President John F. Kennedy took the virginity of a 19-year-old White House intern in his wife Jackie's bed before engaging in an 18-month-long affair with the young girl that continued up until his assassination in 1963.
The scandal is told by DailyMail.com columnist Maureen Callahan in her new book 'Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed', which is being published exclusively by the Mail in a major new series.
In 1962, JFK's right-hand man Dave Powers would invite intern Mimi Beardsley to join JFK at one of his infamous 'pool parties' – an almost daily occurrence at the White House involving young female staffers.
Shortly after one swim, and just four days into her internship, Beardsley received another call from Powers, this time inviting her to an informal gathering in Kennedy's family residence.
President John F. Kennedy took the virginity of a 19-year-old White House intern in his wife Jackie's bed before engaging in an 18-month-long affair with the young girl that continued up until his assassination in 1963. (Pictured: Mimi Beardsley, the White House intern).
in 1962, JFK's right-hand man Dave Powers invited intern Mimi Beardsley to join JFK at one of his infamous 'pool parties' – an almost daily occurrence at the White House involving young female staffers.
Shortly after the swim, and just four days into her internship, Beardsley received another call from Powers, this time inviting her to an informal gathering in Kennedy's family residence.
There, Callahan writes, JFK 'got [Beardsley] drunk' (drinking daiquiris), before taking her on a private tour of his home. When they reached his wife Jackie's bedroom, he guided her to the bed and took her virginity.
Beardsley published a book about her experience in 2011, in which she recalls: 'The next thing I knew he was standing in front of me, his face inches away. He placed both hands on my shoulders and guided me toward the edge of the bed.
'Slowly, he unbuttoned the top of my shirtdress and touched my breasts. Then he started to pull off my underwear.'
She added: 'I'd always imagined that my first time would be with the man I loved on my wedding night. Could I have done anything to resist President Kennedy? I doubt it.'
Mimi has professed that she does not feel guilt for her long affair with JFK – who was 26 years her senior.
'I wasn't invading the Kennedys' marriage; I was merely occupying the President's time when his wife was away. If he wasn't troubled, why should I be?' she said.
JFK was serially unfaithful to his wife, so much so, Callahan writes, that Jackie suspected he had even slept with her sister, Lee Radziwill.