New book from Kennedy mistress

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Paramour of Kennedy Is Writing a Book

By MOTOKO RICH
NY Times
Published: May 22, 2009

Mimi Beardsley Alford, a retired New York church administrator who had
an affair with John F. Kennedy while she was an intern in the White
House, is breaking a silence of more than 40 years to tell her story in
a memoir to be published by Random House.

Ms. Alford�s secret was initially divulged six years ago when a
biography of Kennedy was published with portions from a 1964 oral
history that described the president�s 18-month sexual affair with a
young intern named Mimi Beardsley. The Daily News tracked her down and
discovered that she was Marion Fahnestock, who was divorced, working for
the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and living in Manhattan. At the
time, she gave a short statement confirming that she was "involved in a
sexual relationship" with Kennedy from June 1962 to November 1963.

Ms. Alford, 66, who in the years since the disclosure had married
Richard Alford, a former sports marketing executive, has not spoken
about her affair since the statement. Before that, she had not even told
her parents or her children. Now she is working on a memoir, to be
titled "Once Upon a Secret," about the consequences of hiding such an
explosive past for so long.

Susan Mercandetti, executive editor at Random House, acquired the book
after seeing about 20 pages and meeting with Ms. Alford. "I�ve seen
enough to know what an extraordinary heart and soul exists in this
book," Ms. Mercandetti said.

Ms. Mercandetti, who was herself a White House intern under Gerald R.
Ford, said the book would be a "woman�s coming-of-age story."

She added: "It�s about a loss of innocence. I was just completely struck
by how simple, yet how profound, it was." She declined to say how much
Random House had paid for the book, but a person familiar with the
negotiations said it was close to seven figures.

Mark Reiter, Ms. Alford�s agent, said that Ms. Alford, who was just 19
when the affair with Kennedy started, was stunned by the tabloid
takeover of her life in 2003. "As she thought about it, she said, �This
is a story that I�d like to take control of, rather than have somebody
else tell my side of it,� " Mr. Reiter said. Ms. Alford declined to
comment.

Mr. Reiter said Ms. Alford attended Miss Porter�s School, the same prep
school attended by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. According to "An
Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963," by Robert Dallek, Mimi
Beardsley was a "tall, slender, beautiful" college sophomore who worked
in the White House press office in the summer when she began her affair
with the president.

After Kennedy�s assassination, Ms. Alford married Anthony Fahnestock, an
investment manager. Their marriage ended in divorce, and Mr. Fahnestock
died in 1993.

According to Mr. Reiter, Ms. Alford is not writing a tell-all memoir.
"She�s just not that type of person, where she�s going to spill her guts
about intimate stuff for the whole country to see," Mr. Reiter said.
"The story has three acts to it: before the White House, during the
White House, and then the really powerful part is what happens
afterwards. What�s the impact on your family life, your marriage,
knowing that this happened to you in your early life and you have chosen
to keep it a secret."

Mr. Reiter said Ms. Alford would be working with a co-author and hoped
to finish a manuscript this fall. Ms. Mercandetti said Random House had
not yet set a publication date.