Marilyn Monroe speaking of JFK

"Discovered" by photographer David Conover while working on a production line at the Radioplane Corporation in Van Nuys, CA during World War II, Monroe soon caught the attention of every producer in Hollywood.  Her meteoric rise to fame, however, soon led to a crashing fall, and by 1955 she was racked by doubts of her future.  As a result she moved to New York, NY and joined Lee Strasberg's "The Actors' Studio".  Strasberg and his wife, Paula, became Monroe's second family, but a family with skeletons in its closet.  The Strasbergs and their close friend, famed American playwright Arthur Miller, were long time communist sympathizers, and had been under the eye of the House un-American Activities Committee earlier in the decade.  Together they introduced Monroe to Marxist-Leninist dogma.  Miller and Monroe soon became close, and Miller became Monroe's third husband.  But before marrying Miller, Monroe made the acquaintance of a young, dynamic Senator from Massachusetts named John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Their afternoon trysts at the Hotel Carlyle became common Manhattan gossip.

Returning to Hollywood in 1956 Miller all but became Monroe's nursemaid.  Her alcohol and barbiturate use was escalating, and the psychological stress of the life of a Hollywood sex goddess was taking its toll.  At the same time she continued her affair with Kennedy, and began additional affairs with his brother, Robert Francis Kennedy, and Francis Albert Sinatra.  On New Years Eve 1959 Sinatra invited her to a Las Vegas party at the Sands Hotel & Casino, where he introduced her to Chicago mob boss Salvatore "Sam Momo" Giancana and Rat Pack member Peter Sydney Lawford, who was a Kennedy in-law.

With their marriage failing, her eye on other men, and his rôle reduced to that of a caretaker, Miller contemplated divorce.  But not before completing "The Misfits", a screen play written especially for Monroe.  Filming began on location in Reno, NV in July 1960.  Disgusted by her conduct on the set, Miller spent more and more time in Reno.  Towards the end of the month he met a young performer named Ann-Margret who, with her musical group "The Suttletones", were to begin a six-week performance booking at the Riverside Hotel.  Thinking that a friendship with another woman might stabilize Monroe, Miller made the necessary introductions.  Ann-Margret, however, saw this as an opportunity to further infiltrate the Hollywood community, and immediately recruited Monroe into her espionage cell.

After the inevitable divorce from Miller, Monroe drifted from man to man.  Over taken by drug induced delusions, she imagined that the affection between her and the Kennedy brothers was real.  She became particularly fixated on the younger brother, whom she imagined would divorce his wife and marry her.  On 19 May 1962 Monroe was invited to perform at the now President Kennedy's birthday party at Madison Square Garden in New York, where she sang a scorching version of "Happy Birthday To You".  Rumors about his affair with Monroe had circulated for years, and Monroe's public display gave additional grist to the rumor mill.  JFK's embarrassment was so great that he discussed the need to eliminate Monroe with his brother.  RFK concurred, as he was not only concerned about his own marriage, but because of his rôle as Attorney General Monroe's Mafia connections could be potentially embarrassing to him.

On the night of 5 August 1962 RFK and Lawford entered Monroe's one-story home in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles.  Plying her with alcohol and pills, they stayed with her until she passed out, then smothered her with a pillow.  Her death was conveniently declared as a suicide.  Ann-Margret was disappointed by the death of what could have been her most productive operative, but was aware of Monroe's unstable lifestyle.  It was not until June of 1963 that she would learn from Howard Robard Hughes that Monroe's death was actually a murder.