| In June, Marilyn was fired by Twentieth Century Fox following repeated absences from the set of ‘Something’s Got To Give’. Given Bobby’s connections with the studio, it is not impossible that Marilyn hoped he would use his influence to get her reinstated. She had, after all, defied studio orders to sing for the president, and may have thought that the Kennedys owed her a favour. Aware of the rumours, Marilyn told her masseur, Ralph Roberts, ‘Everyone thinks I’m having an affair with Bobby. Well, I’m not. I like him, but not physically. He’s too puny.’ She met with Bobby again in June, at the Lawford residence. The following day, Bobby called on Marilyn alone at her bungalow in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood. According to her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, Marilyn ‘did not seem bubbly or excited by his visit.’ Marilyn’s phone-calls to the White House ceased soon after, but she called Bobby at the Justice Department six times in July, concluding with an eight-minute call on July 30th. She had just returned from a dismal weekend with the Lawfords at Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva Lodge, Lake Tahoe. One explanation for Marilyn’s call is that the Lawfords may have tried to persuade her to cut off ties with both Jack and Bobby, because the risk of a scandal was too great. If this is correct, it seems that Marilyn ignored their advice by attempting to reach Bobby again. That next Saturday, August 4th, 1962, Bobby was in North California, staying with family and friends at a ranch in Gilroy, outside San Francisco. But rumours persist that he visited Marilyn on that fateful day. In ‘Marilyn Monroe: The Biography’, Donald Spoto dismisses the possibility, pointing out that Bobby’s host, John Bates, has insisted that Bobby was with him throughout the weekend. Spoto also claimed it would have been impossible for Bobby to fly direct from mountainous Gilroy, but locals disagree. In her initial interviews with police, Eunice Murray never mentioned a visit from Bobby. However, after the death of Dr Ralph Greenson, Marilyn’s analyst who had recommended Murray, the housekeeper’s story began to change. She stated in a BBC interview, ‘I was in the living room when Bobby arrived.’ If this is correct, we must consider why Bobby visited Marilyn that day, and what may have transpired between them. By Murray’s account, Bobby was accompanied by Peter Lawford. Murray was sent out on an errand. As she left, she saw Lawford in the garden talking to Marilyn’s publicist, Pat Newcomb. Marilyn and Bobby were in the living room. When Murray returned, both Lawford and Bobby were gone, and Marilyn had retreated to her bedroom. She was hysterical, and Murray called for Dr Greenson. After a long therapy session, Greenson left. Marilyn seemed calmer by evening, and wished Murray a good night before retiring to bed. Hours later, Marilyn was found dead of an apparent overdose, her bedside cabinet cluttered with jars of pills. Why did Bobby upset Marilyn that day? Did he come to tell her that their ‘affair’ must end, or to warn her to keep away from his brother? Whatever the reason, it seems that Marilyn felt let down. In ‘The Assassination Of Marilyn Monroe’, Donald Wolfe argues that Bobby returned to Marilyn’s house later that evening, to oversee her murder – performed by FBI agents, and assisted by Dr Greenson. But it is difficult to accept that Greenson would have gone along with such a plan, unless in fear of his own life. The evidence of a second visit is sketchy at best, and churchgoers in Gilroy recalled seeing Bobby at mass early the next morning. So it seems likely that Bobby had already left Los Angeles by the time of Marilyn’s fatal overdose. And why would Bobby have wanted to have Marilyn killed? Did she, as some have suggested, learn too much about matters close to the presidency? We have seen that she liked to discuss politics with Bobby, but there is little evidence that her knowledge was so detailed as to pose a risk to the presidency. Bobby could be ruthless, especially if his family’s position was under threat. But despite the embarrassment that may have been caused by Marilyn’s liaison with Jack, and any disappointment she might have felt, there is no hard evidence that she could, or would even have wanted to bring down the government. Marilyn was always very discreet where her love life was concerned, and rarely spoke out in public, even regarding her ex-husbands. But even if Bobby was not directly involved in Marilyn’s death, there remains the strong possibility that he may have pulled strings to cover up his family’s association with her after the event. Marilyn’s telephone records from the last week of her life have never been found, and it has been alleged that L.A. police chief, William H. Parker, boasted to colleagues that because of his ‘delicate handling’ of the Monroe case, Bobby Kennedy was going to appoint him to lead the FBI. (However, this promotion did not occur.) In November 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Friends of Bobby remember his deep grief, which affected his character and, ultimately, the rest of his own life. Bobby became more active in the Civil Rights movement, and joined the Senate in 1965. He redeveloped the poor, black ghetto of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York, and called for an end to the Vietnam War. But in 1968, at the height of his presidential campaign, Bobby Kennedy was shot dead – apparently by a Palestinian student, though sceptics argue that like his brother and Martin Luther King, Bobby was murdered by the CIA. It seems that in the final years of his life, Bobby Kennedy shared, and came close to realising, Marilyn Monroe’s own dream of a fairer, more just society. But not everyone kept their faith in Bobby. Marilyn’s ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio, said bitterly that ‘Marilyn wasn’t killed by Hollywood – she was killed by her friends.’ When introduced to Bobby at a baseball match in 1965, Joe stepped back and declined to shake his hand. Whatever the true facts of Marilyn and Bobby’s friendship, it does at least seem possible that what began in mutual admiration may have ended in disillusionment. But Bobby was not an unfeeling man, and I often wonder if he came to regret the callous way that he, and his brother, treated Marilyn, who was more fragile than Bobby could have known. Perhaps Arthur Schlesinger sums up their relationship best: ‘Robert Kennedy, with his curiosity, his sympathy, his absolute directness of response to distress, in some way got through the glittering mist as few did.’ |
| By Tara Hanks |
| Page 2 |
