The JFK sex-scandal memoir: 4 explosive takeaways

A former White House intern claims to have engaged in an 18-month affair with the late president, and offers all the salacious details in her new book

A 69-year-old grandmother and retired church administrator has come forward with explicit details of an 18-month affair she claims to have carried on with President John F. Kennedy — when she was a 19-year-old intern at the White House. Mimi Alford recounts the salacious details in her "explosive" tell-all memoir Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath. In the book, which was released Wednesday, Alford says that she always called Kennedy "Mr. President," and that they never kissed on the lips. "The fact that I was being desired by the most famous and powerful man in America only amplified my feelings," she writes. "That's why I didn't say no to the president." Many experts are taking Alford's claims seriously: "I would tend toward accepting [the story] until it's proven otherwise," presidential historian Doug Wead tells ABC News. Here, four of Alford's raciest claims:

1. She lost her virginity in the first lady's bedroom
Four days into her internship, Alford claims that the president invited her for a midday swim at the White House pool, where he seduced her. Kennedy invited Alford to a party later that evening with aide Dave Powers and other young staffers, frequently refilling her drink before inviting her up to Mrs. Kennedy's bedroom, Alford claims. There, they had sex — her first time — after which Kennedy promptly returned the party. "I was in shock," she writes in an excerpt published by the New York Post. "He, on the other hand, was matter-of-fact, and acted as if what had just occurred was the most natural thing in the world."

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2. Alford was asked to service JFK's friends
"The affair isn't the only salacious story in the book," says Matt Negrin at ABC News. In another passage, Alford claims that Kennedy asked her to perform oral sex on Powers while they were in the pool. "The president swam over and whispered in my ear. 'Mr. Powers looks a little tense,' he said. 'Would you take care of it?'" Alford assented. "I'm ashamed to say that I did. …The president silently watched." At a Boston fundraiser attended by Ted Kennedy, Alford says the president asked, "Mimi, why don't you take care of my baby brother? He could stand a little relaxation." This time, she refused. "Absolutely not, Mr. President."

3. He flew her around the country
Alford's internship only lasted a summer, but the affair continued when she returned to school at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. She alleges that JFK would call under the pseudonym "Michael Carter," and invite her to Washington to see him when Mrs. Kennedy was away. One such visit came during the defining moments of the Cuban missile crisis. Another was just days after Jackie had miscarried. Their final dalliance — during which Alford was engaged to be married — occurred in a New York hotel just seven days before the president was assassinated in Dallas.

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4. The president gave her drugs
Kennedy invited Alford to a "wild party" at Bing Crosby's desert ranch, and allegedly forced her to try amyl nitrate — better known as "poppers." The chemical compound raises the heart rate, and is commonly used to enhance sex. Kennedy didn't try them, she says, but he held the amyl nitrate under her nose against her will, after which she ran from the room crying.

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Tuesday's 'stunning' Santorum sweep: 6 takeaways

The Republican presidential race just got a lot more interesting. On Tuesday night, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) scored "stunning" upset wins in the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses, and in Missouri's nonbinding "beauty pageant" primary. It was a clean sweep nobody saw coming — "probably not even Rick Santorum," says The New Yorker's John Cassidy. As recently as a week ago, Mitt Romney was expected to win all three contests, and political analysts expected him to win Colorado even as the votes were being tallied. Here, six takeaways from Tuesday's surprising outcome:

1. Santorum scored big bragging rights: After his Jan. 3 win in Iowa. Santorum suffered a string of dispiriting third- and fourth-place finishes. But all of a sudden, Santorum has now won four states, more than any of his GOP rivals. And he's the only candidate to notch wins in the electorally crucial Midwest. The cash-poor Santorum did it the hard way, too, through foot-pounding retail politics, says Alex Altman at TIME. It paid off: "In a single evening, he punctured the aura of inevitability that had gathered around Romney’s campaign," and toppled Newt Gingrich as the go-to not-Romney candidate. What he didn't do was win any delegates: Each of these three states will apportion their delegates later this year.

[SEE MORE: Is Nevada's Tea Party too dysfunctional to trip up Mitt Romney?]

2. Romney's coronation is now on hold: Santorum's hat trick is "a stunning rebuke to Mitt Romney and the national media," says The New Yorker's Cassidy. And Romney's "horrible, horrible night" will have lasting consequences, says Erick Erickson at RedState. In three key swing states, conservative voters "sent a very clear signal": We do not like Romney. Indeed, the real "story of Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado is the stunning weakness of Mitt Romney," says Paul Begala at The Daily Beast. "His super PAC outspent Santorum's by a 40-to-1 margin," and Santorum crushed him. That's "like the New York Yankees losing an exhibition game to a church-league softball team."

3. But Mitt is still favored to win the nomination: Tuesday was a bad night for the GOP frontrunner, but "barring a spectacular reversal in the months ahead," he will still "be anointed as the Republican nominee," says Thomas DeFrank in the New York Daily News. Things should get better for Romney as the contest moves into the friendlier territory of Arizona and Michigan on Feb. 28, and then Super Tuesday on March 6, where "Romney's money advantage should help him plenty," says Jonathan Bernstein at A Plain Blog About Politics. For Santorum, "it's a long, long, way from a very good night to actually becoming a plausible nominee. Much less the actual nominee."

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4. Gingrich is toast: Newt "was a footnote in the three contests" Tuesday night, says Maggie Haberman at Politico. With little money and no momentum, "it's a bit hard to see how Gingrich is going to keep himself relevant in the coming weeks." He can't, says Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post. "Gingrich's days as the leading not-Romney are just about over."

5. Republicans still aren't turning out to vote: "Are Republicans energized? Not if turnout is an indication," say Peter Hamby and John Helton at CNN. GOP voters came out in much smaller numbers on Tuesday than they did four years ago. The numbers "are so low as to be laughable," says John Hinderaker at PowerLine. In Minnesota, for example, fewer than 50,000 people participated in the caucuses; in the 2008 general election, 1,275,409 Minnesotans voted for Republican John McCain.

[SEE MORE: How deep-pocketed super PACs became 'shadow campaigns']

6. Geography is trumping history: The Republican race "appears to be turning into a regionally based contest," says The New Yorker's Cassidy, "with Santorum as the heartland candidate, Gingrich as the Southern candidate, and the Mittster as Mr. Everywhere Else — or so he hopes." What's striking is how much that map has changed in four years, says Politico's Haberman. In 2008, Romney won Colorado with a stunning 60 percent, but he lost to Santorum by 5 points on Tuesday, with 35 percent. Romney won Minnesota with 40.1 percent in 2008; this year, he came in an embarrassing, distant third, with 17 percent. What changed? In 2008, Romney was "the electable conservative alternative" to McCain. This year, he's almost become McCain: A centrist RINO.

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