Marilyn
Monroe once stated, “Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl
who wishes for the world” (“28 Beautiful Marilyn Monroe Quotes on Life, Love,
& Happiness”). Marilyn had a rough childhood but grew to be one of the
world’s biggest movie stars and long lasting sex symbol. After becoming a star,
her life was full of glitz and glam, but it all tragically ended when she died
of a supposed drug over dose on August 5, 1962, at only 36 years old (Marilyn
Monroe Biography). Her death has been a big controversial topic in the news, as
some people believe that it was not a suicide, but a murder. There are several
theories as to who killed her:
1. Did the Kennedy brothers kill her
to keep her quite about their affairs?
2. Did the government kill her to keep
her quite?
3. Did her house keeper, Eunice
Murray, and psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, kill her?
Let’s
examine Marilyn Monroe, the conspiracy theories of her death, and the
probability of the Kennedy administration being responsible.
Character
Analysis
Who is Marilyn Monroe? She was
described as a strikingly beautiful woman struggling with an unstable mind. Anyone
who has seen her in person can agree that she is just as beautiful in real life
as she is in pictures. Imagine a small petite woman with a height of only 5’5,
only weighing around 118 pounds, perfect curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes,
and perfect teeth (“Marilyn’s Beauty and Style”). As a child, she grew up being
raised in foster homes due to her mother being mentally unstable. Despite
facing abuse at such a young age, she still rose to being the most known star
of her generation (“Marilyn Monroe Biography”).
Marilyn was born with the name of
Norma Jeane Mortenson to her mother Gladys, who suffered from psychiatric
problems, which led to her being sent to a mental institution. Marilyn never
met her father and did not even know his name. While in foster care, she
suffered from sexual and emotional abuse at an age as young as seven years old
(“Marilyn Monroe Biography”). At the age of sixteen she was married to her
first husband, Jimmy Dougherty, which gave her an out to the troubled life she
was living in foster care. While being married to Dougherty, Marilyn’s modeling
and acting career took off when she was discovered by a photographer in
California (1). As her career took off, her marriage came to a halt. “The couple divorced in
1946—the same year that Monroe signed her first movie contract. With the movie
contract came a new name and image; she
began calling herself ‘Marilyn Monroe’ and dyed her hair blonde” (1). With the lack
of a father figure and overwhelming insecurities, Monroe struggled to stay in
relationships with the men she married, such as Joe DiMaggio and Arthur
Miller. Marriage and
companionship became an external conflict for Monroe.
On the outside, Marilyn looked and seemed to be
the luckiest girl in the world, but in reality she was struggling with internal conflicts. She never
really found happiness in her glamorous life. Marilyn had severe insecurities
when it came to acting,
and she always felt like she was not good enough. Her anxiety before filming
was so severe that sometimes she would become physically ill which in many
cases made her tardy in set (“Marilyn Monroe Biography”). Her tardiness annoyed many of
her co-stars and directors such as Laurence Olivier, which created a tense relationship
between them. The last films she was in before her death were “box office
disappointments”, and
she was even dismissed from a film in 1962 due to missing too many filming days
(1). Medical professionals
believed that Monroe had been showing signs of depression in the time
before her tragic death (Hertel, Howard
and Neff). Her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, told authorities about her
complaints of not being able to sleep and many people noticed that she had not
been keeping up with her physical appearance, such as getting her nails done
(2). This was a big deal for
her because she always kept her self in tip top shape, never showing any
physical flaws (2).
To fans and coworkers, Marilyn
Monroe had it all, looks, talent, and fortune, but those close to her saw the internal struggle that she
faced in her life. It is difficult to
understand the pressure she faced and the tormenting thoughts that went on
inside her head. The beautiful actress was
never able to overcome her past demons that haunted her unstable mind.
Conspiracy
Descriptions (Main Idea and Details with Survey Results)
In the mysterious death case of
Marilyn Monroe, three conspiracy theories are highlighted. One of the theories
insinuates that the young star’s house keeper, Eunice Murray, and psychiatrist
Dr. Ralph Greenson, had something to do with Marilyn’s mysterious “suicide”.
Another theory suggests that the Kennedy brothers killed her in order to keep
her quite about their affairs. While the third theory argues that the
government had her killed because of her involvement with the communist party.
The first conspiracy theory
proposes that Marilyn Monroe’s house keeper Eunice Murray and her psychiatrist
Dr. Ralph Greenson were responsible for her sudden death. They were the first
people to the crime scene and they changed their story multiple times to the
police. Eunice Murray had been hired by Dr. Greenson to be Monroe’s
housekeeper, and she was the main witness at the time of her death (Marilyn Monroe - Killing the Legend). In her first statement to the police she told them
that she knocked on Marilyn’s door around midnight but got no reply. Eunice
then called Dr. Greenson, who arrived at the house soon after. They then used
Marilyn’s French windows to enter her bedroom, to find her dead body laid out
on the bed and many opened pill bottles on her bed side table. Marilyn’s
internist, Dr. Hyman Engelberg, shortly followed (3). Dr.
Engelberg pronounced her dead, but they did not notify the police until 4:25am.
The first police officer on the scene, Sargent Jacks Clemmons, said that is was
obvious that the body had been moved and there was not any water or a glass for
her to take the pills. The autopsy report stated that, “not a trace of the
drugs or pill capsules were found in her stomach” (3). Also
when Clemmons arrived, he saw Eunice Murray washing sheets, maybe trying to get
rid of evidence. Later on they changed their story and Murray said she went to
bed at twelve and did not knock on Monroe’s door until 3:00am, Greenson found
her dead at 3:40am, and Engleberg pronounced her dead at 3:50am (3). Also
in 1985, Eunice told an investigative journalist, Anthony Summers that she had
lied about what really happened that night. “The reason for the cover story,
Murray told Summers, was because Robert Kennedy was at the house that day” (3).
The second conspiracy theory
suggests that the Kennedy brothers were responsible for Marilyn Monroe’s death.
Marilyn first became involved with the Kennedys when she began an inappropriate
relationship with John F. Kennedy. “Kennedy loved Hollywood culture and
celebrities, especially beautiful actresses, more specifically, beautiful
blonde actresses” (Taraborrelli). Their relationship did not last very long
when JFK decided he was done with Marilyn. She refused to accept that their
relationship was over and constantly called the White House. The President grew
tired of the phone calls and decided to send his brother Robert Kennedy to
Marilyn’s home to tell her to stop calling him. While Robert was at Marilyn’s,
he “quickly succumbed to the screen goddess’s charms” and the two began an
affair (Bobby Kennedy Ordered Murder of Marilyn Monroe, New Book Claims). Since
Marilyn had had an affair with both Kennedy brothers, she gained a lot of
information from them. She had kept a little red diary that contained
information on both brothers that could jeopardize the brother’s positions in
Washington (4). Just like his brother, Robert decided he was done with Marilyn
and told her he would never choose her over his wife. Angered by the brake up,
Marilyn threatened to go to the press about her affairs with both the brothers
and the information she had recorded in her diary (4).
When Marilyn refused to give Robert
the diary he decided to call Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn’s psychiatrist, who
she was also having an affair with. Robert told Greenson that Marilyn was planning
on telling the press about their affair as well as the Kennedy’s, which would
ruin all of their careers. Even though Marilyn had never threatened to expose
her affair with Greenson, the doctor believed Robert. In fear of loosing his
career, he agreed to help Kennedy take care of Marilyn and the threats she made
(Margolis and Buskin). Another co-conspirator was Peter Lawford, who was the
brother in law to the Kennedy brothers. In the afternoon of August 4, 1962,
Robert Kennedy and Peter Lawford paid a “final” visit to Marilyn’s house (5).
While there Marilyn and Robert got into a huge argument which resulted in
Marilyn saying she was going to the press that next Monday. Neighbors reported
that they saw Robert and Peter Lawford “leave and re-enter later that evening
with one of his two long-time personal bodyguards from LAPD’s notorious
Gangster Squad who performed illegal activities for the LAPD of the books” (5).
After entering the home one of the body guards shot Marilyn in the armpit with
“intramuscular pentobarbital” (Nembutal) to calm her down after she refused to
hand over her dairy and lashed out against them (5). While she was sedated,
Robert and Peter began looking around for her little red diary. After the
Nembutal wore off, Marilyn awoke to find men tearing through her things looking
for her diary. “So 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 Nembutals and seventeen chloral hydrates” (5).
This successfully kept her unconscious, but Kennedy and Lawford were unable to
find her diary so the two men and the body guards left the scene at 10:30pm
which caused Marilyn’s dog to bark which alarmed her house keeper Eunice Murray
(5).
Murray found Marilyn unconscious
lying face down on her bed. After calling 911, the first responder, James Edwin
Hall, arrived on the scene at about midnight and performed an external heart
message and got her breathing again (Margolis and Buskin). While another first
responder, named Liebowitz went to the ambulance to retrieve a stretcher, he
was stopped by Dr. Ralph Greenson who stated, “I’m her doctor. Give her
positive pressure” (5). Greenson wanted them to apply an intense pressure to Marilyn’s
abdomen in the wrong place and take her off of the resuscitator; Hall did not
agree with him but did it anyway. As they were working on her, Hall suggested
that they get her to the ambulance and work on her there, but Dr. Greenson was
doing his own thing. Greenson took out a “hypodermic syringe with a needle that
looked about a foot long” (5). He filled the syringe with a mysterious liquid
and he felt down Marilyn’s ribs and “thrust the needle into her chest”. The
needle did not go right in and instead of taking it out and trying again,
Greenson forcefully pushed the needle through her rib, breaking it (5). There
are several witness that stated they saw Dr. Ralph Greenson including the two
first responders, Hall and Liebowitz, and Peter Lawford, inject Marilyn with
that lethal needle. Since Marilyn’s body was found facedown on her bed it made
it possible for the needle marks to not be found on her body. “After death the
blood in the body goes to the lowest point by gravity. In this position, the pooling
of the blood would cover up any marks (needle or otherwide) on the front of the
body”, Hall stated (5).
The last conspiracy theory
indicates that the government was responsible for Marilyn Monroe’s death.
Marilyn’s promiscuity with both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy was public
knowledge to everyone. This could very well be enough of an incentive for the
government to want her dead in order to keep her quite. Not only was she
scandalously involved with the Kennedys, but she was also linked to communism.
She was associated with Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who had “radical political
views” and was accused of being a member of the Communist party (FBI Suspected
Marilyn Monroe of Communist Ties). Field
had been exiled to Mexico for his beliefs and Marilyn came into contact with
him while she was in Mexico shopping for furniture (6). She spent ten days in
Mexico just seven months before her death. “Informants reported to the FBI that
a ‘mutual infatuation’ had developed between Field and Monroe, which caused
concern among some in her inner circle, including her therapist, the files say”
(6). In Fields autobiography he mentions a conversation he had with Marilyn,
“She told us about her strong feelings for civil rights, for black equality, as
well as her admiration for what was being done in China, her anger at
red-baiting and McCarthyism and her hatred of (FBI director) J. Edgar Hoover” (6).
Not only was her association with Field suspicious, but she also surrounded
herself with people who seemed to be involved with the communist party. These
people included her psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson, her internist Engelberg,
and her latest husband Arthur Miller. Under Hoover’s watch, the FBI kept an eye
on many celebrities political and social lives (6). Marilyn Monroe’s insight to
political information due to her relationship with both Kennedy brothers and
her supposed involvement with the communist party was enough of a security risk
for the government to want her dead.
A survey of twenty people revealed
70% agree that the most likely scenario is the Kennedy brothers were
responsible for the death of Marilyn Monroe. FBI agent, J. Edgar Hoover had the
inside of Marilyn Monroe’s house bugged, which ended up proving that Robert
Kennedy had been in the house the night she died. “Hoover’s teenage neighbor
Anthony Calomaris came forward years later and stated that Hoover had told him
Monroe was murdered but he didn’t want to arrest Robert” (Margolis and Buskin).
Without hard evidence supporting the case, Marilyn’s death was ruled a suicide.
Conclusion
After examining the ruled suicide
case of Marilyn Monroe, three conspiracies theories are left to ponder:
1.
Did
her house keeper, Eunice Murray, and Psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson have
something to do with her death?
2.
Did
the Kennedy brothers have her killed to keep her quite about their affairs?
3.
Did
the government kill her because of her involvement with the communist party?
Even
today, fifty-four years after the beautiful blonde superstar was found dead in
her Los Angles home, people continue to search for proof that her death was not
a suicide. However, it is likely Marilyn is the only one who knows exactly what
happened that night.
Works Cited
"28 Beautiful Marilyn Monroe
Quotes on Life, Love, & Happiness." Bright Drops. N.p., 21 May
2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
"Bobby Kennedy Ordered Murder
of Marilyn Monroe, New Book Claims.” English.alarabiya.net. N.p., 17 May 2014.
Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
"FBI Suspected Marilyn Monroe
of Communist Ties." USA Today. Gannett, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 17 Nov.
2016.
Hertel, Howard, and Don Neff.
"From the Archives: Marilyn Monroe Dies; Pills Blamed." Los
Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
J. Randy Taraborrelli for.
"Madness of Marilyn: The Affair with JFK and the Drug Crazed Paranoia That
Put Her in a Padded Cell." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 29
Aug. 2009. 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
Sensational Claims to Have Finally Solved the Mystery Surrounding her Death.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 26
July 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
“Marilyn’s Beauty and Style.” Marilyn’s Beauty and Style. N.p., n.d.
Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
"Marilyn Monroe Biography." Bio.com. A&E
Networks Television, 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
"Marilyn Monroe - Killing the
Legend." Theunredacted.com. N.p., 10 Mar. 2016. Web. 13 Nov.
2016.
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