A former White House intern who had an affair with President John F. Kennedy is set to publish a memoir detailing their 18 month romance, which she kept a secret from the public for nearly 40 years. Mimi Beardsley Alford, 66, briefly acknowledged her affair with the late JFK in a statement made six years ago, and now she’s set to spill at least some of the details in an upcoming memoir. Alford is rumored to have received an advance for the book that approaches seven figures. While the memoir won’t be a tell-all it will probably still be a best seller and is sure to have some damning information on the ex President:

Mimi Beardsley Alford, a retired New York church administrator who had an affair with John F. Kennedy while she was an intern in the White House, is breaking a silence of more than 40 years to tell her story in a memoir to be published by Random House.

John F. Kennedy, right, with Robert F. Kennedy at the White House in October 1962.
Ms. Alford’s secret was initially divulged six years ago when a biography of Kennedy was published with portions from a 1964 oral history that described the president’s 18-month sexual affair with a young intern named Mimi Beardsley. The Daily News tracked her down and discovered that she was Marion Fahnestock, who was divorced, working for the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and living in Manhattan. At the time, she gave a short statement confirming that she was “involved in a sexual relationship” with Kennedy from June 1962 to November 1963.

Ms. Alford, 66, who in the years since the disclosure had married Richard Alford, a former sports marketing executive, has not spoken about her affair since the statement. Before that, she had not even told her parents or her children. Now she is working on a memoir, to be titled “Once Upon a Secret,” about the consequences of hiding such an explosive past for so long.

Susan Mercandetti, executive editor at Random House, acquired the book after seeing about 20 pages and meeting with Ms. Alford. “I’ve seen enough to know what an extraordinary heart and soul exists in this book,” Ms. Mercandetti said.

Ms. Mercandetti, who was herself a White House intern under Gerald R. Ford, said the book would be a “woman’s coming-of-age story.”

She added: “It’s about a loss of innocence. I was just completely struck by how simple, yet how profound, it was.” She declined to say how much Random House had paid for the book, but a person familiar with the negotiations said it was close to seven figures.

Mark Reiter, Ms. Alford’s agent, said that Ms. Alford, who was just 19 when the affair with Kennedy started, was stunned by the tabloid takeover of her life in 2003. “As she thought about it, she said, ‘This is a story that I’d like to take control of, rather than have somebody else tell my side of it,’ ” Mr. Reiter said. Ms. Alford declined to comment.

Mr. Reiter said Ms. Alford attended Miss Porter’s School, the same prep school attended by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. According to “An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963,” by Robert Dallek, Mimi Beardsley was a “tall, slender, beautiful” college sophomore who worked in the White House press office in the summer when she began her affair with the president.

After Kennedy’s assassination, Ms. Alford married Anthony Fahnestock, an investment manager. Their marriage ended in divorce, and Mr. Fahnestock died in 1993.

According to Mr. Reiter, Ms. Alford is not writing a tell-all memoir. “She’s just not that type of person, where she’s going to spill her guts about intimate stuff for the whole country to see,” Mr. Reiter said. “The story has three acts to it: before the White House, during the White House, and then the really powerful part is what happens afterwards. What’s the impact on your family life, your marriage, knowing that this happened to you in your early life and you have chosen to keep it a secret.”

[From The NY Times]

I come from a family of Irish Catholic Democrats. There were photos of the Kennedys at my grandmother’s house and I have to admit that I have a magnet of the three Kennedy brothers on my fridge. A few years ago I took a visit to the Kennedy library outside Boston and took it all in with awe. It’s upsetting to think that Kennedy took advantage of a 19 year-old girl who worked for him. It’s like this great historical figure is being reduced to a kind of deceptive predator behind closed doors. I know that’s oversimplifying things, and he was only human, but there’s something despicable about this story.

In 1962 when the affair started Kennedy was 45, married to Jackie, and had two children. I’ve heard that he was a philanderer for a while, but here’s the evidence and it’s damning. There’s something so skeevy about sleeping with an intern. Although I think that Bill Clinton was a great President who left a strong legacy he’ll always have this kind of taint on him because of the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment. How disappointing that Kennedy was just as skeevy in his personal life. At least he didn’t get caught lying to the public about it like Clinton or Edwards.

I would read this book. This woman sounds like she was deeply affected by the affair and by trying to keep it secret for decades after Kennedy’s death. She may have done it out of concern for his surviving wife and children. Sadly only Caroline is left now.