LOS ANGELES (OC).–Releasing his new salacious JFK book today, “Ladies Man: The careless Heart of John F. Kenneny, 84-yea-old best-selling author Laurence Leamer disseminated more trash of the Kennedy dynasty, a Camelot family gone south. Leamer can’t possibly think his trash, whether factual or not, adds a thing to the unending conspiracies about who put a bullet in the 46-year-old President John F. Kennedy Nov. 22, 1963 in Dealy Plaza, Dalas Texas. JFK was the most popular U.S. president since Franklin Roosevelt but, in many way, far more relatable to the average person, having wealth and movie-star good looks, serving with his refined aristocratic wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Whether John had dalliances in boarding school, college or the Navy, that went with the territory, but, in more discreet times, was of no concern to anyone, certainly not official Washington.
With the Epstein sex scandal sucking the oxygen out of Washington headlines, JFK’s affairs are more irrelevant that ever, except to certain JFK-bashers that want to trash his legacy. But in the three short years of his presidency, JFK managed to grow the economy, improve civil rights, deal with an overly aggressive Soviet Union and give hope to millions around the planet. JFK’s Peace Corps opened the doors to the world for a generation of young Americans, not concerned about with whom Jack slept but with a changing world dealing with widespread poverty and starvation in Africa and Latin America. When it came to JFK’s foreign policy, he showed the kind of empathy to the world that made him in only a few short years a global icon. Yet Leamer thinks he can taint JFK’s reputation by dredging up his private habits, once kept under wraps.
Leamer thinks he can still get enough readers’ interest in the private life of JFK, referring to his dalliances as careless, when they impacted no one other than a handful of participants at the time. “My very early readers who have read “Ladies Man” say they will neve think about President Kennedy the same way again,” Leamer said, exposing for all to see his vendetta against the assassinated president. What could any rational person think differently about JFK just because he exposed some affairs kept under wraps during a more discreet era in the early 60s. Anyone following JFK know that in the early days of the U.S. Space Program, no one supported man space exploration that JFK. He speech at Rice University Sept 12, 1962, inspired a young generation to pursue engineering and the sciences to pursue careers at NASA to advance man’s quest for space.
Leamer’s motives for writing a tabloid-like tell-all about JFK’s personal life could not be more transparent. While he thinks no one will look at JFK the same, he’s dead wrong, knowing everyting the young president did to advance civil and human rights around the globe. “Having previously writer three bestsellers about the Kennedys, I knew and interviewed thre of JFK’s mistresses, as well as his brothers, sisters and closest friends and associates. But even I was shocked by some of the things I learned,” Leamer told People Magazine. If Leamer were really that familiar with the Kennedy clan, how could he be shocked by anything, certainly JFK’s father, Joe Kennedy, once ambassador to the United Kingdom and first Commissioner of the Security and Exchange Commission. Yet Leamer thinks he can trash the Kennedy legacy or shock the world because to private affairs. No one cares about whom JFK or his father slept with during their short time on the planet.
Leamer talks about an incident on the presidential yacht Sequoia where JFK was with his wife Jackie yet accused of chasing around the wife of Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee, Tony Braclee. Leamer says JFK was “out of control,” something that could have seen as a playful side of him, nothing leacherous with Bradlee’s wife. Catering to JFK haters, Leamer ads nothing to the vast literature written about JFK’s 1,000 days. Does Leamer remember anything about the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty or the 1962 Curan Missile Crisis where the U.S. and Soviet Union almost came to a nuclear confrontation. No, Leaamer likes to hear juicy stories from former JFK mistresses, attesting to his infidelity to Jackie. Does any of that take away from the Peace Corps or the commitment to save the Third World from famine and disease? Leamer wants to smear JFK’s legacy, insisting his book changes JFK’s legacy.
Leamer doesn’t change the historical record of JFK’s 1,000 days, he only dredges up tabloid stories whether true or not. But does the African American care about who JFK slept with or dod they care about his commitment to civil rights? Do starving and diseased African care about JFK’s private life or dod they care about the Peace Corps and policy in Sub-Saharan Africa? Today’s Orion astronauts ready against to blast off for the moon can thank Kennedy for inspiring a generation of scientists and engineers to go where mankind has never gone before. JFK committed himself to nuclear nonproliferation, looking to end the fear of nuclear annihilation. No, Leamer has his audience that likes to gossip about JFK’s private life, not congratulate his contribution to humanity. What does Leamer’s juicy tale tell about the real JFK that sacrificed his for a better world.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
