27. She Slept With The Enemy
Incredibly, Judith’s memoirs confessed that, around the same time as her affair with JFK, she had been the mistress of not one but two Mafia leaders. They were Sam Giancana and John Roselli, two men who were very high in the mob hierarchy. The story became a public obsession.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
28. She Was A Go-Between
Perhaps the biggest bombshell of Judith’s memoirs, and the element that grabbed the most public attention, was her claim that she acted as a channel of information between the Mafia and the President. Many had already suspected JFK of having mob ties, and this controversial claim by Judith sent shockwaves through the media. It was perhaps for this reason that Judith made some personal life choices.
29. Her Personal Life Got Roiled
Life for Judith got steadily worse with the increasing public attention. On top of that, the FBI continuously hounded her for more information. It was perhaps for this reason that when she gave birth to an illegitimate child, she gave it up for adoption. They would reconnect later in life, however, and in the meantime, Judith found love.
30. She Remarried
In 1975, Judith met golfer Dan Exner. The two quickly fell in love, and it wasn’t long before they were married. Judith Campbell was now Judith Exner, and she would keep the name for the rest of her life. It was this very name under which the government subpoenaed her to speak before an important committee.
31. She Got Called Up
The same year she remarried, Judith received a summons from the Church Committee, which was investigating actions by the CIA in the 1960s. The media circus began all over again, and her testimony received widespread coverage. Ms Exner had more bombshells still to drop.
32. She Witnessed History
The specific Church Committee investigation for which Judith Exner was called to testify involved CIA-led attempts on the life of the Cuban leader and revolutionary Fidel Castro. Besides questioning Exner, the Committee also grilled her former mafioso lover, John Roselli, who claimed a “close friend” of President Kennedy had also been close to the mob.
That close friend was Judith, of course, and though she did not get named in the Committee’s report, the Washington Post learned the truth and leaked her name. This was bad news for Judith, and she scrambled to do damage control.
Bernard Gotfryd, Wikimedia Commons
33. She Controlled The Narrative
With her name leaked to the media and a subpoena with her name on it, Judith grew weary of the increased attention. After all, it wasn’t exactly desirable to have the mob believe you were testifying against them. She hastily called a press conference where she denied any knowledge of Mafia involvement with the President. If she was lying, she had good reason.
Screenshot from The Phil Donahue Show, Avco Broadcasting / Multimedia Entertainment (1967-1996)
34. She Told White Lies
Judith’s claims at this press conference would contradict later claims she made, but it didn’t necessarily mean her story was dishonest or fabricated. Because of the mob involvement, she likely lied to protect her and her family’s safety and security. Indeed, she took further precautionary steps.
Screenshot from Power and Beauty, Lions Gate Television / Showtime Networks (2002)
35. She Kept Receipts
Journalists who later investigated some of Judith’s claims found themselves impressed with the meticulous records she kept. The socialite claimed she feared for her life after her breakups with Kennedy and Sam Giancana and began archiving everything. She kept these records hidden under her bed, with a large dog to guard them and a pistol under her pillow. But her story would eventually spin out of control.
Cecil W. Stoughton, Wikimedia Commons
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36. She Set A Meeting
In 1988, Judith Exner gave an astonishing interview to People magazine where she spilled the beans on the entire story. After revealing that she had indeed lied to the Church Committee for fear of Mafia retaliation, she claimed she set up a meeting between Kennedy and Giancana during the 1960 presidential election, a scandalous revelation. She clearly no longer feared the mob because the revelations kept coming.
37. She Was A Gopher
According to Judith’s story recounted to People, following that first meeting, the young socialite served as the go-between for the President and the Mafia for 18 months thereafter. She would carry envelopes between the two parties, often across the country, and claimed she set up around ten meetings between Kennedy and the mob. As time went on, she would only add to her story.
38. She Conspired Against A Leader
Later still, Judith Exner would reveal more about the nature of the Presidential mob meetings. In her most shocking revelation yet, she claimed that the meetings she set up between the parties concerned a clandestine plot to take out the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. To hear Judith tell it, the mob seemed to act like President Kennedy’s personal fixers.
39. She Helped A King-Maker
Included in many of the envelopes from President Kennedy that Judith delivered to the mob, according to her, was cold, hard cash. If she was to be believed, JFK was paying the Mafia for certain favors. But what were these favors?
Incredibly, Judith claimed the campaign hired the mob leaders to help Kennedy get elected. One boss even bragged that Kennedy would not have been president if not for his connections, according to Judith’s account. The President was apparently playing with fire, and it may have led to his downfall.
40. She Set Events In Motion
As we all know, President John F Kennedy got assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. One conspiracy theory for why this happened claims the mob was responsible: Kennedy’s relationship allegedly soured with them, and they reversed their election deal. If this is true, it means that Judith played the small role of the butterfly flapping its wings that set in motion world-changing events. There were more Kennedy revelations to come, however.
Victor Hugo King, Wikimedia Commons
41. She Kept Talking
In 1997, Judith gave yet another interview, this time to Vanity Fair, where she made further revelations still about her affair with President Kennedy. One of the more shocking claims was that, following her final encounter with JFK in 1962, she terminated a pregnancy shortly afterwards. The heavy implication was, of course, that Kennedy was the father. And with this new round of confessions, more Kennedy family members caught strays.
42. She Claimed Corruption
Judith’s fresh claims expanded on her previous role as courier of payments from the President to the mob. This time, she implicated other parties who availed of her services, claiming that she carried payoffs from California defense contractors to both the President and his brother, Attorney General Robert F Kennedy. These were shocking revelations of Kennedy corruption, and the rebukes came swiftly.
LBJ Library photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto, Wikimedia Commons
43. Her Claims Got Refuted
Judith’s later accounts came under heavy attack and criticism, and unlike her previous claims, these had little documented evidence. They ran counter to what most widely knew about Kennedy and his staff, however shady some of the truth may have been. No, these new claims depended on Judith’s word alone—and there was reason to believe she had become an unreliable witness.
Screenshot from Power and Beauty, Lions Gate Television / Showtime Networks (2002)
44. She Had Some Issues
FBI reports, Secret Service and White House phone logs, and staff documentation supported Judith’s earlier claims about her interactions with Kennedy and the mob. The claims she made in Vanity Fair had no such paper trail. What’s more, by then Judith Exner had gone a little off the deep end, personally speaking: since the 60s, she had struggled with a history of depression, instability, and paranoia. Her health had deteriorated too.
45. She Was In Trouble
By the time of her 1997 interview, Judith’s physical health had taken a turn for the worse, and she was in the midst of treatment for breast cancer. Critics cited this as yet another reason why her account was untrustworthy.
It is, of course, possible that all this was used to discredit her by forces far more powerful than she; it is tough to deny, however, that Judith’s later claims are not as provable as her earlier stories. Either way, the troubled socialite’s personal life was unravelling.
46. Her Marriage Broke Down
Judith’s already worsening personal struggles took another significant hit in 1988 when she and her husband, golfer Dan Exner, separated. We know little about the details of their marriage or its dissolution, but they would never reconcile, nor would Judith have any other public relationships. Still, there were some areas where she found peace.
47. She Found Her Passion
Having spent most of her life as a model and socialite, Judith’s professional identity was, on the surface at least, somewhat shallow and vapid. Later in life, however, she found a fulfilling creative outlet. In her later years, she purchased a home in Newport Beach and became a painter. This was how she would live out her days.
48. She Lost A Battle
After her diagnosis with breast cancer, Judith’s condition deteriorated quite rapidly. On September 24, 1999, the troubled socialite and passionate painter succumbed to her illness at the age of just 65. To her credit, she seemed to come to terms with her life by the end.
49. She Found Peace
In her final interview in the waning days of her life, Judith Exner struck a defiant tone, voraciously defending the choices she had made. Her words are worth quoting at length: “I don’t think I should have to die with the secret of what I did for Jack Kennedy, or what he did with the power of his Presidency. I feel that I am finally free of the past.” Indeed, she only had one regret.
Screenshot from The Phil Donahue Show, Avco Broadcasting / Multimedia Entertainment (1967-1996)
50. She Was Honest
Judith’s musings on her life in her final interview concluded with a devastating admission. Expressing how difficult her life had been after the decades of media, mob, and political hounding, she summed up her actions honestly: “I feel my life has been so invaded, that I would have to tell something so personal. The worst thing I did was fall in love with a married man.” To her great misfortune, Judith was simply one more historical victim of the hubris of powerful men.
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