The Press: An American Genealogy

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"Absolutely False." Just a few days ago, Durie Shevlin herself, for the first time, denied the whole story in detail. Vacationing with her husband at the Grand Hotel e la Pace in Montecatini, Italy, she said: "It's absolutely false and ridiculous. I'm not even sure how the story began. I've been married to Mr. Shevlin for 15 or 16 years, and previously I was married for a short time to John Bersbach and then to Firmin Desloge, by whom I had a daughter who's 20 now. I know the President's family well and have known him for a long time, and saw him years ago at Palm Beach and once went with him and his family to an Orange Bowl game in Miami. I've rarely seen him since." She said that she has never discussed the Jack-and-Durie matter with the Kennedys because "it's too embarrassing."

By now, thousands of people have asked for the most accessible copy of The Blauvelt Family Genealogy—in the local history and genealogy reference room of the Library of Congress; hundreds of others have examined a copy in the Washington headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The White House, in turn, has had hundreds of inquiries as to the authenticity of the paragraph.

To each inquirer goes a carefully worded reply. "The President," it says, "has been married only once—to his wife Jacqueline Kennedy."