Mimi Alford, Former White House Intern, Details Affair With John F. Kennedy In New Memoir

In a new tell-all memoir, former White House intern Mimi Alford details her 18-month long affair with President John F. Kennedy. The book, "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath," will be released on Wednesday.

Alford, 69, is a grandmother and retired church administrator. But 50 years ago, she began a relationship with the president while she was a 19-year-old intern in the White House press office. According to the New York Post, which obtained a copy of the memoir, the affair began in the summer of 1962, on the fourth day of Alford's internship, when they had an encounter in the White House swimming pool. That night, Alford says, she lost her virginity to the president in First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's bedroom.

The affair, Alford claims, continued through the summer. After she returned to school at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, the president would call her using the pseudonym "Michael Carter." On occasion, Kennedy reportedly paid for Alford to visit Washington while his wife was away.

One such visit occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 13-day-long standoff in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union. According to Alford, Kennedy told her that "I'd rather my children red than dead."

Alford says she last saw Kennedy at a the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan in November 1963, just a week prior to his assassination. Alford writes, "He took me in his arms for a long embrace and said, 'I wish you were coming with me to Texas.'"

The affair was first revealed in 2003, when Kennedy biographer Robert Dallek wrote in "An Unfinished Life" about an unnamed intern who allegedly had a relationship with the late president. The New York Daily News then identified Alford as the intern. She subsequently gave a statement confirming the relationship.

In an interview with NBC's Meredith Viera, which will air on "Rock Center" Wednesday evening, Alford explained her motivations for coming forward with the details.

"It's not so much that I feel that I'm exposing myself, it's that I'm really unburdening myself, it was a very difficult thing for me to do," Alford said. "In fact, most mornings when I woke up I thought I don't want to get up and write this book, I want to hide under the covers."

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[StillonAOL]

01:48 PM on 02/11/2012

Mimi has changed the Kennedy mystique from "Camelot" to "Came-alot"

[sheila hartford]

05:34 PM on 02/09/2012

She waits 50 years to tell this story--she clearly wants/needs the big $$$$. AND it's safe because any possible witnesses are dead. So nobody can sue her for slander. She's obviously has no shame. Even at 19, she was old enough to know better. I think she's disgusting and should be ashamed to be admitting this (IF TRUE). She's hurting Caroline Kennedy and what about her own family? Darned if I'll buy her book and contribute to her greed.

[Born to be riled]

02:16 AM on 02/12/2012

I heard she was very upset by your rebuff, and has cancelled all future affairs with world leaders.

[jonathanzimmel]

08:20 PM on 04/05/2012

no world leaders want her now, they have fresh meat aka 22 year old interns

[MikeLatoris]

04:19 PM on 02/09/2012

Kennedys got away with everything including murder. Now they are all dead. The Liberal Media will try to keep the mythology alive though.

[dfsd]

06:13 PM on 02/09/2012

And you are clearly a mature person worth listening to, "Mike."

[jonathanzimmel]

08:20 PM on 04/05/2012

mike is pretty much right

[ndshannon2]

08:08 PM on 02/09/2012

JF Kennedy was a pervert and drug addict and people still want to keep his good image. How about Marilyn Monroe, How she died?, his daughter can not say anything because she never say anything bad about Marilyn just because she was famous. This 19 years old girl did not know how she got the intern job, This pervert kennedy manipulated the system just to commit a crime.

[Karen1]

03:13 PM on 02/09/2012

Sorry, but the details of her story cannot be verified. Sadly, in our country if one comes from an upper class background like Ms Alford, one is automatically given a certain amount of credibility. Why is she credible? Who is she? Also, her internship only lasted one summer but she claims the relationship lasted 18 months. Of course there is no way to verify any of this. How convenient for somebody trying to sell a book.

[Born to be riled]

02:23 AM on 02/12/2012

Why do libs hate the women, but never their heroes? Didn't Clinton have 7 or 8 detractors, one who even claimed she was raped, but none were ever beleivable, according to the libs. Why would a gold digger wait until her 70's to cash out?

[b41ja]

11:24 AM on 02/09/2012

Just goes to prove some folks will do anything for a buck. This old broad is just trying to cash in by promoting her book.” Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath." Or, “Confessions of a White House Slut.“

[Born to be riled]

10:38 AM on 02/12/2012

Hate women much?

[b41ja]

12:20 PM on 02/12/2012

Only the ones without honor who will open their legs and mouths for money.

[jonathanzimmel]

08:21 PM on 04/05/2012

if not cashing in give a good reason? you just put everyone's posts down and never contribute anything of your own

[videosusan]

10:23 AM on 02/09/2012

This woman will totally regret that she wrote this book. We already knew about JFK's activities, and she just embarrasses herself and includes TMI that only someone who wants to sell books would include. Boo! Shame on her.

[Born to be riled]

02:28 AM on 02/12/2012

Shame. The weapon of choice for the female viper.

[scorpiomiss]

12:47 AM on 02/09/2012

she never even mentioned jackie - all she talked about was herself - have no respect for her at all - she is out for money - does she feel guilty at all about having an affair? very shallow person out for the almighty dollar -

[ITSALLBSHERE]

02:21 AM on 02/09/2012

on the show last night she did mention Jackie but .why should she have guilt about Mrs. Kennedy? It was the President who should have had the guilt but he had a sense of entitlement to take whatever he wanted.

[Greta42]

11:18 AM on 02/09/2012

Really? If you are having an affair with a man/woman who is married and it is a secret, you are just as guilty as the person who is the adulterer. To put it another way, you are the accomplice. It seems Mimi's values were conveniently absent at that time and I do think she is seeing a way to cash in on her "revelation" now.

[tamazul]

12:31 AM on 02/09/2012

It's not exactly a "I Rode With Pancho Villa"-type saga.
Anyway, I wonder how her kids and grandkids feel about her "coming out' this late in the game?

[Born to be riled]

02:32 AM on 02/12/2012

If she'd been smarter, they could have been Kennedys.

[jonathanzimmel]

08:17 PM on 04/05/2012

no no JFK was married. she may have been qualified to be his side piece but not his wife.

[ITSALLBSHERE]

11:03 PM on 02/08/2012

she thinks he really cared about her; yet he pimped her to his aide.

[Born to be riled]

10:41 AM on 02/12/2012

Pimp Daddy in Cheif.

[Politico Pablo]

10:47 PM on 02/08/2012

She probably brought her own cigars.

[lybra]

09:56 PM on 02/08/2012

how would you like some son of a------- taking avantage of your daughter,not me

[tamazul]

12:36 AM on 02/09/2012

Maybe she waited this long, till after Mommy and Daddy "faded into the sunset," before telling her story

[lybra]

09:53 PM on 02/08/2012

his dad was a bootleging crook to

[Reginald Reaves]

09:52 PM on 02/08/2012

Lets just say it. President Kennedy was a slutacious ho!!! I am a social liberal but I call a spade a spade. So disrespectful to Jackie. I'm sure there are more who kept or are continuing to keep the secret.

[Greta42]

11:23 AM on 02/09/2012

Yes, very disrespectful to Jackie and their family. But I still wonder why this woman who said she felt no guilt about the affair with a married man, finds it necessary to write about it now. I can only speculate about her motives.

[Karen1]

03:16 PM on 02/09/2012

$$$$$$$

[lybra]

09:51 PM on 02/08/2012

This was someones daughter at the time put yourself in the parents shoes and tell me what you think about it.I would hate the man for it.maybe thats why he got his brains blowed out.carma is real

[Greta42]

11:24 AM on 02/09/2012

FLAGGED -- This one is very sick.

[Born to be riled]

02:38 AM on 02/12/2012

I feel so much safer now. Where would we be without you?

[jonathanzimmel]

08:18 PM on 04/05/2012

could you imagine after all the conspiracies about the cubans the russians the CIA the mob it was just some dad mad that JFK lead his daughter on and took her v card?

[Bebe36]

08:14 PM on 02/08/2012

Who forced her to reveal all this?

She didn't feel used???

Alrighty, then. Carry on with your denial, sweetie.

[Greta42]

11:25 AM on 02/09/2012

Nor did she feel any guilt about having an affair with a married man.

[jonathanzimmel]

08:19 PM on 04/05/2012

right the whole world knew jfk was married and who his wife was.