The Eye of the INA: Kennedy, state secrets, sixty years later

Who killed Kennedy on November 22, 1963? Was Lee Harvey Oswald the only shooter? And if there had been another hand on the end of a gun somewhere, did Oswald know about it? Sixty years after the assassination of the President of the United States, these questions remain unanswered. Two decades ago, as the images offered by Madelen show, they were already being posed. We will probably never know more. On the other hand, dozens of investigations and testimonies today allow us to lift a corner of the veil on another enigma of history: the private life of JFK.

At the time of his candidacy, and during the three years he spent in the White House, it remained a state secret, carefully preserved by his advisers. Unable to resist a passing skirt, he multiplied love stories which, for the most part, did not last more than a few evenings, or even a few hours. They took place in private apartments, access to which was prohibited by bodyguards, who were naturally in the know. Most of these conquests were unknown to the general public. There are, however, stars on his list. Marilyn Monroe wasn't the only actress to fall under his spell.

Also read: Henri Dauman, the photographer of the sixties, from Marilyn Monroe to JFK

When he was still a senator, he would have seduced Jayne Mansfield, Gene Tierney and a few others. A few months before his death, it appears that he also had an affair with a young woman linked to the mafia. Warned by the FBI, he immediately cut ties.

This attitude would be unimaginable today. She would trigger such scandals on social networks that her resignation would be immediate. At the time, only one of his mistresses confided her distress in a letter she sent to the directors of the country's largest dailies. Everyone, without exception, immediately locked it in a drawer to which they lost the key. Contrary to what the President has never stopped believing, Jackie has always been perfectly aware of his turpitudes. She chose to remain silent, and not just because it was her duty as First Lady. She knew the real reasons for this lack of fidelity.

At the time, they had not passed through the doors of the White House, but we now know that this seemingly limitless sexual appetite was linked to Addison's disease. This insufficiency of the adrenal glands, particularly rare and often fatal, can trigger, in patients, needs that are impossible to control. So when at the end of the 1950s he decided to run for the highest office, doctors and some of his close advisors strongly recommended that he give up. Convinced that he had a good chance of being elected, he did not listen to them and chose to play the lie card on this subject. He also tried to hide – but this time, in vain – multiple health problems. He suffered from back pain, stomach and urinary problems which, throughout his short life, forced him to take all kinds of amphetamine-based medications and antibiotics every day. He also experienced injections of all kinds, which a cyclist could not receive without risking immediate and definitive exclusion from the Tour de France.

The drama of November 22 finally obscured the reason why Kennedy had chosen to go to Dallas that day. At the start of the next presidential campaign, decided to seek a second term, he considered that Texas was one of the key states that he must not lose. However, he recognized the danger and declared at a meeting: "Anyone could grab a gun and shoot me from a window." A nightmare come true.