JFIZ Had Affair with D.C. Artist, Smoked 'Grass ' Paper Alleges 7,3, 7e By Don Oberdorfer murder but was acquitted. said he had been told of the Washinaten Fast Staff Writer The Enquirer said Meyer affair by Meyer at the time The National Enquirer al- kept a diary of her romance and that he kept notes on leged today that President with Kennedy and that the what he had learned. diary was destroyed after Kennedy conducted a two- her death by James Angle- Truitt told the Post corre- year love affair with a ton, a Central Intelligence spondent that Meyer and Washington artist and Agency official and friend Kennedy met about 30 times smoked marijuana with her of the Meyer family. from January, 1962, to No- in a White House bedroom. vember, 1963, when Ken- The principal source for nedy was assassinated. He The Enquirer account the Enquirer story is James said many of the meetings identified the woman as Truitt, a former editor and took place when Mrs. Ken- , a long- executive assistant at The nedy was out of town, and time friend of Kennedy and Washington Post who lives that Meyer, then 42, was his wife. Meyer was shot to in . Interviewed driven to the presidential death Oct. 12, 1964, nearly.a there by a special corre- mansion by White House car year after Kennedy's assas- spondent for The Post, and taken by private eleva- sination, while walking Truitt confirmed the sub- tor to living quarters where along the C&O Canal tow- stance of his Enquirer state- Kennedy did not permit the path in Georgetown. A 25- ments. He said he was paid Secret Service. year-old District man was by the Enquirer but refused arrested and tried for the to disclose how much. Truitt See KENNEDY, A9, Col. 1 Fl JFK Had Affair With Artist,

KENNEDY, From Al smoked the second joint, In the Enquirer article, Jack leaned back and closed Truitt is quoted as saying his eyes . . . He lay there a the Meyer and Kennedy long time, and Mary said "met this way regularly, she thought to herself, sometimes two or three 'We've killed the Presi- times a week," during the dent' . . . 23-month period. Truitt, ac- "They smoked three of cording to the Enquirer, the joints and then JFK told said the two would "usually her, 'No more. Suppose the have drinks and dinner Russions did something alone or sometimes with one now.' of the aides. Then the aides "She said he also told her, would excuse themselves 'This isn't like cocaine. I'll and leave." get you some of that.' She In his interview with the said JFK wanted to smoke Post correspondent, Truitt pot again a month later but identified two of the aides never got around to it." as presidential assistants A check of Washington David Powers and Timothy Post library files shows that J. Reardon Jr. Kennedy was in Washing- MARY FINCHOT MEYER JAMES TRUITT Reardon said yesterday ton on July 16, 1962, A ... fatally shot source of story that Truitt's account was White House Conference on "not so." He said he had Narcotics was held on Sept. Mary was alive. I have no matters in 1969 on the basis never heard of Meyer or 27, 1962, two months after Truitt, but that "nothing further comment." of a physician's certification the alleged marijuana in- Angleton, who resigned as like that ever happened at cident. that he was suffering from a the White House, with her chief of CIA counterintelli- mental illness that was or anyone else." Powers The Enquirer account said gence in 1975 following dis- Meyer kept a diary of her "such as to impair his judg- could not be reached for closures of some illegal ac- ment and cause him to be ir- •comment. romance with Kennedy, and tivities by his department, that it was found by her sis- responsible." The conserva- The Enquirer article said Meyer had been a torship, which was sought quoted Truitt as saying that ter, Toni Bradlee, in Meyer's "cherished friend" of his his notes "show that after artist studio. The Enquirer and his wife's. He said he one such dinner the night of said the diary was-turned had assisted the family after July 16, 1962, Mary and Jack over to Angleton, who took Meyer's death in a "purely went into the bedroom and it to CIA headquarters and private capacity," also mak- Mary told him, have some- destroyed it. ing the funeral arrange. thing special for you.' She In the Enquirer account, ments. He refused to say took out a snuff box with six Toni Bradlee, former wife it' whether there had been a marijuana cigarettes inside of Post executive editor diary. and JFK said, 'Let's try it." Benjamin C, Bradlee, is Anne Truitt, who was Truitt told the Post corre- quoted as confirming the named in The Enquirer spondent that he gave the affair and the existence of story as having been told of marijuana to Meyer. the diary. the affair by Meyer along According to the Enquirer Asked for comment by with her husband, also re- account of Truitt's notes: The Post, Mrs. Bradlee fused to comment when "Mary said that at first would say only that "The reached by The Post. The JFK didn't seem to feel any- National Enquirer quoted Truitts were divorced in thing but then he began to my words out of context to 1971. laugh and told her: 'We're make it appear that I corro- Records of the U.S. Dis- having a White House con- borated their story." trict Court in Washington ference on narcotics here in The Associated Press show that a court-appointed two weeks.' quoted her as saying, "I conservator was named to "She said that after they knew nothing about it when manage Truitt's financial Monday, Feb. 23,1976 A 9 Smoked 'Pot,' Paper Says

count. In his book, few hundred words of vague respondent, Truitt was a "Conversations With Ken- reference to an unnamed special assistant to former friend. nedy," Bradlee mentions Washington Post President Meyer five times and quotes Meyer was divorced prior Philip L. Graham. Later he to 1962 from Kennedy as commenting af- was editor of Art News, a ter a White House dance in Jr., a CIA official. Former February, 1962, about the White House appointments magazine then owned by the "overall appeal" of Meyer secretary Kenneth P. O'Don- Washington Post Company, and saying, "Mary would be nell said yesterday, "She and Tokyo correspondent rough to live with." knew Jackie ,as well as she knew Jack." O'Donnell said for Newsweek. His last posi- A source who refused to allegations of a love affair tion with the company was be named quoted a National were totally false. as an editor in the Post's Enquirer reporter as saying Style section in 1969. the weekly tabloid obtained Calling her "a legitimate, the story from Truitt a year lovely lady," O'Donnell said Ago but decided not to pub- Mary Meyer made infre- lish it. The story was resur- quent visits to the White rected after Judith Camp- House "through my office- bell Exner, a West Coast nevr privately, either, not housewife, gained nation- when Jackie was away or when Jackie was there." JAMES ANGLETON wide prominence with her . . . Meyer family friend account of a "close, per- Truitt, who has remarried, sonal" relationship at the lives in San Miguel Allende, White House with Kennedy. Mexico. Washington attor- by his wife in connection neys familiar with the mat- with divorce and support Another source confirmed that Meyer's diary was ter said he has written many proceedings, terminated in found and destroyed after rambling and bitter letters 1972. her death in keeping with in recent years, to Ben Brad- Ben Bradlee, reached on a her wishes. This source said lee and others, threatening vacation in the Virgin Is- the diary was taken up al- jEixposure of alleged scan- lands, said he had no com- most entirely with the sub- dals. ment on The Enquirer ac- ject of art, but contained a Formerly a Time-Life cor-