Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath

By Mimi Alford

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “With the benefit of hindsight and good old-fashioned maturity, [Mimi Alford] writes not just about the secret, but the corrosive effect of keeping that secret. . . . You can’t help liking her, or her elegant and thoroughly good-natured book.”—The Spectator
 
In the summer of 1962, nineteen-year-old Mimi Beardsley arrived in Washington, D.C., to begin an internship in the White House press office. After just three days on the job, the privileged but sheltered young woman was presented to the President himself. Almost immediately, the two began an affair that would continue for the next eighteen months. Emotionally unprepared to counter the President’s charisma and power, Mimi was also ill-equipped to handle the feelings of isolation that would follow as she fell into the double life of a college student who was also the secret lover of the most powerful man in the world. After the President’s assassination in Dallas, she grieved alone, locked her secret away, and tried to start a new life, only to be blindsided by her past.
 
Now, no longer defined by silence or shame, Mimi Alford finally unburdens herself with this unflinchingly honest account of her life and her extremely private moments with a very public man. This paperback edition includes a special Q&A, in which the author reflects on the intense media attention surrounding the book’s initial release. Once Upon a Secret is a moving story of a woman emerging from the shadows to reclaim the truth.

“What [Alford] sacrificed in lucre she has more than recovered in credibility and dignity.”—The Washington Times
 
“Compelling . . . a polished voice telling a credible story you can take to the bank.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
“Explosive . . . searingly candid.”—New York Post

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780679603443

Reviews for Once Upon a Secret

[wellreadcatlady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

More like 3.5. I don't normally read books like this but this one interested me. The stories shared are very selective and Mimi doesn't go into great detail about her relationship with JFK only specific exchanges with a common theme are detailed. She did a good job explaining what kind of person she was before the affair and how she ended up getting into it and the after effects of it through out her life. She repeats herself quite a bit through out the book which can be annoying and towards the end of her relationship with JFK I question how much of it is true. The gifts, things he said about her to her, and most of all whether or not her descriptions of some of the most iconic & memorable moments of JFK's presidency took place like she described them (Missile Crisis & trip to Dallas). This is definitely worth reading if you are interested in JFK and that time period in America or even just in general because it is an interesting story.

[gaillamontagne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Quite the book! If you are interested in the Kennedy's lives, this is a must read.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Narrated by Susan Denaker. I admit to a bit of pink-faced chagrin over my prurient curiosity in this memoir. But while there are some titillatingly shocking moments (she lost her virginity with the President!? Wha-at!), this is in the end a sad story about how power corrupts, and not just the person in power. It has an effect far beyond its epicenter. That Mimi kept this a secret, buried her emotions for so long, and constantly managed her life around her secret, is pretty remarkable. Denaker is immediate and compelling in her reading, perfectly voicing an older woman who has no regrets but looks back with sorrow at what was and what could have been.

[grlintrrptdrdng · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

More like 3.5. I don't normally read books like this but this one interested me. The stories shared are very selective and Mimi doesn't go into great detail about her relationship with JFK only specific exchanges with a common theme are detailed. She did a good job explaining what kind of person she was before the affair and how she ended up getting into it and the after effects of it through out her life. She repeats herself quite a bit through out the book which can be annoying and towards the end of her relationship with JFK I question how much of it is true. The gifts, things he said about her to her, and most of all whether or not her descriptions of some of the most iconic & memorable moments of JFK's presidency took place like she described them (Missile Crisis & trip to Dallas). This is definitely worth reading if you are interested in JFK and that time period in America or even just in general because it is an interesting story.

[carolfoisset · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this story riveting. I couldn't stop thinking about how this experience would be for a 19 year old. I want one of my friends to read it so I can talk to them about it. It would be an interesting read for a book club, at least it made me want to talk about it! The audio was easy to listen to - parts of it were a tad melodramatic.

[juva_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the memoir written by one of the many women who spent time in JFK's bed. What's most disturbing about this account is the age of the victim (19) and the heartbreaking way she lays out the effects of this damaging relationship on her life and first marriage. The trauma that results from this type of abusive relationship has always been hard to quantify. Many people before the author have struggled with the issue of consent. Like many, the author feels that because she didn't kick and scream when a man old enough to be her father and the most powerful person in the country abruptly shoved her onto a bed and had his way with her, then she must have wanted it. Or consented? I guess? Likewise, when he ordered her to perform oral sex for his friends and family, she still considers this... an affair? It's disturbing to hear her talk, even with the wisdom of decades, with deep fondness for her abuser. A man with unbounded privilege, who took her virginity and taught her how to degrade herself in future relationships. She doesn't even blink an eye when her fiancee forces her to have sex with him. After all, he's angry about her "affair" with the president, and he's just "laying claim" to her. Of course her first sexual relationship informs her about how all future relationships should be. Withholding intimacy and ordering her around are just a man's prerogative, right? I of course was glad when she got a divorce and learned to value herself, but it just took so long. It's a shame she had to go through this. It's a shame that so many people worked so hard to make sure JFK got every last think he wanted at the expense of many around him. Revolting.

[portm-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A mildly interesting story from the young woman's point of view. At least from the viewpoint of her older, wiser self. Although she draws life lessons from the experience and feels she has become more self-actualized than she would have without the experience, I still found it a depressingly common story of abuse of power by the men who run our country. Even worse, men whom so many idolize and admire.

[brianinbuffalo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Any reader who is expecting "Shades of Gray With JFK" in Mimi Alford's "tell-all" memoir will likely be disappointed. That is, unless one considers vignettes that have a revered president frolicking in a White House bathtub with an intern and rubber duckies to be exceptionally racy. With few exceptions, Alford stops short of serving up loads of bedroom-based details about her affair with John F. Kennedy. What's most fascinating about this short tome is how the author puts her White House escapades on a historic time line, allowing readers to discover what the president was doing "after hours" during such milestones as the Cuban Missile Crisis and Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. As a contemporary history buff, I really enjoyed most of the book. True, the author seems to go easy on JFK, never really condemning his absolutely despicable behavior. And the last couple sections of the book regarding Alford's later relationships seem to go on for too long. But overall, I think it's a book worthy of reading.

[etxgardener · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The best things I have to say about this book is that a) I got it from the library & didn't waste my money on it and b) it was a short, quick read. Author Mimi Alford had an affair with John F. Kennedy while she was a teenage intern at the White House and she "Kept her secret" (well except for the seven or eight fiends that she told) until she was outed by the New York Post in 2003. Then, presumably, although she "didn't want to capitalize" on her experience, nonetheless here we are with her book bout her relationship.I'm not sure what is worse, her refusal to see how sordid & wrong the two-year relationship was, or how she still makes excuses for Kennedy's unpardonable behavior. And it is a sordid tale from the President's near rape of a 19-year-old virgin intern, to his aide Dave Powers acting as his procurer, to the President ordering the author to perform oral sex on both Powers and his younger brother, Ted, While he watched. I guess Ms. Alford needed the money for her retirement years because otherwise why write such a sad, and pathetic book.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found it gripping - even though we've heard about all his women, I resisted believing it till I read the telling specific details of Alford's affair with him in her memoir. At its heart, though, the book felt hollow. She spent over a year in an intimate relationship with him, but what was he like? What did they talk about? How did she feel about it at the time? Maybe the absence of psychological detail is due to how long ago it happened. Maybe I just wanted more because he was such an iconic figure of my youth - and so I'm willing to give it 4 stars, despite this lack.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not big into the Kennedy dynasty (although a liberal, I wasn't born until 1980, and my history books in high school always ended before JFK was assassinated, so I never really studied much about this period), but this book was recommended to me. And it is an interesting book. Mimi Alford, an intern in the White House press corps when she was nineteen years old, unabashedly details her "affair" (she is hesitant to call what passed between her and JFK by that term). While the nature of the book is a bit voyeuristic by default, Ms. Alford doesn't give the gory details. She also relates how the "affair" impacted the rest of her life, from her first marriage (which was, shall we say, "rocky") and how she lived. Revealing the secret appears to have liberated her, although it wasn't her choice to do so - the press did that for her.The book isn't the best written, but it is a memoir, and it has a ring of truth to it. JFK was a known philanderer, and the contents of the book shouldn't be that surprising to anyone (except the thing by the pool...). Altogether, an interesting memoir showing that presidents far before Bill Clinton had dalliances with their interns.

[dpappas_25 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was interested in reading this book for obvious reasons. This is a relatively short book, so it didn't take long to finish at all. Something about this book seemed odd to me, I can't quite place exactly what it was though. Some of this book was truly fascinating. Although I do have to say I think the topics in this could have just been revealed in an interview and it probably would have been better. With all of the self-refelection in this book I feel like a television interview would have been a much better format.