[This is the second of two articles on the scandalous love lives of the Kennedy brothers, John and Robert – John far more so than Robert. For Part I, click here]
Of all of JFK’s numerous affairs, none would probably produce as great a scandal and media firestorm today as his affair with Marilyn Monroe. It would make the media circus that surrounded Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, or Trump and Stormy Daniels, look tame. The uproar today would have gotten even bigger if word came out that once he tired of her, President John F. Kennedy passed the megastar on down to his younger brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
JFK and Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe caught President Kennedy’s eye after she made a spectacular entrance at a New York dinner party held in his honor in early 1962. He was immediately attracted to her, and they hooked up in Palm Springs soon thereafter. However, she took it more seriously than he did, and did little to hide what was going on. Her sultry “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” performance for JFK during a gala held for his 45th birthday in Madison Square Garden – in the presence of his wife, no less – fueled the rumor machines.
Tongues wagged about the barely concealed affair between the president and the blond bombshell. However, JFK was lucky in that the media of his day was not like the media today. Still, the gossip grew ever more incessant, and eventually led Kennedy to back away from Monroe and end the affair. Things got tricky, however. To JFK, Marilyn Monroe was just one of dozens of pretty (and discrete) women he had slept with. To Monroe, JFK was the only president she had ever been with, and she was not about to give up that easy.
JFK Passed Marilyn Monroe on to His Younger Brother
Marilyn Monroe continued to call the White House, and try to rekindle the affair. The President eventually sent somebody over to convince her that it was over, and that she needed to stop. If the affair would have made for a major scandal had it taken place today, its aftermath would have made for an even more spectacular circus. After JFK was done with Marilyn, he basically passed her on to Robert F. Kennedy, his younger brother and the United States’ Attorney General. RFK’s image was that of a happily married and devoted husband, raising a large and steadily increasing family that would eventually number eleven children.
Robert was seen as the most family-oriented and straitlaced of the Kennedy brothers. The contrast between that public perception and an affair with the iconic symbol of sensuality would have been jarring, had word of it leaked out. Marilyn’s unexpected demise a few months later would have made things even more explosive. The coroner ruled Monroe’s 1962 death a probable suicide via barbiturates. However, conspiracy theories about Kennedy involvement abound. The sudden demise of a former mistress of the president, who then became the mistress of his brother, the Attorney General and the president’s right hand man? That would make for a nonstop media feeding frenzy today.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
History Halls – Politicians Who Couldn’t Keep it In Their Pants: The Kennedy Brothers, JFK and RFK
