John F. Kennedy’s Love Letter To His Mistress Will Be Auctioned Off
Although he died several decades ago, former president John F. Kennedy is back in the news this week thanks to a secret love letter he wrote to his mistress that was just unearthed. According to ABC News, the four-page letter was written weeks before his assassination in 1963 and is believed to be intended for Mary Meyer. However, the note was never delivered, according to Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of the auction house.
The letter written by President Kennedy to an alleged lover will be auctioned this month. According to RR Auction, who found the letter, President Kennedy was indeed in Boston on October 19, for a Democratic Party fundraiser. The letter was also one of the last notes that Kennedy wrote before he was killed a month later, CNN reports.
Mary Meyer was the wife of a CIA agent, and she was killed in October 1964, a year after the letter was written. Her murder has not been solved.
These secret love letters from John F. Kennedy are a must-read ? https://t.co/H4MGbzfcXQ pic.twitter.com/JMJd3FYnwQ
— People (@people) November 24, 2015
As the letter shows, Kennedy expressed a seriousness and desire for its intended recipient.
“Why don’t you leave suburbia for once-come and see me-either here-or at the Cape next week or in Boston the 19th,” reads the document. “I know it is unwise, irrational, and that you may hate it-on the other hand you may not-and I will love it. You say that it is good for me not to get what I want,”continued Kennedy. “After all of these years-you should give me a more loving answer than that. Why don’t you just say yes.”
As mentioned above, Kennedy was assassinated the following month, which means this letter was one of the last he ever wrote.
The letter, which was written in a letter role of the White House, will be auctioned by RR Auction, a company based in Boston. Elle wrote that the letter has the tops of White House stationery clipped off by his secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, but you can see the presidential watermarks when you put the papers under a bright light. The process will begin on June 16th and ends on the 23rd of the month, reported the Associated Press news agency.
Executive vice president of the auction house, Robert Livingston, hopes to raise at least $30,000 for the rare piece of history.
“He even had second thoughts about writing it,” Livingston told ABC News. “He never sent it, and the letter was retained by his longtime personal secretary, Evelyn Lincoln. And it’s on White House stationery, but as you can see, they’ve cut the White House off the top of the letters.”
Along with the four-page letter, other objects of the president, like a wooden chair will be part of the auction.
Mary Pinchot Meyer was an American painter who was the wife of a CIA agent and was reportedly romantically linked to the late president. She was shot dead in October 1964 in Washington. The authorities never classified the crime as homicide. Some theories suggest that the intelligence agency could be involved in the murder. The timing of her killing and the effort by CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton to retrieve Meyer’s diary immediately after her murder have prompted investigation of possible CIA involvement in her death, Wikipedia writes.
When Mary Meyer died, no one knew about her affair with John Kennedy. Her murder is often considered one of Washington’s “enduring mysteries,” and many have tried to solve it. Many believe that Mary was most probably murdered by Ray Crump, the man police arrested within hours of the crime in the vicinity of the murder. However, Crump eventually was acquitted for lack of evidence.
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