While a lot of Americans look back at former President John F. Kennedy in a positive light, the story of his personal life is not necessarily one that many people aspire to. JFK was married to Jackie Kennedy for 10 years before his death in Dallas, Texas.
The couple were plagued by cheating rumors throughout their courtship and 10-year marriage. Many friends of the couple have since confirmed that JFK had numerous relationships outside his marriage, and they've even gone so far as to say that the marriage was simply one "of its time."
Now a woman named Diana de Vegh has added her name to the list of people the former president reportedly had affairs with. Diana claims her affair with JFK began when she was only 20 years old.
In an essay published on August 28, 2021, Diana explained that she met JFK while she was still a college student: "I was 20, a junior at Radcliffe College, and wishing I was not. Read, take notes, write papers, pass exams, get good grades, repeat. Caged in anonymous lecture halls and yearning for an exit from my life. Searching for a compelling focus, and purpose."
At the time, JFK was running a senatorial reelection campaign, but the presidential buzz was in the air. The two met after he came by her table at an event and struck up a conversation.
"I wanted to be one of the favorites," she said. "Actually, I wanted to be the favorite. I knew the protocol. I’d been brought up by one handsome man who was almost always the center of attention. My father moved through life radiating purpose and vitality. When he arrived home each evening, it was like the curtain going up on an exciting, witty play where he was the director, writer, and star. Here I felt the familiar flash, cross wiring of eager and anxious, high seas ahead. I didn’t know the senator, but I knew his energy. I felt it in my body."
Once introduced, Diana complimented JFK's book, lying about having read it. He then invited her group to his next campaign event, and he even sent his own driver to pick Diana up. He told her that there was "something special" about her, and she believed him.
Later, she realized that he had slowly separated her from the rest of her group in a bid to keep her hidden, but not until it had already been happening.
"It wasn’t just he who paid attention to me; I was entirely surrounded by his circle," she said. "They were so attentive, always someone to talk to or bring me a cup of coffee, call me 'sweetheart.' I thought it was grand. What they were actually doing was making sure I was inconspicuous at these public events and remained at an appropriate distance from the center of attention."
Diana knew he was married, but she managed to somehow put that out of her mind:
"One of the many advantages of being in movie-star-crush land was my happy inability to consider the facts. For example, the fact of this man’s marital status. He never mentioned it, so … I decided not to think about it. I stayed in my bubble."
For a time, the two would simply spend time in the car after the events while Diana was driven back to her home. It was there that JFK would lay it on thick:
"And he'd say, 'I can tell that you are special. You have a spark. I can see it.' A spark, a gift … for what? I may not have been a dust ball in the corner, but what 'spark' exactly had I demonstrated? The gift of rapt attention?"
Eventually, she was invited to his apartment in Boston.
"His hand on mine. Mine were icy cold. Oddly, my impulse was to flinch away," she described. "I didn’t, but what was the matter with me? This was love … love not spoken, not the explicit words, but silently conveyed in so many ways. So why the confusion?
"After all, I was 20 years old, with a full supply of hormones and madly in love with this compelling man. Why wasn't I flinging myself into his arms? First thought: fear. At some subliminal level, I knew the social cost of 'adventure.'"
From there, the affair proceeded as affairs often do: meeting up clandestinely in hotel rooms and at his Boston apartment.
JKF ended things when he began working with Diana's father during his campaign; he didn't know they were related at first, but putting the dots together flooded him with anxiety. Diana and JFK reconnected a few months later, but the affair was already doomed.
The entire account is available at Air Mail.
