A new book suggests that John F. Kennedy Jr. may have been bisexual, but spurious sources throughout the tome raise doubts about the claim.

In “American Legacy: The Story of John & Caroline Kennedy,” C. David Heymann shares several anecdotes from named and unnamed sources indicating that JFK Jr. had adult gay experiences.

Heymann doesn’t claim to have interviewed any man who says he had sex with JFK Jr. But the author does include hearsay and gossip that could lead a reader to the conclusion that JFK Jr. was bisexual.

The problem is that Heymann isn’t a credible writer.

His 1983 book about heiress Barbara Hutton had to be recalled by the publisher because it claimed that a physician prescribed excessive drugs for Hutton in 1943, when the named physician was actually 14 years old.

His 1989 biography of Jackie Onassis, “A Woman Named Jackie,” was also faulted for containing factual errors and misquotes.

Heymann apparently hasn’t learned from the past.

In this new book, he says Caroline Kennedy suffered from depression as an elementary-school student, after seeing the Zapruder film of her father’s assassination on television.

However, the Zapruder film wasn’t aired on television until March 1975, when Caroline was a senior in high school. And Heymann offers absolutely no evidence that Caroline watched it then, let alone in 1964, 11 years before it aired.

David Brown, a spokesperson for the book’s publisher, Atria Books, said Atria did no fact-checking or source-verification of Heymann’s book.

“That’s all up to the author,” Brown told PGN.

AUTHOR C.DAVID HEYMANN

In Heymann’s case, that’s like the fox guarding the chicken coop.

Many people whom Heymann says he interviewed for “American Legacy” are now deceased. Curiously, they just happen to be the sources with the juiciest, nastiest quotes.

For example, Pierre Salinger, a former press secretary for JFK, allegedly confirmed to Heymann that JFK had an affair with Pamela Turnure, a press secretary to Jackie Kennedy in the 1960s.

But Salinger was always loyal to his boss. He never confirmed the rumored relationship with Turnure for other publications. Why should readers believe he did so for Heymann, of all people?

Heymann attributes quotes to other deceased Kennedy loyalists — George Plimpton, Oleg Cassini and Arthur Schlesinger — which are salacious, not worth repeating or simply not believable.

It strains credibility that they would have spoken to Heymann, let alone say such mean things.
When questioned about these sources, Heymann denied fabricating their quotes. “That’s not my modus operandi,” he said. “I stand behind the quotes.”

But Heymann could provide no dates, notes or other documentation to verify the existence of the interviews.

He said his papers eventually will be donated to the State University of New York at Stonybrook and questions of verification can be answered at that time. Don’t hold your breath.

Another outrageous claim of the author is that he interviewed Janet Auchincloss, Jackie’s mother.

It’s well-known that Auchincloss never gave interviews about her daughter to anyone in the media, let alone Heymann.

In a 1980 letter written to this reporter, Auchincloss stated: “I have made a solemn vow that I will never be interviewed about Jacqueline or anyone else in my family, or talk about them on the telephone or write about them. I feel the whole family has had much too much publicity and I do not think it should continue ... I cannot and will not break my vow.”

When challenged about the claim of interviewing Auchincloss, Heymann said: “She may have had Alzheimer’s and probably didn’t remember having spoken to my researcher. I don’t feel in any way guilty for having interviewed her in that state. My job is to interview people, not to judge their state of mental incompetence or competence.”

With an attitude like that, how can Heymann be taken seriously?

Whether or not JFK Jr. was bisexual is a fair question that can be debated by qualified biographers. Heymann doesn’t fit into that category.

“American Legacy: The Story of John & Caroline Kennedy,” by C. David Heymann, Atria Books, 593 pages

Timothy Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.