Intern Who Had Affair With JFK to Pen Memoir

Ballantine Books won't disclose fee for May 2010 release

(NEWSER) - Jenny Sanford will write an “inspirational memoir” to be released by Random House next spring, CNN reports. The publisher is mum on how much the estranged wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will get for her trouble. The fairer half of the couple has been fairly tight-lipped since the news of her husband’s affair broke in June. The deal marks a revival of the Sanfords' literary fortunes: the governor had an agreement with Sentinel Publishing that was axed in July. More»

Absolute separation is 'not America,' it's France, he argues

(NEWSER) - Rick Santorum just cannot let this John F. Kennedy speech go: He again slammed JFK's remarks on the separation of church and state last night, although this time he didn't go so far as to say that they made him want to vomit . "Obviously, the language that I used was at a minimum inarticulate," he said at the Alabama Policy Institute banquet on the Gulf Coast. So he went on to articulate his thoughts: "An America where the separation of church and state is absolute" is "not America," Santorum insisted. "That’s France. That’s a naked public square where people of faith are out of bounds." More»

Mimi Alford's 'Once Upon a Secret' recalls Kennedy fling

(NEWSER) - A former White House intern's shocking tell-all about her affair with President Kennedy has arrived in bookstores. Mimi Alford's Once Upon a Secret recounts her first sexual encounter with JFK at a White House after-party in 1962: The president guided her into Jackie O's bedroom, "unbuttoned the top of my shirtdress and touched my breasts," she writes. After they had sex, he matter-of-factly pointed her to the bathroom. The 19-year-old kept thinking that night: "I’m not a virgin anymore.” More»

National Archives release recording of conversations day JFK was killed

(NEWSER) - A heart-wrenching call from Lyndon Johnson placed to Rose Kennedy from Air Force One has finally been released more than 48 years after her son was assassinated. "I wish to God there was something I could do," says Johnson the day John F. Kennedy was killed. "I wanted to tell you that we are grieving with you." Rose responds: "Thank you very much. I know you loved Jack. And he loved you." Johnson's wife adds: "We just want to ... we feel like we've lost ..." "Thank you," says Kennedy. More»

More gossip from 1964 interviews revealed

(NEWSER) - More details—and more barbs —are trickling out from the new book of 47-year-old interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, which hits shelves Wednesday. From the New York Times :

• On French president Charles DeGaulle: "That egomaniac."
• On future Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi: "A real prune—bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman."
• JFK’s thoughts on Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Charlatan is an unfair word," but "he did an awful lot for effect."
• On former Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson: "Violently liberal women in politics" liked him more than JFK because they "were scared of sex," Jackie theorized.