There are moments in the history of our country that have captivated Americans for years, but perhaps none have possessed the staying power of the infamous relationship that former President John F. Kennedy shared with the original blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe. We still make references to this moment in presidential history in our culture today, with many documentaries, films, and television series examining the alleged affair from every conceivable angle.
Fox News is reporting that author J. Randy Taraborrelli claims that former first lady Jackie Kennedy was shocked when the Hollywood star called her home. I mean, I’m pretty sure all of us would be stunned to have had a call from Marilyn Monroe, but given the rumors swirling that her dear hubby, a man who boomers have idolized for decades now, had a fling with the sex symbol, well, this probably wasn’t the good kind of shocked.
Here are the details of the call:
It was April 1962, and the first lady was in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, when the phone rang in her bedroom. When she picked up, the mother of two instantly recognized the breathy voice on the other end.
Author J. Randy Taraborrelli told Fox News Digital that the glamorous wife of President John F. Kennedy thought it was a cruel practical joke. His book, “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret,” published on Tuesday, is based on nearly 25 years of research and hundreds of interviews with friends, family and lovers. It also references unreleased papers from the JFK Library, including diaries and oral histories.
“There was something about that phone call,” the author went on to explain. “She later told family members that there was a haunting quality to Marilyn’s voice that really stuck with her… And it’s not like they even had any kind of deep conversation… But it was 10 years of wondering, was it really Marilyn Monroe? And that buzz stayed with the family.”
According to Taraborrelli’s book Monroe asked, “Is Jack home?” Kennedy said he wasn’t and then asked who was calling. “Marilyn Monroe,” the caller replied. “Is this Jackie?” When Kennedy said it was, Monroe asked if she’d tell the president that she called. Kennedy asked what it was regarding, and Monroe said it was nothing in particular. She just wanted to say hello. Kennedy, still stunned, said she would pass on the message and hung up.
The report says that the former first lady spoke later with her mother and stated that despite the call being what she referred to as “off-putting,” Monroe’s voice was “sad” and that she had an “ethereal, little-girl-lost quality,” which Kennedy found to be “disturbing.” Taraborrelli claims that JFK and Monroe had an affair on March 24, 1962, saying the escapades only lasted a single weekend and took place at the Palm Springs, Calif., home of crooner Bing Crosby.
“Jack and I talked about her,” Sen. George Smathers recounted, as quoted in Taraborrelli’s book. “He thought she was beautiful, but maybe not the smartest girl in the world. He liked her sense of humor and her playfulness.” He then explained that the first lady was “more serious,” so it was a blast being with someone who was “just… not.”
The author says that the two-night fling occurred while Kennedy traveled with his wife’s sister, Lee Radziwill, and friend Joan Braden. During the weekend, JFK received a telegram from his wife. It wasn’t long afterward that Jackie Kennedy started to hear rumors about what really happened that weekend. Radziwill, who was acquainted with Monroe on a social basis, informed her that there was a “lot of chatter” about both Monroe and President Kennedy’s brother, Robert. Radziwill then warned that the Hollywood star was “addicted to certain medications and seeing a psychiatrist almost daily.”
Kennedy informed her husband that she wanted him to end whatever kind of relationship he had with Monroe. JFK insisted that he was only friends with Monroe; however, he agreed to his wife’s request.
Taraborrelli stated, “Then the telephone call happened.”
“Jackie would never be the type to tell Marilyn, ‘How dare you called here,’” he wrote in the book. “She was not that kind of personality. She was more the type to be polite and hang up, which is exactly what she did… Had it been Elizabeth Taylor or any other movie star, there wouldn’t have been much intrigue to it. Even if it was one of the other women JFK was having an affair with, there still wouldn’t have been much intrigue. Anything that Marilyn touched has always created a point of interest.”
Taraborrelli’s book says the number Monroe used to call Kennedy was private. The Secret Service monitored the phones so that any and all calls went straight to the agents who could screen them, except for those that went straight to the Kennedy bedroom. There were only a handful of individuals in the Kennedy clan who had that number, which is why Jackie Kennedy was concerned and confused about how Marilyn Monroe had the number.
For a time, she even wondered if the whole thing was a prank arranged by her half-brother, Jamie Auchincloss, who had a reputation for such behavior. However, Auchincloss, who is now 76, told the author that he never imitated Marilyn Monroe. At the time of the call, he would have only been 14 years old.
Weighing in on the rumors that Monroe moved on to his brother Robert after JFK’s assassination, Taraborrelli stated that he found no evidence to confirm that the two were ever together. His sources for the book did not believe that to be the case either.
Jackie Kennedy apparently felt that Monroe was a “disaster waiting to happen.” She seems to have been correct because the superstar died on Aug. 4, 1962, from an apparent overdose. She was 36.
“Jackie felt Marilyn was too vulnerable, too weak to be played with by JFK or by anybody else for that matter,” the author said. “But her main concern was JFK. She knew what it took to be with a very powerful man. And great men like JFK have great flaws.”
“But after Marilyn died, Jackie was very bereft by it,” he explained. “She was deeply disturbed by it. She was unsettled by it. She had a vacation planned with her sister to go to Italy, and she very much wanted to cancel it. [Her son] John Jr. also had the flu, so she wasn’t in a vacation state of mind.”
Jackie Kennedy Onassis passed away from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on May 19, 1994. She was 64.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member