What did Jacqueline Kennedy privately believe about the JFK Assassination?

Ian Sanders (0:00)

Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.

Peter Lamas (0:06)

Most Dallas will share this with you.

People confide in you, they trust you. They will share secrets with you that they won't even tell their best friends. You're like a therapist. So when they sit in that chair and they are comfortable with you, they just open up.

Ian Sanders (0:25)

What did Jacqueline Kennedy privately believe happened in Dallas on the 22nd of November 1963? In the second part of Peter Lamas' extraordinary story, he recalls the trust he developed with the former First Lady while working as a personal hairstylist. During preparations for an event marking the 25th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, Peter says Jackie spoke candidly about the shooting, her desperate movements across the presidential limousine and her fear that she might be killed next. She also shared her doubts about the official account and her belief that Lee Harvey Oswald had not acted alone. Peter then recounts the controversial allegations he later heard from Marita Lorenz and others concerning CIA, anti-Castro Cubans, organized crime and figures connected to Dallas, which remain disputed. I'm delighted to welcome Peter Lamas to our Cold War Conversation.

The stories in this episode are from Peter's book, Jackie Kennedy's Stylist. There will be links in the episode information for you to purchase the book and support the podcast.

Now as part of your job as a messenger, you're delivering various packages to advertising companies. And at one of them, you strike up a conversation with Alessandro, who's an art director at one of these advertising companies. Can you tell me where that leads you to?

Peter Lamas (1:58)

Keep in mind, in 1960, 61, 62, do you remember the show that was on TV? I don't know. I'm sure you had it also in England.

Mad Men, that takes place in the advertising world of the early 60s, late 50s.

I lived that life where I did my messenger work, was in the Madison Avenue, East Side, Uptown area. And when I see that series, Mad Men, I said, oh my God, I've been there. I've been there. I recognize the characters.

Whoever wrote that series did their homework quite well because I really related to the characters in that series. And one of them was Alejandro, a Spanish art director in one of the major ad companies. He brought me in while he was preparing the package to send from one agency to another. And I saw the artwork all around him and I said, I'm an artist. Oh my God, look at this. I didn't know all this happened in these offices. He says, yeah, advertising is about being creative. And I said, well, that's what I want to do in life. I wanted to be a commercial artist, not a hairstylist. That was my desire, to be a commercial artist. And so he says, if you want to do this, why don't you go to school? I'm going to recommend Art Students League on 57th Street. It's a very fine art school. And they have a program for individuals who cannot afford the matriculation, because it's quite expensive. It's very, for elite students with, you know, it's costly. And so he gave me the name of the person I should look up. And I did. I went there after working as a messenger. It must have been about between 5 and 530 I left and ran to 57th and 6th Avenue and got into the academy. And I asked for the person and he happened to be there. And I gave him the business card from Alejandro. And I said to him, I explained the whole situation. And he says, okay, fill out this application with me. He brought me into his office. He was very kind in helping pull it out. He told me to come back and keep checking. And I went back and he told me that I was accepted into the program and I could begin such and such a date and so forth. Now, not realizing that part of the members, membership who gave those so-called gift scholarships was Jacqueline Kennedy herself. She was on the board, okay? There's always this, it begins there.

And I found out much later when I shared this with her. But anyway, so I got to go study art at the Arts and Sleek. And some of the girls that were there like me who couldn't afford a sandwich, never mind a haircut, I said to them, when they needed a haircut, she says, Oh, I wish I could go to the salon, but I can't afford it. And I said, I can do that. My father said, Barbara, he has scissors, I'll bring them tomorrow and I'll shave it. It started happening. I cut one and the word got around and I did a pretty good job. I mean, I'm a sculptor. It didn't need that much training. And it was long hair, you know, just blunt, cut across. I wasn't doing a whole different from long to short challenge. So the word got around and one of them said to me one day, when she discovered what I did for a living as a messenger, she says, why don't you take up hair styling? You're so gifted with sculpture and drawing and sketching and all that. You should be doing hair which is somewhat artistic and you make better tips and better salaries and blah, blah, blah. And I said, instead of going through the streets in the middle of winter, getting rained on and delivering packages, you're making hardly any money whatsoever. To this day, I thank that girl for enlightening me into what I should be doing to make a better life for myself. And I applied to get certified in the United States. You have to go to a beauty school in Cuba and in Europe, you don't. You just become an apprentice at a salon and you stay there for a couple of years and you learn from experience. And here you have to go to school, get certified and pass the board test in order to get your certificate and license. Anyway, I joined the school and I stood out. I was so good at what I did. I wanted to learn. I couldn't learn as much as they could give me. And I did it on my own, buying books and all that. I really became what I considered a model student, as the saying goes. And now the clients that are coming in, you can't ask for Peter. You have to take whoever's available. But there were so many people insisting on having Peter do their hair, that the owner of the academy came over to me and he says, what is that? Are you bribing these people? I said, no, what are you talking to me? He said, I have a list this big of people wanting you and we can't do that because I'll be playing favoritism and that just can be. But he says, Peter, you're about to graduate. Let me tell you, with the gift you have and the demand that I'm noticing here, from all the clients that come in to get their hair done at the school, which is very affordable, by the way, I would recommend you going for a higher salon. Don't go to your neighborhood, typical salon, right around the corner where you live. Aim high. Go to the one, I'll give you the names, and he gave me four names that are the mecca, he called it, of salons in New York City. This is where the very exceptional, talented, famous, rich, wealthy people go to have their hair done. And more, you know, skin and makeup and everything. So he gave me three out of the four names. I went to Vidal Sassoon and Kenneth Batal. Those were the top at the list. Vidal had just arrived from England, opened up his first salon on Madison Avenue with Paul Mitchell, who was the style director, and brought a crew from London with him to this amazing, modern, slick salon on 74th and Madison. I still remember the address. And the same day, I applied for a job at Vidal Sassoon, and I applied for a job at the House of Kenneth, which was, goes to, you can't get more famous than that. So I filled an application, and Sassoon immediately hired me. I mean, the moment I got there, in fact, my line to both of them was, I am not looking for a job. I am looking for an opportunity to prove myself, how worthy I am if you give me a chance to work in your salon. They had never heard that before, as I was told. But I got hired by Vidal Sassoon, and a few days later, Kenneth called me and said, we would like you to come in, we are impressed by you, would you like to step in and let's fill an application? He said, I am sorry Mr. Kenneth, but I already got hired by Vidal Sassoon. That made an impression of that, because they felt, oh, you must be good if they hired you immediately. But that put that to rest. I started with Vidal Sassoon, and Paul Betcher became my mentor with Robert Pearson, these two gifted men from London, England. I don't know if he was born and raised in London, but they came from London, England, Sassoon brought them over to run the salon with him.