Mary Pinchot Meyer

Mary reportedly dated William Attwood in 1935. After her divorce, she got close to painter Kenneth Noland for a brief time.

She had three children with Cord: Quentin, Michael, and Mark. Michael died at the age of 9, after getting hit by a car.

Gretchen Mol portrayed Meyer in the film ‘An American Affair’ (2009). The miniseries ‘The Kennedys’ (2011) featured actor Nahanni Johnstone as Meyer.

Mary Eno Pinchot Meyer was born into a wealthy family in New York City, on October 14, 1920. Her father, Amos Pinchot, was a lawyer and a member of the ‘Progressive Party.’

Her father also funded the socialist magazine ‘The Masses.’ Her mother, Ruth Pinchot, was a journalist and wrote for magazines such as ‘The New Republic’ and ‘The Nation.’

Mary and her sister, Antoinette, were raised in Milford, Pennsylvania. She was the niece of Gifford Pinchot, two-time governor of Pennsylvania.

She attended ‘Brearley School’ and then went to ‘Vassar College’ to study journalism. She graduated in 1942 and started writing for the ‘United Press’ and ‘Mademoiselle.’

She was also a member of the ‘American Labor Party.’

Mary attended the ‘UN Conference on International Organization’ in San Francisco with Cord Meyer. Mary and Cord got married on April 19, 1944.

She was working as the editor for ‘The Atlantic Monthly’ when she got married. She decided to quit work after the birth of her children. It was around this time that she took her art seriously and began attending the ‘Art Students League of New York’ to study painting.

Cord Meyer was a ‘Marine Corps’ lieutenant who was elected as the president of the ‘United World Federalists’ (UWF) in May 1947. Mary wrote for the ‘UWF’ journal.

Cord joined the ‘CIA’ in 1951. However, whether he had secretly worked for them earlier is not known.

After his inclusion in the ‘CIA,’ the family moved to Washington DC. Mary had no problem in being critical about the ‘CIA,’ although her husband worked for the organization.

After her divorce, Mary moved to Georgetown and started a garage studio at her sister’s house. She became close friends with John Kennedy during this time.

According to James Angleton, a high-ranking officer of the ‘CIA,’ Mary visited the ‘White House’ in October 1961 and became intimate with Kennedy. She was introduced to the president by her ‘CIA’ friends.

Although Kennedy had been involved with a lot of women in his life, Mary was special to him. She was not just a woman he had had an affair with. According to ‘Harvard University’ lecturer of psychology Timothy Leary, Kennedy often discussed political, economical, and social issues with her. Mary asked Timothy to give her lessons on how to conduct LSD sessions with powerful men, clearly implying her attraction toward Kennedy.

A month before he was assassinated, Kennedy wrote Mary a love letter that stayed with his secretary before being sold in an auction for $89,000 in 2016.

The letter was signed ‘J.’ The last sentence of the letter read: “After all of these years – you should give me a more loving answer than that. Why don’t you just say yes”