Judith Exner

Judith Exner (January 11, 1934 - September 25, 1999) was an American woman who was a mistress of both U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Mafia leader Sam Giancana. She is also known with a name Judith Campbell.

Related Topics:
January 11 - 1934 - September 25 - 1999 - American - John F. Kennedy - Mafia - Sam Giancana

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Judith was born Judith Katherine Inmoor on January 11 1934 to a family of a German architect in New York. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was a child. She married actor William Campbell in 1952, but divorced him 1958 when she became involved with Frank Sinatra.

Related Topics:
January 11 - 1934 - William Campbell - Frank Sinatra

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On February 7 1960 Sinatra introduced Judith to John F. Kennedy in Palm Springs when Kennedy was still a senator and a presidential candidate. She became one of his mistresses. Presumably Jacqueline Kennedy was aware of the affair.

Related Topics:
February 7 - 1960 - Palm Springs - Presidential candidate - Jacqueline Kennedy

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Later, Sinatra introduced Judith to "Sam Flood", who was actually Sam Giancana. She later claimed that she did not know about his involvement with the Mafia before Kennedy asked her to contact Giancana in his behalf. She continued the affair after Kennedy was elected president.

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The FBI had her followed and recorded her calls from Giancana's home to Kennedy. The affair between Judith and Kennedy ended 1962 when the FBI informed Kennedy of their knowledge of the relationship. She later said that she began the affair with Giancana but when he proposed to her, she turned him down. In a Vanity Fair interview of 1996, Judith said she had ended the affair because she got tired of being the other woman and that she had had Kennedy's child aborted. She also claimed that she carried payoffs from California defense contractors to Kennedy, including Robert Kennedy in her story.

Related Topics:
FBI - Vanity Fair

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She married golfer Dan Exner in April 1975.

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Judith did not talk about her affairs with Kennedy even after his assassination. Her involvement was revealed in 1975 during the investigations of the Church Committee. The Committee sent her a subpoena to make her testify. She later stated that she did not tell everything she knew or suspected, possibly because she was afraid of Mafia retaliation. She denied that she had served as a go-between between Kennedy and Giancana. The Committee did not name her publicly, but someone, presumably a Republican, leaked her identity to the press. At first reluctant, she eventually talked to Scripps Howard. Publicity was enough to ruin her reputation and earned her enmity of supporters of Kennedy.

Related Topics:
Church Committee - Subpoena - Republican - Scripps Howard

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She wrote a book Judith Exner: My Story which was published 1977. In it she insisted that her relationship with Kennedy was entirely personal and she was not in any way an intermediary between Giancana and Kennedy. But 11 years later, an interview with People magazine, she told a completely different story. She stated that during the 1960 presidential election she took messages from Giancana to Kennedy. Judith Campbell later claimed these messages concerned the plans to murder Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Later, in 1997, she added more shocking allegations to her story, including the abortion. Although many believe aspects of her stories, some believe that her post-1977 stories are improbable.

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She lived in Newport Beach, California and painted. She separated from Dan Exner on 1988.

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Judith Campbell Exner died of lung cancer in Duarte, California on September 25 1999. A son survives her.

Related Topics:
Lung cancer - Duarte, California - September 25 - 1999

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Her story was told in the film Power and Beauty (2002) in which she was played by Natasha Henstridge.

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