Who was the most reprehensible US President in the twentieth century? That’s a tough question, though not one related to policy, political preferences or job performances. I mean instead: who was the nastiest piece of work to occupy the White House at any point during the last century. There are, I think, five contenders: Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, John F Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Nixon.
Mimi Alford’s new memoir, relating how she had an affair with JFK while working in a junior role at “Camelot” offers more form proving that the drug-wracked, priapic Kennedy is a leading contender in this grim contest. Among the gruesome stories she tells:
Dave Powers [Kennedy’s Special Assistant and the man in the next car behind the President that day in Dallas] was sitting poolside while the President and I swam lazy circles around each other, splashing playfully. Dave had removed his jacket and loosened his tie in the warm air of the pool, but he was otherwise fully clothed. He was sitting on a towel, with his pants leg rolled up, and his bare feet dangling in the water.
The President swam over and whispered in my ear. “Mr. Powers looks a little tense,” he said. “Would you take care of it?”
As Tim Noah says, it is unlikely Alford is making this up; she was partially “outed” by Robert Dallek in 2003. Her memoir may be a poor thing – it was savaged by Janet Maslin in the New York Times – but that doesn’t make it a fiction. So, assuming this anecdote is true, you’ve got a sadistic President who gets his kicks from sexually humiliating his own mistress and his own friends and assistants. Cracking chap. As Noah says, the “worldly tolerance” of JFK’s character flaws is wearing a little thin these days.It was a dare, but I knew exactly what he meant. This was a challenge to give Dave Powers oral sex. I don’t think the President thought I’d do it, but I’m ashamed to say that I did. It was a pathetic, sordid, scene, and is very hard for me to think about today. Dave was jolly and obedient as I stood in the shallow end of the pool and performed my duties. The President silently watched.
Finally, one wonders how the history of the United States 1960-74 might have been different if the country had not elected three consecutive psycopaths to the Presidency?
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