Monday, December 3, 2018

Marilyn Monroe by: Makenzie Yarnold


Tragically found on August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe laid nude in her bed surrounded
by pills in her bungalow home in Brentwood, California. The world stood in shock at the thought
of the top actress of the decade overdosing at thirty-six years old. Described as depressed and
known to overdose, many started to ponder whether or not she willingly killed herself. Maybe
her death was not exactly the suicide it appeared to be. Several conspirators gathered together to
form the following theories:
1. Did President John F. Kennedy murder Marilyn Monroe to cover up for an affair with
her? Or possibly because he shared too much about his knowledge on aliens?
2. Did Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy’s brother, murder her to cover up for an affair?
3. Did the mafia murder Marilyn Monroe for revenge?
Although John Kennedy’s murder is the most likely to have occurred, this let’s explore these
theories closer.


Character Analysis
            Marilyn Monroe, putting up a perfect facade frequently led observers to believe her life
was precisely put together, until her death on August 5, 1962. It can be seen that the combination
of both her depressive and solitude character as well as her upsetting childhood and marriages,
may have been the cause for Monroe’s death. Marilyn, although only living until her high 30s,
underwent several drastic events in her life. This also came along due to her insanely hectic
schedule and life she chose to live in fame. Many admire and think of Monroe as an interesting
individual who hid nothing, but this, in fact, is only the surface.
Born into a family with a medical past of mental health stability, Monroe’s lifestyle
reflected symptoms just like those before her. Her mother most likely died due to the unstable
mental struggle she fought daily. Monroe’s mental concerns and drug abuse, following in her
mother’s footsteps, was known to the world due to the constant pressure and glare from the press
and media. Dr. Howard Markel stated that Monroe struggled specifically with “substance abuse,
depression, and, most likely, bipolar disorder” (Markel 1). This is just one of the many reports
discussing her addiction and true bondage within her mind. Hand in hand to her mental health,
Monroe highly enjoyed her solitude and independency. This, becoming a major issue as well, led
to Marilyn spending countless hours at a time locked in her room alone with her thoughts. Never
being quite open about her personal thoughts, some sources say that she “guards her inner world
like a mother lion does her cubs” (Celebrities Galore).
In addition to all of Marilyn Monroe’s mental health issues and several staged suicide
attempts, it is no surprise that these sprung forth from her upsetting childhood years. This star
actress in the 1900s underwent an awful childhood journey. Marilyn’s mother, Gladys, gave birth
to her, but still to this day no one knows who exactly identifies as Monroe’s father. Gladys did
not succeed as the mother of the year by leaving her childhood in foster care as an orphan during
Marilyn’s first few years of life. Mentally and physically left alone, Monroe began to develop a
sense of loneliness within her mind. In some reports, Marilyn stated how she regretted not
having anyone in her childhood to speak life and confidence into her young mind saying that “no
one ever told me I was pretty as a child” (Keep Inspiring: Marilyn Monroe Quotes). Keep
Inspiring states that Monroe specifically went through eleven sets of foster parents throughout
her childhood and teenage years (Keep Inspiring: Marilyn Monroe Quotes). Every child should
feel loved, special, and unique, giving them a stable foundation and assurance in who they are
leading into their adult years. Monroe clearly lacked this type of positive feedback and mindset
as seen through her actions.
These are just a few of the many factors Marilyn Monroe obtained within her lifespan.
Many Americans do not have these extreme sparks attributing to the fire behind their adulthood
mental illnesses, but Marilyn did. Now as observed with the basics, Marilyn Monroe’s lifestyle
came as a combination of both her depressive and independent character in hand with her
disturbing and abrupt childhood years.


Conspiracy Descriptions (Main Idea and Details with Survey Results)
            Marilyn Monroe’s proclaimed death on August 5, 1962, quickly fired up a group of
conspirators against the government’s call that Monroe had committed suicide. In fact, quite a
crowd stands behind the belief that Monroe was horrifically murdered by John F. Kennedy, who
was current president at the time (Lynch 1). These rumors stirred up conspirators then and still
have people questioning the cause of her death to this day. Marilyn once said she “threatened to
go public with the affairs and more” (Lynch 1). This could have easily unsettled Kennedy and
cause his reputation to crumble. Just as Benjamin Franklin once said, “Two can keep a secret if
one of them is dead” (Gawalt 1). Another article also confirms there were rumors going around
that she was romantically linked to President Kennedy (Yates 1). This conspiracy theory could
have possibly worked, since the president holds so much power and secrecy within his role. John
Kennedy could easily hire someone to do this dirty deed for him. Therefore, John’s fingerprints
would never have to even be in the scene. Since there was talk that Monroe possibly knew some
top secret information about the government’s recent discoveries concerning aliens, this allowed
Kennedy an excuse for Marilyn’s murder (Velocci 1). While still quite a stretch for the cause of
Monroe’s death scene, the possibility of John F. Kennedy murdering Marilyn stands as a
reasonable conspiracy theory.
 The second conspiracy theory suggests that Robert Kennedy, President John Kennedy’s
brother, murdered Marilyn Monroe. This theory stands behind their belief that Robert Kennedy
slept with Monroe several times and killed her later to cover up his past and protect his own
career and reputation. Monroe herself said “If he (Robert Kennedy) keeps avoiding me, I might
just call a press conference and tell them about it” a few days before her death (Yates 1). Robert
already had an uneasy feeling that his career and social reputation was on the line. Marilyn spent
quite a bit of time with the Kennedy family during her days when she was not filming.
Therefore, she overheard many official conversations, and it was even said that she kept a little
red notebook full of government information from the Kennedy’s talks (Sarah 1). This spiral was
filled with “incriminating information she overheard from the Kennedys” (Velocci 1). It could be
inferred and suspected that Robert Kennedy found this spiral and decided to execute Monroe in
fear she would share top secret knowledge with others. While this stands as a very reasonable
explanation for as to why Robert Kennedy could have murdered Monroe, authorities never found
evidence that he did murder her.
            Lastly, the third and finally conspiracy theory proposes that the mafia murdered Marilyn
Monroe. This theory contains the least amount of information and popularity compared to the
others stated. Most conspirators rallying behind this belief state that the mafia carried through
with the assassination to frame the Kennedy family, or to prevent Monroe from exposing any
information she knew. Monroe, who had several known affairs in her twenty years of different
marriages, most likely heard a multitude of knowledge from various men in her life. The mafia
could have believed that Marilyn might have contained pieces of vital and dangerous information
spoken by someone else. This could caused the mafia to become concerned that she would start
to share information with others as well and then murdered her to subside that fear. Speriglio, a
director of the Nick Harris detective agency believed her death was definitely a coverup…“some
famous people were protected” (Yates 1). Among the COM community, this conspiracy theory
concerning the mafia was the most popular among teens. While these events are always a
possibility, it is quite a highly unlikely explanation for Monroe’s tragic and sudden death.
While none of these conspiracy theories are backed up with fully true, accurate, and
complete certainty, the murder by John F. Kennedy is the most reasonable proposal presented
considering the circumstances and information given.
Conclusion
Marilyn Monroe, dramatically found dead on August 5, 1962 laying nude on her bed,
shocked the world with her lifeless body. Although it first appeared as suicide, conspiracy
theories quickly formed around this sudden event leading others to view the situation differently.
Her unfortunate death formed into these three conspiracy theories:
1. Did President John F. Kennedy murder Marilyn Monroe to cover up for an affair with her?
2. Did Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy’s brother, murder her to cover up for an affair?
3. Did the mafia murder Marilyn Monroe in order to keep government and official information secure and secret?
While all of these are considered possibilities, Marilyn Monroe’s death still remains unresolved
and undetermined to this day.


Works Cited
Gawalt, Gerard. “In His Own Words.” Library of Congress. October 27, 2018. Web.
Hutyra, Hannah. “112 Marilyn Monroe Quotes That Still Inspire After 50 Years.” Keep Inspiring
 Me. October 10, 2018. Web.
Lynch, Alison. “Marilyn Monroe death conspiracy theories: Who or what killed Marilyn?.”
            Metro: Associated Newspapers Limited. October 28, 2018. Web.
Markel, Howard. “PBS: Marilyn Monroe and the prescription drugs that killed her.” PBS:
            NewsHour. October 9, 2018. Web.
“Marilyn Monroe.” Celebrities Galore. October 10, 2018. Web.
Sarah. “Book Review: ‘Marilyn’s Red Diary’ – Marilyn Monroe’s final 2 years.”
            Sjhstrangetales:
 Wordpress. October 27, 2018. Web.
Velocci, Carli. “7 Conspiracy Theories About Marilyn Monroe’s Death From Murderous
 Kennedys to UFOs.” The Wrap. October 28, 2018. Web.
Yates, Ronald. “Mystery still lingers on Marilyn Monroe.” Chicago Tribune. October 27, 2018.
 Print.

No comments:

Post a Comment