Judith Exner

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Judith Exner , also Judith Campbell and Judith Campbell Exner (born January 11, 1934 as Judith Eileen Katherine Immoor in New York City , † September 24, 1999 in Duarte (California) ) was an American society woman who was the lover of US President John F. Kennedy and a close friend of Mafia boss Sam Giancana .

childhood

Judith Eileen Katherine Immoor was born in New York City as the daughter of the German immigrant architect Frederick Immoor and his wife Katherine Shea Immoor. After the wealthy family moved to the Los Angeles area, Exner grew up in Pacific Palisades . After her mother nearly died in a car accident when Judith was 14, Judith was taken out of school and homeschooled. Judith had an older sister Jacqueline (1931–1985, she later became an actress under the name Susan Morrow ), and a sister Joan Collingwood. She also had two brothers, Allen and Fred Immoor.

Marriages and families

At the age of 18 in 1952, Judith Immoor married the actor William Campbell and took his name on. He was an alcoholic and they divorced in 1958. In 1975 she married Dan Exner, a golfer; they separated again in 1988. From a later relationship Judith Exner had a son, David Bohrer.

John F. Kennedy

In 1959 she met Frank Sinatra and had a brief affair with him. On February 7, 1960, Exner (then called Campbell) was introduced by Sinatra in Las Vegas to John F. Kennedy, who was then a Senator and presidential candidate. She became his lover for about two years. In March 1960, Sinatra introduced Judith Exner to Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana (who was introduced to her as Sam Flood ).

Before the Church Committee investigating the 1975 CIA attempted murder, in a 1975 press conference and in her 1977 memoir ( My Story ), Exner claimed that her relationship with Kennedy was purely private and that she did not mediate between him and Giancana.

In a 1988 interview with People magazine , Exner stated that she only met Giancana and John Roselli on behalf of Kennedy and that she served as a mediator between Kennedy and the Mafia for 18 months in 1960 and 1961. She used to lie out of fear of being murdered. In 1997, when she was terminally ill with cancer, she corrected herself again and reported that she had often transported envelopes with money for Kennedy and that she had known that the documents were about the murder of Fidel Castro . She was also pregnant from her last meeting with Kennedy and Giancana helped her with the abortion.

Exner's statements up to her memoir were often denied by Kennedy employees, but they are well supported by many official documents, such as telephone recordings by the FBI. However, there is no evidence and no witnesses for their later corrections and detailing.

Late years and death

Judith Exner later lived as a painter in Newport Beach and died of breast cancer on September 25, 1999 in Duarte, California.

In culture

Exner's memoir was based on Susan Seidelman's 2002 television film Power and Beauty . She was played there by Natasha Henstridge .

further reading

  • Michael O'Brien: The Exner File - Truth and fantasy from a president's mistress. In: The Washington Monthly , December 1999, Volume 31, No. 12.
  • Judith Campbell Exner, Ovid Demetrias: My Story . Grove Press, 1977, ISBN 978-0-8021-0139-6 .
  • Seymour Hersh : Kennedy: the end of a legend . 3rd edition, Hamburg 1999 ( The Dark Side of Camelot , 1998). Excerpts from it in English (PDF; 212 kB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ O'Brien 1999, p. 36.
  2. ^ O'Brien 1999, p. 37.
  3. ↑ O'Brien 1999, p. 37 f.
  4. ↑ O'Brien 1999, p. 39 f.
  5. ↑ Eric Pace Judith Exner Is Dead at 65; Claimed Affair With Kennedy. In: The New York Times September 27, 1999.
personal data
SURNAME Exner, Judith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Immoor, Judith Eileen Katherine (maiden name); Campbell, Judith (married name); Campbell Exner, Judith
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American woman woman
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1999
Place of death Duarte (California)