Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue

Pamela was determined to enjoy her life now that the war was over. While in Paris, she met Prince Aly Khan. They partied together in the French Riviera, and he taught her “the ancient Arabian art of Ismák” (152) or sexual techniques to prolong pleasure. Her redecoration of his chateau was noted for its modernity and class.

Pamela traveled to the Irish Lismore Castle, home of Kick Kennedy, where she spent time with John “Jack” Kennedy. They became close. She was one of the first to know of his diagnosis of Addison’s disease. She never revealed his secret. When Kick died in a plane crash soon after, Pamela was heartbroken. She ran into Randolph at the funeral. They made a brief attempt at reconciliation, but Randolph’s behavior was so rude that she left a few hours later.

Three months later, Randolph married June Osborne. He physically and verbally abused his new wife.

In the summer of 1948, Pamela left “slight and sickly Winston” (159) with Prince Jean-Louis de Faucingny-Lucinge while she stayed with Prince Aly. While in the French Riviera, Pamela met Gianni Agnelli, heir to the Fiat fortune. Despite the scandal of dating a former supporter of the fascist Mussolini, they began an affair. Gianni lived a fast-paced, cocaine-fueled lifestyle. He bought Pamela many expensive gifts.

Pamela moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, an expensive suburb outside Paris. She became a staple of high society there despite her reputation as a “scarlet woman.” She became friends with the designer Christian Dior, who regularly dressed her. She had three main groups of friends: the “café society” of the ultra-wealthy, intellectuals, and the “diplomatic crowd.”

As the Cold War between the US and the USSR heated up, Averell Harriman was sent to Paris to manage the Marshall Plan, the US-backed fund to rebuild Europe after the war. He made derisive comments about Pamela’s practice of “running around with good-for-nothing playboys” (167). They argued and did not speak for 15 years.

Pamela was not a very maternal mother. She sent Winston to the Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland until Randolph complained. She then transferred Winston to Eton. He was often bullied there.

In 1949, Pamela decided to focus on Gianni and Fiat as “her new political project” (172). She moved into his house in the Cap d’Antibes, the Château de la Garoupe, which she redecorated. She connected him with wealthy and important people like John F. Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt, Jr. She helped him forge ties with the CIA; Fiat became an important nexus in the CIA-backed anti-communist efforts in Italy at the time. Gianni rewarded her with lavish gifts, including an apartment in Paris at 4 avenue de New York in the 16th arrondissement. Pamela converted to Catholicism for Gianni in the hopes of marrying him. She used her Kennedy connections to lobby the Vatican to get her marriage to Randolph officially annulled.

By the time she turned 30, Pamela was again pregnant. She was growing tired of Gianni’s high-octane lifestyle. Gianni took her to have an abortion in Switzerland, but afterward, he was distant with her. She worried Gianni would endanger her son Winston by encouraging reckless behavior. One day, Pamela came upon Gianni having sex with a young woman and grew enraged. While driving the woman home, Gianni was in a bad car accident and was hospitalized for months. Pamela cared for him during his recovery, but his family had resolved that he should marry an Italian woman. In November 1953, Gianni married Princess Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto. However, Pamela and Gianni remained friends for life.

Pamela spent a lot of time caring for her appearance to continue to appear youthful even as she entered her mid-30s. She began an affair with married Élie de Rothschild of the banking family. People blamed Pamela for the affair even though it was mutual. Some of high society snubbed Pamela as a “red-headed tart” (184). However, she continued to be courted by wealthy men like Ari Onassis.

In the summer of 1955, she had persistent stomach pain. At a hospital in America, she was booked for “exploratory surgery” but ended up having a hysterectomy without her consent. British physicians felt the operation was not necessary. Winston visited with her, and they spent Christmas together while she recovered. She had to have another surgery six months later, which solved the intestinal problem.

Randolph continued to face marriage and money troubles. Pamela felt she must carry on the family name.

Pamela began cultivating contacts in Washington, DC, with the help of her now friend, Ed Murrow. She recognized that the United States was a growing power in the world as the UK waned. While on a trip to the United States, Pamela met Broadway producer Leland Hayward, then married to Slim Hayward. Pamela set about seducing the man, and their relationship quickly developed. Élie was upset, but he knew his religious family would never allow him to marry someone not of the Jewish faith. Pamela packed up her life in Paris and moved to New York.

Although Leland and Slim were still married, Pamela and Leland began to go out together in public. Pamela told her friend Cecil Beaton, who passed it on to writer Truman Capote, who spread the gossip in New York. Winston and Leland got along well. Winston was studying at Oxford. Pamela had a rocky relationship with Leland’s children from his previous marriages.

Pamela “threw herself into Leland’s work” (203) as a Broadway producer. He was working on the Broadway debut of The Sound of Music. Leland was not as wealthy as her past partners, his children were difficult, and he had health problems, but Pamela felt she needed to marry before she turned 40.

On January 1, 1960, Leland’s ex-wife, Margaret Sullavan died of a drug overdose. Leland was heartbroken and filled with remorse. Pamela’s relationship with Brooke Hayward, Leland and Margaret’s daughter, further declined. Soon after, Leland and Slim’s divorce was approved. Pamela and Leland married on May 4, 1960, in Carson City, Nevada. They moved into an apartment on 1020 Fifth Avenue in New York. Pamela made a great effort to be devoted to her husband, but she felt unfulfilled. In October of that year, Leland’s daughter Bridget took her own life. Leland was devastated.

While preparing for the funeral, Pamela and Brooke went to Bridget’s apartment, where she had two pearl necklaces that had been given to Bridget by their mother, Margaret. A decade later, when Brooke could not find the necklaces, she accused Pamela of having stolen them.

On January 20, 1961, JFK became president of the United States. Pamela and Leland turned down the Kennedy invitation to Washington and instead went to Palm Beach. However, Pamela continued to remain on good terms with the Kennedy family, although she and Jackie Kennedy never became close. The Kennedys supported Leland’s “controversial” musical Mr. President when it opened at the National Theatre. Pamela wanted to be involved in politics, but she found few opportunities to do so as a woman. Purcell notes that despite claims from “Pamela’s detractors” that Pamela was not “really” a Democrat at this time, Pamela supported Kennedy’s liberal policy proposals, and she raised funds for Bobby Kennedy.

Pamela was devastated when JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

Pamela built a home in Mount Kisco in Westchester County she dubbed Haywire. She hosted many dinners and parties there for influential people. She briefly ran a shop on East 57th Street. Tensions grew in the family as Leland’s children felt the couple, pushed by Pamela, favored Winston over them.

Leland began to produce a political satire called That Was the Week That Was. Pamela became friendly with one of the show’s writers, feminist Gloria Steinem, although Pamela did not consider herself a feminist. Pamela also became friendly with the writer Truman Capote. Pamela was furious when, in 1975, Capote published a lightly fictionalized short story about Joe Kennedy’s sexual assault of Pamela. She resolved to “never let her guard down in the same way again” (221).

In 1964, Winston became engaged to Minnie d’Erlanger. Pamela was thrilled. However, she was “disappointed” when Winston chose Randolph to be his best man in the wedding. Winston increasingly favored his father over his mother and believed Randolph’s claims that Pamela was a “whore.” Randolph was “full of self-loathing and resentment at [his] wasted existence” (226).

On January 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died, and Pamela had a prominent place in the state funeral, which raised some eyebrows. She flew home on the presidential plane alongside former President Ike Eisenhower and Averell Harrington. During the flight, she and 73-year-old Averell reconnected. Three months later, her friend Ed Murrow died.

By the mid-1960s, Leland had not had a hit since The Sound of Music, and his dependence on alcohol led to pancreatitis and a stroke. Pamela was forced to sell her properties and valuable possessions to pay for his treatment. Leland was also secretly selling possessions behind Pamela’s back, including, most likely, the missing pearl necklaces. As Leland’s health declined, Pamela became increasingly protective of him. His children, including Brooke Hayward, felt Pamela was keeping them away from their father.

While caring for her ailing husband, Pamela found time to rekindle her relationship with Averell Harriman. Averell also rekindled a relationship with Winston as Pamela’s son pursued a position as a Tory MP, which he secured in 1970 despite his “uncomfortably hard right” positions (229).

In February 1971, Leland had a stroke while preparing for the opening of his play about Catholic protesters of the American War in Vietnam, The Trial of the Cantonsville Nine. On March 18, he died. Upon his death, Pamela discovered the state of their finances was worse than she realized. They had very little money. Pamela inherited only the apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York and the Mount Kisko property, Haywire, for which she had to take out a mortgage. Pamela felt his children took everything else of value and, in spiteful retaliation, had only Winston do a reading at Leland’s funeral.

After his death, Pamela had a brief affair with Frank Sinatra, who had recently divorced Mia Farrow. She also briefly visited the Churchills and her family home, Minterne, but found “you can’t run away from sadness” (235). She soon returned to the US on Sinatra’s plane.