Few images in American pop culture are as memorable as Marilyn Monroe singing a sultry "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy. The performance took place at a gala held just days before his 45th birthday. Kennedy famously joked that he could now retire from politics after having a happy birthday sung to him in such a sweet way.
The performance lent plausibility to rumors that had already been swirling. Many believed the actress and the notoriously womanizing politician were having an affair. However, there is actually very little hard evidence proving the two ever had as scandalous a relationship as the public would like to believe.
According to the available accounts, the two only ever met a grand total of four times. The first time they were even in the same vicinity was at the April in Paris Ball, held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City on April 11, 1957. Both attended with their spouses, and there is no indication they were even introduced.
Monroe and Kennedy's first documented meeting came in 1961 at a dinner party hosted by their mutual friend, the actor Peter Lawford. Lawford was acquainted with both of them, as he was married to Kennedy's sister Patricia. Monroe became friendly with Patricia while filming the musical comedy "Let's Make Love." It was in Lawford's home that the two first met, and nothing reportedly romantic happened between them then.
Most historians agree Monroe and President Kennedy had only one real opportunity to become intimate. On March 24, 1962, they both attended a party at the home of singer Bing Crosby in Palm Springs, California. It is believed they spent the night together afterward.
This was confirmed by Ralph Roberts, a close friend and personal masseur of Monroe. He said she called him that evening asking for back massage tips, only to then put President Kennedy on the phone. Monroe's biographers believe that evening was when the president extended the invitation for Monroe to attend his 45th birthday gala.
Monroe biographer Donald Spoto wrote of the alleged affair that no serious biographer can maintain the existence of an affair between Monroe and the Kennedys. All that can be said for sure, he noted, is that the actress and the president met four times between October 1961 and August 1962.
Roberts confirmed that the weekend in Palm Springs was likely the only private time the president and Monroe spent together. He explained that Marilyn told him this night in March was the only time of her affair with JFK. A great many people thought after that weekend that there was more to it, but Marilyn gave him the impression that it was not a major event for either of them. It happened once that weekend, and that was that.
More recently, Tony Oppedisano, the former road manager and close friend of Frank Sinatra, has claimed to know the real truth behind the nature of their relationship. Sinatra was a mutual friend of both the starlet and the president. While promoting his new book, "Sinatra and Me: In the Wee Small Hours," Oppedisano told People magazine that Monroe looked up to JFK.
He added that she was enamored of him, respected him, and admired him, but there was only so far that even she would go. According to Oppedisano, Monroe was not about to break up the president's marriage, so she would not let it go that far, even if she felt that deeply. Despite these feelings, she never claimed to be in love with Kennedy.
Oppedisano said Monroe felt that taking up with a married man and father, not to mention the president of the United States, and breaking up his marriage would go against her sense of ethics and morals. He described the relationship as obviously a sexual thing and said he expects there were feelings on her side, but it never became a full-fledged romance.
So although it is not out of the question that Monroe and JFK may have had a romantic tryst or two, according to Oppedisano the full-blown scandalous love affair that people have gossiped about for years likely never really occurred.