- Marilyn Monroe was attracted to JFK because she sincerely believed that he was the president who could “change” the United States for the better.
- “This worried her to the point that she discussed it in depth with her psychoanalyst,” writes Laurence Leamer.
- The Ladies’ Man: The Carefree Heart of John F. Kennedy is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
Marilyn Monroe was attracted to John F. Kennedy for reasons beyond his good looks.
Laurence Leamer’s new book The Ladies’ Man: The Carefree Heart of John F. Kennedy sheds new light on the long-standing affair between the president and the Some like it hot bomb. According to Leamer’s research, their affair likely began in March 1962 during a three-day visit to Palm Springs.
“Jack had wanted to have an affair with the glamorous movie star for some time. But Monroe was constantly pursued by paparazzi and gossip columnists, which made it difficult to approach him,” he writes, adding that JFK “was faced with another problem he had not anticipated.”
Enter: Arthur Miller, Monroe’s former husband, the Pulitzer-winning playwright who was under investigation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s. Despite their eventual divorce in 1961, the FBI was still interested in Monroe.
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Monroe, meanwhile, “was embarrassed by her lack of education,” having never graduated from high school. “Her marriage to Miller introduced her to a world of politics and ideas. She was serious about learning.”
“With Jack’s ascension to the presidency, she focused her passionate interest on him, believing that he was the leader who could change America as no president had since Franklin Roosevelt,” Leamer continues.
“This concerned her so much that she discussed it in depth with her psychoanalyst. ‘No child will go hungry, no one will sleep on the streets and eat out of trash cans,’ she told Dr. Ralph Greenson.”
When they finally connected romantically, Monroe “felt involved with what she considered to be the greatest man of the time.”
At one point, Monroe was among the guests at a luncheon at JFK’s brother-in-law Peter Lawford’s house in Santa Monica, and the president and the star reportedly had an engaging conversation that seemed to draw red flags.
“The president was reportedly dismayed to learn that the FBI had a source at the private event who noted that Monroe ‘asked the president many socially significant questions regarding the morality of atomic testing and the future of America’s youth,'” Leamer writes of their chatter.
“These were not topics Jack would usually discuss over a casual lunch, but they demonstrated how Monroe viewed her affair with the president as elevating him to a level far beyond that of a mere movie star.”
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When JFK invited Monroe to Washington for a trip on the presidential yacht with friends, his adoration for the president was clear, said George Smathers, a close friend of JFK. “She loved Jack,” he said. “She was all over him. Of course he loved her a lot, but he was already married and all, so he had to be reasonably discreet.”
In May, to perform at Madison Square Garden for the big celebration of JFK’s 45th birthday, Monroe flew to New York in the middle of filming. Something has to give“violating his contract and causing production to stop,” Leamer wrote.
However, she became a liability over time as she kept calling the White House. JFK pushed her away, which hurt Monroe after the president “made her feel important.”
Son of GP Putnam
A few months after singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK, she was found dead of an apparent overdose at her Brentwood home in the early morning hours of August 5, 1962.
The Ladies’ Man: The Carefree Heart of John F. Kennedy is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
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