.
This was so unnecessary to put out. No one in this generation cares. Furthermore, most ppl of that generation are most likely no longer around. SMH disgustingly about this piece you've put out
Nice try to initiate a scandal regarding a private friendship between our late, beloved President and Mr. Billings. There is no scandal. This has been investigated before. Let JFK and Mr. Billings rest in peace.
Mundo sexualizado y personas con mentalidad sucia, que ven cosas donde no hay. Lo que la gente hace con sus cuerpos son asuntos de ellos y nadie debería de opinar. Cuando un hombre tiene un amigo especial por qué comparten espíritus iguales, ya son gay y lo mismo pasa con mujeres. Que relevancia tiene en estos tiempos.
What's wrong with telling the world what a POS Kennedy was? He and his brothers ruined lives and thought they could get away with anything. They were corruption personified.
None of your business. Why stigmatize the dead? Be brave and go after someone who can speak back! I could go on ... That family has had enough grief w/o you! Yo bot! Whoever wrote this needs to GET A LIFE!
One thing is to respect others and another thing is when those others try to impose upon us things that have nothing to do with reality. (From personal experience)
lots of denial here in these comments. i came out of the closet in 1996. after a few years of enjoying my new found freedoms, i decided i had to set a new standard rule in dating / hookups: NO MORE CLOSETED BISEXUAL MARRIED MEN in (open?) relationships.... For those who don't know, it's a problem for gay men like me who seem to be a magnet for married closeted bi-sexual men. I'm not saying this video or the well documented (& sourced) book is accurate at all regarding "Jack and Lem". I'm just saying it's been a VERY common theme in my gay dating life since the mid-1990's is all.....✌✌😎😎🍻🍻🌈🌈🌈🌈
Maybe Lem acted a bit motherly to JFK, as his own mother did not show affection to him, even when he was sick. He was not a well man ever..sickly as a child and as an adult. often, he missed school because of illness. Lem was there to give him attention while he was sick.
Great video! And fun fact....Lem Billings invented "Fizzies" - anyone who grew up in the '60s remembers those fondly: " As Vice President at the Emerson Drug Company in Baltimore, he was responsible for inventing the 1950s fad drink Fizzies by adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste."
OMG, I do remember Fizzies, I loved it as a kid..I had no idea Lemon Billings invented that product, I hope he made some money on them. He seemed like a very sad unhappy man for the most part. I think the Kennedy family sort of adopted him. Perhaps he needed to be part of a big family. I know he took the death of JFK very hard. I have read so many books on tat family. Interesting, but tragic family.
Boarding school stuff doesn't count. Everyone knows that. The man was a compulsive womanizer, so the most that one could suggest is that he wasn't picky.
Why does it matter? Gay. Straight. Bi. I don’t care what you do in your private world. What matters is what kind of person you are. And what kind of heart you have. That has nothing to do with sexual preferences.
Billings was a friend of the whole Kennedy family so much that teddy thought when he was little,that he was another brother. The emotional support President Kennedy got was from Jackie Kennedy if you would listen to her oral history.
I don't agree with same sex orientation, and I don't understand that decision. With that being said, let the deceased rest in peace and stop the trash talk.
Platonic means intimate and affectionate but not sexual. You said JFK accepted Lems feelings "Platonicly". So get your story straight. They can have any kind of sexual contact and be Platonic at the same time 🤦🏼♀️
