Pamela Harrison Turnure Timmins (born 1937) is the first Press Secretary hired to serve a First Lady of the United States. She was the

Press Secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dut ...

to Jacqueline Kennedy. Turnure reportedly had an extramarital affair with 35th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

Early life and education

Born in New York City, Turnure attended

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

Career

Turnure worked for then-

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

John F. Kennedy as a receptionist and secretary in his Senate office from 1958 until his election in 1960. Turnure then was hired as the first Press Secretary to a First Lady in United States history, working under Jacqueline Kennedy. In her role as press secretary, Turnure was frequently present at diplomatic receptions and to receive foreign dignitaries. Turnure also helped to coordinate Ms. Kennedy's nationally televised

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

tour and historical preservation efforts. Turnure was aboard Air Force One at Love Field Airport as

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

took the oath of office two hours and eight minutes after the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Shortly after the assassination took place, Vice President Johnson kissed Turnure on the hand. After the assassination events and funeral, Turnure left for New York and worked on President Kennedy's administrative papers, a project that was funded by

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

. Turnure also served for a period as the manager of Mrs. Kennedy Onassis' private office and was present at her funeral. After working for the Kennedy family, Turnure was an interior designer in the Manhattan area.

Alleged affair with Kennedy

In ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' published in 1997, author

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer. Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...

alleged that Kennedy had an extramarital affair with Turnure in 1958 when she was working in his Senate office. In 1958, Turnure's landlady Florence Kater allegedly took a photograph of the senator leaving Turnure's apartment building in the middle of the night, a photograph that Kater tried repeatedly to bring to public attention to ruin the senator's presidential campaign, according to Hersh. Kater and her husband allegedly rigged a tape recorder to pick up sounds of the couple's lovemaking and made an enlargement of their picture of Kennedy as he exited the building. The credibility of ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' was called into question immediately after its 1997 publication.

Personal life

Turnure was the daughter of Louise Gwynn and Lawrence Turnure, a New York banker. Her stepfather was Frederic Drake, who was publisher of '' Harper's Bazaar'' and Vice President of Hearst Communications. Turnure previously dated

Prince Aly Khan Prince Ali Salman Aga Khan (13 June 1911 – 12 May 1960), known as Aly Khan, was a Pakistani diplomat of Iranian and Italian descent. He was the son of the Aga Khan III, and the father of Aga Khan IV. A socialite, racehorse owner and jockey, ...

. Turnure was married to New York investment banker Robert N. Timmins and resided in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Jacqueline Kennedy attended the wedding and threw a private reception for the couple at her Fifth Avenue apartment. Turnure now resides in

Edwards, Colorado Edwards is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Eagle County, Colorado, United States. Edwards is the principal town of the Edwards, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Edwards ...

In popular culture

In the 2016 film ''Jackie'', Turnure was portrayed by Hélène Kuhn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnure, Pamela Living people 1937 births Kennedy administration personnel American press secretaries First Lady of the United States press secretaries Mistresses of John F. Kennedy New York (state) Democrats Georgetown University alumni People from New York City People from Eagle County, Colorado