Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Marilyn Monroe Conspiracy Theories by Camryn Cadenhead


                                        Image result for pics of marilyn monroe
Standing in the spotlight for being recognized as the national sex symbol of the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe was constantly under the scrutinizing public eye; but in 1962, she captivated headlines for an entirely different reason. When Monroe unexpectedly died on August 5th, 1962, the swirling rumors of her “communist association”, her relations with the Kennedy brothers, and the suspicious behavior displayed by her house keeper, Eunice Murray, and psychiatrists, Dr. Greenson, allowed for many conspiracy theories to be created (“Marilyn Monroe”). Due to the significance of her relations with the Kennedy’s, it is extremely plausible that they could have orchestrated Marilyn Monroe to be murdered and staged as a suicide.


Almost anyone can tell you who the sexy blonde woman standing over a subway grate in stilettos holding her white dress down against the blowing air is. The scene is practically a piece of American culture. But, who is really behind the iconic picture? Who is Marilyn Monroe? Underneath the beautiful smile and put-together persona, resides Norma Jeane Baker, the reality behind the unflawed “Marilyn” that the world marveled in (Marilyn Timeline).

Behind the “Covergirl” façade, resided a woman with “’[feelings] of emptiness, a split or confused identity, [and] extreme emotional volatility’” (Genova). Norma Jean’s childhood can be held largely responsible for the emotional distress she faced as an adult. With her mother, Gladys Baker, suffering from mental disorders and spending the majority of Norma’s childhood in institutions, and her father, whose identity was never confirmed, Marilyn was practically orphaned. When her mother abandoned Norma at the age of seven to enter an institution, her best friend, Grace McKee, became the guardian for the young girl. Norma Jean lived with Grace until she married Ervin Silliman Goddard and sent nine-year-old Norma Jean to the “Los Angeles Orphans Home where she became occupant number 3463 for several years” (Danamo’s Marilyn Monroe Pages). Being placed in such unstable environments, young Marilyn was never allowed to experience the feeling of permanence and commitment. She was also exposed to other threats, such as when she went back to live with Grace McKee after spending two years in the orphanage, her husband, “Goddard tried to molest her, and so she went to live with her mother’s brother’s mother… [where] she was assaulted by one of [their] sons” (1). The assaults clearly impacted Marilyn’s views on her self-respect and created her to “dissociate sexual intercourse from affection” (Sechrist). Studies have shown that there are two psychological theories that have emerged that can be credited to the behavior displayed by the adult Marilyn Monroe, known as the Behaviorist Theory and the Biological Theory of psychology. The Behaviorist Theory supports that a person establishes their actions and personality traits through observation of others and the Biological Theory claims that a person’s behavior is genetically formulated and passed down. These theories have been appointed to Marilyn Monroe because “mental illness ran in her family, and her own illness mirrored that of her mother; as well as this Monroe’s true personality being suppressed by the film industry and her substance created… [from] stress and discontent [which led] to depression” (A Psychological Analysis of Marilyn Monroe).
Image result for pics of marilyn monroe

Her unwanted sexual encounters, and lack of a reliable man’s presence in the early years of Norma Jean’s life distorted her take on men and marriage and value of her body. Her first marriage to 21-year-old James Dougherty at age sixteen, was used as an escape route from foster care (Marilyn Monroe Biography). Their marriage four-year marriage was abandoned when Norma Jean traded their simple life-style to pursue fame and transform into Marilyn Monroe. Her next marriage was to New York Yankees star, Joe DiMaggio. Their marriage was extremely short lived, only lasting nine months. Their divorce was primarily credited to “DiMaggio’s discomfort with his wife’s sexy image” and Marilyn’s inability to sacrifice that image that her career was founded upon to save their marriage (Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio). Her third and longest marriage, lasting five years, was to Arthur Miller. After being wed to Miller, Marilyn came across “Miller’s notebook… and discovered that he was disappointed in her” and learned that he “feared that his own creativity would be threatened by this pitiable, dependent, unpredictable waif he had married and was seriously regretting the union” (Marilyn Monroe Marries Arthur Miller). This finding once again increased Marilyn’s overpowering insecurities and increased the fear that she had always retained of not being good enough for a man, or for the world in which she wrote in her journal that she “’[knew] from life one cannot love another, ever, really,’” (Kashner). Within each marriage she suffered from miscarriages and is rumored to have had multiple illegal abortions, most likely from her affairs or relations outside marriage which took huge tolls on both her physical well being, as well as her emotional state of mind.

            Her prominent insecurities unsurprisingly caused issues with her ability to easily perform in front of a camera confidently and efficiently. It was commonly reported by many who professionally worked with Marilyn that she “’never arrived on time’ and forced a fellow actor to ‘take a drink’ due to difficulties filming her scenes” (“Grubby” Marilyn Monroe Made Laurence Oliver “age 15 Years” during Filming). In a professional setting, this unprofessional behavior naturally caused irritation amongst her coworkers. It has been reported that the cause of her continuous tardiness to work was a result of suffering from insomnia and her intense stage fright.

Suffering from insomnia opened the door for Marilyn to retrieve sleeping pills and learn how easily it was to abuse them. The combination of her traumatic and abusive childhood, failed relationships, mental health issues, and the predominant feelings of considering herself worthless outside her body’s sex appeal, lead the movie star to begin to become dependent on barbiturates and other drugs (Markel). It has been recorded that Marilyn most commonly took Barbiturates as her sleeping aid, which are known to commonly cause “slow thinking, irritation, [and] emotional instability” (Wang). Along with taking an abundant amount the pills consistently, they were often mixed with alcohol.

Taking a look into the creation of Marilyn Monroe and examining the roots of Norma Jean Baker depicts a different image of the sexy superstar that the world was introduced to. Behind the perfect smile and flawless persona, hid an insecure and depressed woman longing to feel desired and secure in her own skin. Understanding Marilyn Monroe’s upbringing and mental state can allow the public to understand her actions and help to provide reasoning to her abrupt death.

The first conspiracy theory proposes that Marilyn Monroe was assassinated by the government due to her alleged “communist association”. The attention that was drawn to Monroe due to the rumored affairs with president John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy, was negatively perceived by much of the community, as well as the government. This wasn’t the first time Monroe had negatively caught the government’s attention as it has also been rumored that the FBI has had a file on Monroe, documenting all communist-related interactions and contacts that she had acquired.

One of the documents stored inside the file was received by the FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, from an FBI agent stationed in Mexico accounts for the “‘mutual infatuation’ [that] had developed between Frederick Vanderbilt Field and Monroe” through her visits to Mexico (FBI Suspected Marilyn Monroe of Communist Ties). Along with her concerning relations with Field, Monroe continued to raise concern about her political standings when she frequently “spoke of her admiration for activities in China and her anger at the McCarthy era witch hunt against suspected communist sympathizers in Hollywood” (Thompson). The people Monroe associated with also contributed to the FBI’s suspicion of her involvement in the support of communism, such as her ex-husband, Arthur Miller, her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, and her internist, Engleberg.

The conspiracy theory that the FBI played a role in Marilyn Monroe’s death gained a great deal of attention from the public on March 25th in 2015 when seventy-eight-year-old man claimed to be a former hit-man for the government while on his death bed. The man’s name was Normand Hodges and he pronounced that he had performed a total of thirty-seven assassinations for the government throughout the course of his career, with Marilyn Monroe being named as one of his victims (Mikkelson). Hodges provided the information that he “had evidence that Marilyn Monroe had not only slept with Kennedy, but also with Fidel Castro. [And his] commanding officer told [him] that she had to die and it had to look like a suicide or overdose…[he] obeyed it and did it for America. She could have transmitted strategic information to the communists, and we couldn’t allow that!” (1). Even though Normand Hodges has provided a logical explanation to Marilyn Monroe’s controversial death, it is impossible to prove his statement. Any of the previous CIA agents that worked with Hodges have been reported missing or have died, leaving no one available to credit his confession (Zapo).

The second conspiracy theory suggests that the Kennedy brothers, primarily Robert Kennedy, devised Marilyn Monroe’s murder. Beginning her relations with the Kennedy’s, Monroe first developed an inappropriate relationship with John F. Kennedy, and she refused to accept that their affair had been terminated, she relentlessly continued to call the White House, and Robert Kennedy was sent to clarify that she was no longer desired.  Meeting with Robert then began their affair. Due to her numerous affairs between both the brothers, Marilyn Monroe had gained a plausible amount of information from the Kennedys. According to sources she collected all the “dangerous secrets she knew about the Kennedys and had written [them all down] in the little red diary she kept hidden” (Margolis and Buskin).

When Robert Kennedy eventually admitted to Marilyn that he would never leave his wife to marry her, she threatened to hold a press conference and expose her affairs with both brothers and all the secrets she had recorded in her diary. Robert discovered that Monroe had also been having an affair with her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, and convinced him that Marilyn was planning on exposing their affair along with the Kennedy’s, even though she had no intention to do so. In fear of losing his career and destroying his marriage, Greenson agreed to aid Kennedy in “taking care” of Marilyn Monroe (Margolis and Buskin).

It was later reported by a neighbor that Robert’s brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, Robert Kennedy, and “two long-time personal bodyguards from LAPD’s notorious Gangster Squad who performed illegal activities for the LAPD off the books” were seen entering Marilyn’s home the evening of her ruled “suicide” (1). When the men confronted Marilyn about her press conference and demanded she hand over her diary, she refused and lashed out at them. In her fit of rage, “one of the bodyguards shot Marilyn in the armpit with intramuscular pentobarbital (Nembutal) to calm her down”, and once she was sedated, they men searched through her belongings for the red diary (Margolis and Buskin). The Nembutal was not strong enough to stun Monroe for very long, and when she awoke “’the two LAPD Gangster Squad partners held her down, stripped her clothes off, and gave her an enema filled with broken-down pills containing anywhere from thirteen to nineteen Nembutal’s and seventeen chloral hydrates’” which successfully permanently subdued Marilyn (1). Unable to uncover the hidden diary, the men left the scene around 10:30 p.m. causing Monroe’s Maltese terrier to excessively bark and draw the attention of her house keeper, Eunice Murray (1).

It was observed that despite ingesting 64 pills in a “suicide attempt”, there was “no vomit… [and] no odor of drugs from her mouth” which were two guaranteed signs to be present if a drug overdose had occurred (Margolis and Buskin). A first responder at the scene, James Edwin Hall, stated that he revived Marilyn with an external heart massage. When Ralph Greenson arrived on the scene, he made orders to remove the resuscitator in order to allow him to apply intense pressure to “Marilyn’s abdomen in the wrong place” and “muttered ‘I’ve got to make a show of this’” (1). Following applying damaging pressure to Marilyn’s fragile body, Greenson removed a “a hypodermic syringe with a needle [that] looked about a foot long” and shoved the it into her chest with some much force that he broke her ribs (1).

 Peter Lawford, Murray Liebowitz, and James Hall were all present to witness the apparent murder of Marilyn Monroe by Ralph Greenson. A reporter from Life Magazine claimed that he made a visit to see Marilyn Monroe’s body by bribing the morgue staff. He reported that “her body showed cyanosis… consistent with needle injection” (Margolis and Buskin). It has also been reported that the FBI and CIA had planted recording devices in Monroe’s home. J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director’s, neighbor released a statement that “Hoover had told him Monroe was murdered but he didn’t want to arrest Bobby” a.k.a. Robert Kennedy (1).

The third conspiracy theory suggest that Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, and housekeeper, Eunice Murray, were responsible for her untimely death. Many who speculate that Marilyn Monroe was murdered as opposed to having committed suicide find it incredibly uncanny that Eunice Murray was hired as Monroe’s housekeeper by Dr. Greenson and also managed to be the first witness to find Marilyn dead in her room (Marilyn Monroe- Killing the Legend). Crime reports have stated that Greenson and Murray’s details of the night have been altered each time they are asked to recount what they had witnessed.

Tabloid rumors had reported that “(according to the testimonies of Monroe’s friends) [Murray began] reporting to Greenson on the actress’ daily activities” which lead to Marilyn having a distaste for Murray (Eunice Murray). Originally, Murray had stated to police that she became uneasy about Marilyn’s whereabouts when she discovered light shining under her locked door at approximately 3 a.m. and received no answer from Monroe when she called out to her. However, in 1975, Murray’s story was altered in that she had noticed a telephone cord running from underneath Marilyn’s door caused her to telephone Dr. Greenson from a separate landline, when “in 1962 she had told police that she had contacted Greenson after becoming alarmed by Monroe’s bedroom light shining through the space under the door” (1).

During one of her interviews in 1985 Eunice significantly caught speculation from the public eye when, unaware of the microphone that was still attached to her and on, she made the remark “Why, at my age, do I still have to cover this thing?” She then went on to claim that Robert Kennedy had paid visit to Marilyn the day of her death and that “’the doctor’ arrived to help Monroe while she was unconscious but alive” (Eunice Murray). Since Murray had finally expressed to the public that Marilyn Monroe was still alive when Dr. Ralph Greenson and Dr. Hyman Engelberg arrived to the home, it has become plausible that Greenson could have injected Monroe with chloral hydrate which worked with the Nembutal’s she had previously been administered, killing her (Mallia). Being Marilyn’s psychiatrists, Dr. Greenson had a set of tapes that Monroe had created only to ever be listened to by Greenson’s ears. The only other person to have heard the contents of the tapes was a district attorney, John Miner, who was investigating Monroe’s death. After Greenson’s death, “[Miner] revealed that Monroe was optimistic about the future and anything but suicidal, Miner concluded that she must had been murdered” (1).

A survey of twenty people revealed that 65% agree that Marilyn Monroe’s true cause of death was murder, most likely orchestrated by the Kennedy’s. Even with several claims from multiple different witnesses have emerged placing Robert Kennedy at the crime scene, and reporting that Marilyn Monroe was still alive upon the arrival of theorized accomplice, Dr. Ralph Greenson, there is an insufficient amount of factual evidence that can be presented. With rumors of lethal injections being administered to Monroe on Kennedy’s orders, there was no evidence of needle marks on her body, according the the coroners report (Sheridan). Along with being unable to identify needle marks, the little red diary found in Monroe’s home that provided Kennedy with motive to Marilyn’s murder, mysteriously vanished from the coroner’s office the day after her autopsy and has not been seen since (1).

Although Marilyn Monroe’s death has officially been named a self- administered barbiturate overdose, three conspiracy theories have still remained over fifty years after her death:

1.      Did the government kill Marilyn Monroe due to her rumored communist association?

2.      Did her relations with the Kennedy’s lead to Marilyn’s assassination?

3.      Did her psychiatrist and housekeeper work together to murder Monroe?

            The idea that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide when her muddled life was on the verge of a positive turn-around, leaves a large percentage of the public unsettled. Currently, many still seek justice for Monroe by searching to find more evidence to support the theory that she was, in fact, murdered.

Works Cited:

"A Psychological Analysis of Marilyn Monroe." Makaylaheisler. N.p., 07 June 2016. Web. 15 Nov.

2016.

"Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

"Danamo's Marilyn Monroe Pages." Danamos Marilyn Monroe Pages. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

"Eunice Murray." Marilyn Forever. N.p., 22 Sept. 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

"FBI Suspected Marilyn Monroe of Communist Ties." USA Today. Gannett, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Genova, Alexandra, Dailymail.com, For. "'She Was Volatile, Unstable and Impulsive': Marilyn Monroe Most Likely Had Borderline Personality Disorder, New Book Reveals." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

"'Grubby' Marilyn Monroe Made Laurence Olivier 'age 15 Years' during Filming." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Kashner, Sam. "Marilyn and Her Monsters." Vanity Fair. N.p., 05 Oct. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Mallia, By Daniel. "How Did Marilyn Monroe Die?" History News Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Margolis, Jay, and Richard Buskin. "EXCLUSIVE - Bobby Kennedy Ordered Marilyn Monroe's Murder by Lethal Injection to Prevent Her from Revealing Her Torrid Affairs with RFK and JFK: New Book Sensationally Claims to Have Finally Solved the Mystery Surrounding Her Death." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 26 July 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

"Marilyn Monroe Biography." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Marilyn Monroe." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

"Marilyn Timeline See All." Marilyn Timeline See All. Ed. Frank Collective. The Estate of Marilyn Monroe LLC, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Markel, Howard. "Column: Marilyn Monroe and the Prescription Drugs That Killed Her." PBS.

PBS, 5 Aug. 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

"Marilyn Monroe Marries Arthur Miller." Marilyn Monroe Marries Arthur Miller | History Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016

"Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

“Marilyn Monroe- Killing the Legend.” Theunredacted.com. N.p., 10 Mar. 2016. Web. Nov. 2016

Mikkelson, David. “Retired CIA Agent Confesses on Deathbed: ‘I Killed Marilyn Monroe’” Snopes. Snopes, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Sechrist, Christy, on the Yahoo Contributor Network. "Marilyn Monroe."RSS. Orion13213, 13

May 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

Sheridan, Peter. "New Book Claims Marilyn Monroe Was MURDERED as It Relives the Blonde Beauty's Final Hours." Express.co.uk. N.p., 28 May 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Thompson, Paul. "Was Marilyn Monroe Secret Communist?" Expresscouk World RSS. N.p., 05 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Wang, Wenbo. "Drug Abuse: Marilyn Monroe." Prezi.com. N.p., 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Zapo, George. “Dying CIA Agent Claims He Assassinated Marilyn Monroe.” Inquistor. N.p., 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.




No comments:

Post a Comment