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(NewsNation) — For decades, the Kennedy family has been held up as American royalty — the unattainable, untouchable elite who lived in a world they dubbed “Camelot.” They were good-looking, married all the right people, had many children and reached the highest office in the land.
But under the surface — hidden from the eye of the public by the media –— it was darkness.
My friend Maureen Callahan has allegedly uncovered the true story about the male members of the family and how they terrorized, belittled and in some cases, maimed the women in their lives — getting away with it all… until now.
In her new book, “Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed,” Callahan claims that the real legacy of “Camelot” and the Kennedys is one of murder, misogyny and mayhem.
She spoke to me about the biggest myths.
JFK was a cad at best. A rapist at worst: Report
Callahan told me a story about Jackie Kennedy’s first miscarriage, saying, “Early on in her marriage, Jack had lost the race for VP, and (Jackie) was eight months pregnant and she asked him to stay with her. And he said no.”
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UNITED STATES – OCTOBER 19: Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, ride up Broadway in a ticker-tape parade. (Photo by Frank Hurley/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) -
President John F. Kennedy, shown during his news conference at the State Department today, said it was “a mistake” for the Defense Department investigators to suggest use of lie detectors in checking on who gave a newsman an Air Force memorandum charging abuse by Senate committee aides. -
John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier sit together in the sunshine at Kennedy’s family home at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, a few months before their wedding.
“Back home in America, (Jackie) delivers the baby stillborn and she’s hospitalized for days. And her husband does not come back to her,” Callahan told me. “He prefers to stay sailing in the med and says to his brother, Bobby, ‘What does it matter? The baby is dead.’”
Regarding Marilyn Monroe, Callahan said: “She was brutalized both by JFK and his brother Bobby.”
Allegations against JFK
But the real shocker — Callahan says JFK allegedly raped a virgin in the White House.
“One of the stories that I think people still don’t really know about is Mimi Alford, who was a teenage intern at the White House, a virgin,” Callahan told me.
“One of her very first days in the typing pool, she’s invited up to the White House residence by JFK’s consigliere, Dave Powers. She goes up there. She has no idea what she’s doing up there. She’s over-served daiquiris. The president suddenly appears. She finds herself in Jackie’s bedroom and he’s on top of her taking her virginity. It lasts like three minutes, if that, She has no idea what’s just happened.”
Allegations against JFK Jr.
And while JFK’s son, the much vaunted JFK Jr. behaved a little better — he still not only allegedly cheated on his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, but was the only one responsible for not only her death, but the death of her sister Lauren, Callahan claims.
The case against JFK Jr. was so egregious, the Bessette family “received a $15 million settlement from the Kennedy estate,” Callahan told me.
Why?
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Married American couple, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (1966 – 1999) and John F Kennedy Jr (1960 – 1999) (center), with an unidentified man, attend a Municipal Art Society event (in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) at Grand Central Station, New York, New York, October 4, 1998. (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images) -
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette attend a function at the Hilton Hotel.
(Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images) -
(Original Caption) Washington, D.C: John F. Kennedy, Jr. addresses the Democratic National Convention.
Because it was “100% JFK Jr.’s fault,” Callahan said. “He had no business flying this powerful plane. He was not instrument-rated to fly, which means you have to rely solely on your visuals. He took off on a dark, foggy night.”
“He broke every rule of aviation. He did not file a flight plan. He did not go up with a licensed co-pilot. He did not communicate with ground control. He was on target to crash into a packed American Airlines jet that was full of 238 passengers making its descent to JFK airport. You never hear about this ever, ever.”
“So why was he allowed to get in that plane? Because he was JFK Jr.,” Callahan said. “If it had been any other Joe off the street I guarantee you someone at that airport would have said, ‘What is that unlicensed pilot doing?’ (And stopped the flight).”
After the crash, the media once again whitewashed JFK Jr.’s responsibility — and blamed Bessette.
“Instead, we talk about America’s Prince and what we lost and he would have been a great president. I’m sorry,” Callahan sniffed, “I beg to differ.”
After the crash, “Carolyn, after again, this wholly avoidable plane crash that was only his fault, was depicted in the media as a drug addicted shrew who was responsible for the crash because she was getting a pedicure and made the pedicurist change the shade of her nail polish three times,” Callahan said.
“You could not come up with a more misogynistic victim-blaming narrative than that. And it’s got the Kennedy machine’s fingerprints all over it.”
As Bessette found out during her short marriage to America’s hunk, “JFK Jr. was no prize. Carolyn Bassett gets behind that curtain and she finds she has kind of landed the booby prize of all booby prizes.”
When asked what she thinks the real Kennedy legacy is, Callhan shoots back: “Misogyny, mayhem, murder.”
