Former intern admits Kennedy affair

Ms Fahnestock was said to have been taken on presidential trips

A New York woman has said she had an affair with US President John F Kennedy in the months before his assassination nearly 40 years ago.

Marion "Mimi" Fahnestock said was just 19 years old when she became involved with the young president while working as a White House intern.

She issued a statement confirming the affair after it was revealed in a new biography of the former president, entitled Kennedy, An Unfinished Life, by historian Robert Dallek.

Kennedy is said to have had numerous affairs, but this is the first news of a liaison with an intern. It has attracted particular attention for similarities to the relationship of former President Bill Clinton and intern Monica Lewinsky.

Ms Fahnestock declined to answer questions, but she released a statement through New York's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church where she now works as an administrator.

"From June 1962 to November 1963, I was involved in a sexual relationship with President Kennedy," she said.

"For the last 41 years, it is a subject that I have not discussed.

"In view of the recent media coverage, I have now discussed the relationship with my children and my family, and they are completely supportive," she added.

'Special relationship'

Mr Dallek became aware of the affair after interviews with Barbara Gamarekian, a press aide to President Kennedy, were unsealed by the John F Kennedy Library in Boston.

Kennedy has long been associated with marital infidelity

In the interviews, Ms Gamarekian recalled that a young woman she named only as Mimi "had sort of a special relationship with the president".

According to Ms Gamarekian, Kennedy brought the young intern, then known as Mimi Beardsley, along on presidential trips, even though she was not particularly skilled.

"She couldn't type - she could answer the phone and she could handle messages and things but she was not really a great asset to us," she said.

Mr Dallek said that her role had apparently been "to provide sexual release for JFK on these trips, and maybe at the White House", Reuters news agency reported.

Kennedy's legacy has been marred by dozens of allegations of extra-marital affairs, including an alleged tryst with Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe.