JFK's Final Days: October 28, 1963
President John F. Kennedy's appointment book is blank for most of Monday, October 28, 1963 (fifty years ago today). He returned to the White House from Wexford, one of his homes located at Atoka, Virginia, where he had spent part of the weekend. He arrived back at the White House on Monday at 1:00 p.m. Author Thurston Clarke in his recent book JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President, speculates that JFK spent the day trying to put out a fire, one involving a woman.
Ellen Rometsch was a 27 year old woman who was rumored to be an East German Communist spy. She was assigned on diplomatic cover to the West German embassy in Washington, D.C. during the early 1960s. She had fled East Germany with her parents in 1955 and married an air force sergeant who was stationed at the West German embassy. She is also believed to have been one of John F. Kennedy's girlfriends during the height of the Cold War.
In 1963, Rometsch worked as a hostess at the Quorum Club located in the Carroll Arms Hotel next to a Senate office building. It was a place for lawmakers and other influential men to meet for food, drink, and to find female companionship. On October 28, 1963, Attorney General Robert Kennedy convinced FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to meet privately with Senators' Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen. The meeting was held at Mansfield's home to avoid media notice. At the meeting, Hoover reportedly told the two Senate leaders that he had no evidence that Rometsch was a spy, but he preceded to tell them details about the senators who had been "entertained" by Quorum Club girls. Robert Kennedy hoped that disclosure of this information to the senators would prevent any adverse press of his brother's reported involvement with Rometsch, and would also discourage the Senate investigation of Bobby Baker, a man who held the post of Senate Secretary for the Majority until he resigned in October, 1963. Baker was being investigated by the senate for allegations of congressional bribery using money and arranged sexual favors, in exchange for votes and government contracts. Robert Kennedy was doing damage control for his brother, by letting the Senate leaders know that if they made JFK's involvement with Rometsch come out in the hearings, the unsavory activities of some of their own senators would also be exposed in the process.
As might be expected, there was no record of this meeting. Clarke writes, at pages 267-8:
According to Hoover's memorandum, the only firsthand account of the encounter, he read Mansfield and Dirksen the July FBI report on Rometsch. They asked him "a number of questions" that he answered "to their satisfaction." He stated that the Bureau had reopened the case "in view of the current publicity," but could "assure them there had been no breach of security." Although the Bureau had found "no connection" between Rometsch and anyone in the White House, he said that a number of congressmen had been clients of these "call girls," a statement that he must have known would make them reluctant to pursue the sexual aspects of the scandal. When Mansfield expressed shock that immorality was so common among congressmen, Hoover suggested that he and Dirksen persuade members of their respective parties "to cut out the hi-jinks."
Hoover told Bobby afterwards, "Senator Mansfield and Senator Dirksen were perfectly satisfied and willing to keep quiet." While Hoover was still in office, Bobby telephoned [JFK's political aid Kenny] O'Donnell and said "Everything is well in hand." At the end of the call, Hoover noted "Mr. O'Donnell extended an invitation from the President to me to have luncheon with the President on Thursday, October 31, 1963 at 1:00 p.m., which I accepted."
Bobby Baker would later claim that by accepting Hoover's assurances about Rometsch, Mansfield and Dirksen had saved Kennedy's presidency. "Had they not had that meeting, and had the people who had relations with Ellen Rometsch been called to testify," he told [reporter Dan] Oberdorfer, "you guys in the press would have had the greatest field day in your history." Kennedy had visited Mansfield's ailing father in Great Falls because he was a thoughtful and humane man. He had offered Dirksen's Democratic opponent tepid support because he liked Dirksen, and needed his help to move his legislative agenda through Congress. Had he been a different kind of man and politician, Dirksen and Mansfield might have been less inclined to accept Hoover's assurances, and allowed the Rules Committee to investigate Baker's sexual shenanigans.
Ellen Rometsch was a 27 year old woman who was rumored to be an East German Communist spy. She was assigned on diplomatic cover to the West German embassy in Washington, D.C. during the early 1960s. She had fled East Germany with her parents in 1955 and married an air force sergeant who was stationed at the West German embassy. She is also believed to have been one of John F. Kennedy's girlfriends during the height of the Cold War.
In 1963, Rometsch worked as a hostess at the Quorum Club located in the Carroll Arms Hotel next to a Senate office building. It was a place for lawmakers and other influential men to meet for food, drink, and to find female companionship. On October 28, 1963, Attorney General Robert Kennedy convinced FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to meet privately with Senators' Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen. The meeting was held at Mansfield's home to avoid media notice. At the meeting, Hoover reportedly told the two Senate leaders that he had no evidence that Rometsch was a spy, but he preceded to tell them details about the senators who had been "entertained" by Quorum Club girls. Robert Kennedy hoped that disclosure of this information to the senators would prevent any adverse press of his brother's reported involvement with Rometsch, and would also discourage the Senate investigation of Bobby Baker, a man who held the post of Senate Secretary for the Majority until he resigned in October, 1963. Baker was being investigated by the senate for allegations of congressional bribery using money and arranged sexual favors, in exchange for votes and government contracts. Robert Kennedy was doing damage control for his brother, by letting the Senate leaders know that if they made JFK's involvement with Rometsch come out in the hearings, the unsavory activities of some of their own senators would also be exposed in the process.
As might be expected, there was no record of this meeting. Clarke writes, at pages 267-8:
According to Hoover's memorandum, the only firsthand account of the encounter, he read Mansfield and Dirksen the July FBI report on Rometsch. They asked him "a number of questions" that he answered "to their satisfaction." He stated that the Bureau had reopened the case "in view of the current publicity," but could "assure them there had been no breach of security." Although the Bureau had found "no connection" between Rometsch and anyone in the White House, he said that a number of congressmen had been clients of these "call girls," a statement that he must have known would make them reluctant to pursue the sexual aspects of the scandal. When Mansfield expressed shock that immorality was so common among congressmen, Hoover suggested that he and Dirksen persuade members of their respective parties "to cut out the hi-jinks."
Hoover told Bobby afterwards, "Senator Mansfield and Senator Dirksen were perfectly satisfied and willing to keep quiet." While Hoover was still in office, Bobby telephoned [JFK's political aid Kenny] O'Donnell and said "Everything is well in hand." At the end of the call, Hoover noted "Mr. O'Donnell extended an invitation from the President to me to have luncheon with the President on Thursday, October 31, 1963 at 1:00 p.m., which I accepted."
Bobby Baker would later claim that by accepting Hoover's assurances about Rometsch, Mansfield and Dirksen had saved Kennedy's presidency. "Had they not had that meeting, and had the people who had relations with Ellen Rometsch been called to testify," he told [reporter Dan] Oberdorfer, "you guys in the press would have had the greatest field day in your history." Kennedy had visited Mansfield's ailing father in Great Falls because he was a thoughtful and humane man. He had offered Dirksen's Democratic opponent tepid support because he liked Dirksen, and needed his help to move his legislative agenda through Congress. Had he been a different kind of man and politician, Dirksen and Mansfield might have been less inclined to accept Hoover's assurances, and allowed the Rules Committee to investigate Baker's sexual shenanigans.