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An FBI file has been uncovered that suggests Bobby Kennedy, president JFK's brother and then-US attorney-general, knew of - and may have participated in - a plan to induce Marilyn Monroe's suicide.
Los Angeles-based Australian writer Philippe Mora has reportedly discovered a detailed three-page report implicating Kennedy, Hollywood
actor Peter Lawford and Monroe's psychiatrist, staff and publicist in the plot. The allegations suggest the 36-year-old actress, who had a history of staging suicide attempts, was deliberately given the means to fake another suicide on August 4, 1962. But this time she was allowed to die as she sought help.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that the document had been hidden among thousands of pages released under freedom-of-information laws. It was originally received by the FBI on October 19, 1964 - two years after her death. The SMH reported that it had been considered important enough to immediately circulate to the FBI's five most senior officers, including director J Edgar Hoover's right-hand man, Clyde Tolson.
Mora believes the report was buried for decades as a classified document, and even the released version contains censored sections. Never before mentioned, it details aspects of Kennedy's affair with the movie star, including sex parties and a lesbian dalliance, as well as her descent into depression.
It raises an alleged conspiracy, overseen by Lawford, for Monroe to unwittingly commit suicide with a barbiturate used to treat insomnia and relieve anxiety. The document gives no precise reason why she would be killed but hints it may be linked to her threats to make public her affair with Kennedy. Mora reports that it states in part: "Peter Lawford, [censored words blacked out] knew from Marilyn's friends that she often made suicide attempts and that she was inclined to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy."
Lawford is reported as having made "special arrangements" with Marilyn's psychiatrist, Dr Ralph Greenson, who was treating her for emotional problems and getting her off barbiturates. On her last visit to him, he prescribed Seconal tablets and gave her a prescription for 60, an unusually large quantity, given that he saw her frequently.
The FBI report states that on the date of Monroe's death, Kennedy phoned Lawford from a San Francisco hotel to check if the actress "was dead yet". The document claims Lawford called and spoke to Monroe, "then checked again later to make sure she did not answer". She was later found dead naked on her bed lying on her telephone.
The FBI report says Kennedy had promised Monroe he would divorce his wife and marry her, but the actress eventually realised he had no intention of doing so. About this time, he had told her not to worry about 20th Century Fox cancelling her contract - "he would take care of everything". When nothing happened, she called him at work and they had "unpleasant words. She was reported to have threatened to make public their affair", the report says.