--- title: The Story Behind the Only Photo of JFK and Marilyn Monroe description: Though rumors of a Kennedy-Monroe affair still hold their mystique, there's only one known surviving photo of the two of them together. canonical: https://time.com/5354958/marilyn-monroe-john-f-kennedy-photo/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-03T14:00:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:15.593Z article:section: History og:title: The Story Behind the Only Photo of JFK and Marilyn Monroe og:description: Though rumors of a Kennedy-Monroe affair still hold their mystique, there's only one known surviving photo of the two of them together og:url: https://time.com/5354958/marilyn-monroe-john-f-kennedy-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bc50b831662ee49/698936d58fd2ee835a35c4a6/jfk-and-marilyn-only-known-photo-from-cecil-stoughton-11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: JFK-and-Marilyn-only-known-photo-from-Cecil-Stoughton---[1] og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Story Behind the Only Photo of JFK and Marilyn Monroe twitter:description: Though rumors of a Kennedy-Monroe affair still hold their mystique, there's only one known surviving photo of the two of them together twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bc50b831662ee49/698936d58fd2ee835a35c4a6/jfk-and-marilyn-only-known-photo-from-cecil-stoughton-11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Story Behind the Only Known Photo of Marilyn Monroe and John F. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Marilyn Sings to JFK: The 50th Anniversary of an Iconic Photo [Watch (HLS stream): Marilyn Sings to JFK: The 50th Anniversary of an Iconic Photo](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Rrnhu3Eg.m3u8) (4:05)  _Published 2012-05-15. Photographer Bill Ray shares the behind-the-scenes story of his classic picture of Marilyn Monroe_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 3, 2018 2:00 PM UTC  Marilyn Monroe standing between President John F. Kennedy (R) and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962, at Hollywood executive Arthur Krim's Manhattan townhouse, following a rally for the President's 45th Birthday at Madison Square Garden. Marilyn Monroe standing between President John F. Kennedy (R) and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962, at Hollywood executive Arthur Krim's Manhattan townhouse, following a rally for the President's 45th Birthday at Madison Square Garden.Cecil Stoughton—Courtesy of Lelands Auction  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 3, 2018 2:00 PM UTC This Sunday marks the anniversary of the Aug. 5, 1962, [death of Marilyn Monroe](http://time.com/3984289/marilyn-monroe-obituary/), after a barbiturate overdose in her home in the exclusive Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her sudden death at just 36 years old [shocked the nation](https://books.google.com/books?id=eUkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA68&dq=%22marilyn+monroe%22+%22happy+birthday%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig7I30wMzcAhWj4IMKHVDGCe4Q6AEINjAC#v=onepage&q=%22marilyn%20monroe%22%20%22happy%20birthday%22&f=false) — in part because just three months prior she had given one of her [most famous ](http://time.com/3879743/marilyn-monroe-john-kennedy-happy-birthday-may-1962/)performances. Decked out in a skin-tight, nude-colored dress, she [sang](http://time.com/3879885/marilyn-monroe-sings-happy-birthday-to-jfk-may-19-1962/) [“Happy Birthday”](http://time.com/3879885/marilyn-monroe-sings-happy-birthday-to-jfk-may-19-1962/) to President John F. Kennedy, who was turning 45 later that month, at a rally at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962. The performance remains a cultural touchstone decades later, and is also noteworthy because that event produced what is considered the only known photograph of Monroe and Kennedy together. The image, shown here, was taken that night at an after-party at the Manhattan townhouse of Hollywood exec Arthur Krim, by official White House photographer Cecil Stoughton. A print of that image is now for sale, which the auction house Lelands says it was discovered after Stoughton died in 2008; Lelands claims it could be the only surviving version of the photo that Stoughton printed himself from the original negative. ([Another version of the photo](https://www.gettyimages.com/license/50966425) is part of the LIFE Images Collection.) Also pictured are the President’s brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, on the viewer’s left, and Harry Belafonte, who sang “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” that night, in the center back. The bespectacled smiling man on the right is the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who admitted later that he was indeed as [starstruck](https://books.google.com/books?id=eJ1JrTY6-K8C&pg=PT173&dq=%22The+image+of+this+exquisite,+beguiling+and+desperate+girl+will+always+stay+with+me.+I+do+not+think+I+have+seen+anyone+so+beautiful;+I+was+enchanted+by+her+manner+and+her+wit,+at+once+so+masked,+so+ingenuous+and+so+penetrating.+But+one+felt+a+terrible+unreality+about+her+-+as+if+talking+to+someone+under+water.+Bobby+and+I+engaged+in+mock+competition+for+her%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi%5F5POTsszcAhXDqYMKHYrACPAQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20image%20of%20this%20exquisite%2C%20beguiling%20and%20desperate%20girl%20will%20always%20stay%20with%20me.%20I%20do%20not%20think%20I%20have%20seen%20anyone%20so%20beautiful%3B%20I%20was%20enchanted%20by%20her%20manner%20and%20her%20wit%2C%20at%20once%20so%20masked%2C%20so%20ingenuous%20and%20so%20penetrating.%20But%20one%20felt%20a%20terrible%20unreality%20about%20her%20-%20as%20if%20talking%20to%20someone%20under%20water.%20Bobby%20and%20I%20engaged%20in%20mock%20competition%20for%20her%22&f=false) as he looks. Monroe had also brought her ex-father-in-law Isidore Miller, playwright Arthur Miller’s father, to meet the President that night. “I thought this would be one of the biggest things in his life” as an “immigrant,” a 1964 LIFE magazine feature reported her [saying](https://books.google.com/books?id=eUkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA68&dq=%22happy+birthday%22+AND+%22marilyn+monroe%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi%5F2LXFzMzcAhWox4MKHQtjAhwQ6AEILTAB#v=onepage&q=%22happy%20birthday%22%20AND%20%22marilyn%20monroe%22&f=false). “\[I\]t was Marilyn who was the hit of the evening,” according to TIME’s[ recap of the concert](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,938361,00.html) in 1962\. “Kennedy plainly meant it when he said, ‘I can now retire from politics after having had _Happy Birthday_ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.'” The performance added to rumors that both Kennedy brothers were having affairs with the actor. [Among the JFK files](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/28/jfk-files-fbi-warns-robert-kennedy-book-alleging-affair-marilyn-monroe/809992001/) released to the public last year was the FBI’s warning to Bobby Kennedy about an upcoming book that was going to say the two had an affair. “It was pretty clear that Marilyn had had sexual relations with both Bobby and Jack,” James Spada, one of her biographers, told _People_ on the[ 50th anniversary of her death.](https://people.com/archive/marilyn-monroe-a-question-of-murder-vol-78-no-7/) (Any claims that [the brothers](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/28/jfk-files-fbi-warns-robert-kennedy-book-alleging-affair-marilyn-monroe/809992001/) had a role in her death, he clarified, were unsubstantiated.) [According to](https://books.google.com/books?id=r2W9SGUyRmgC&pg=PA486&lpg=PA486&dq=October+1961+and+August+1962,+john+f.+kennedy+marilyn+monroe&source=bl&ots=QAdq7OpbcB&sig=xwDXrdje%5FWTpNosFnrZ3cuKskAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfnO2Kz8zcAhUXiIMKHYGiDJEQ6AEwDXoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=October%201961%20and%20August%201962%2C%20john%20f.%20kennedy%20marilyn%20monroe&f=false) another biographer, Donald Spoto, Monroe and JFK met four times between October 1961 and August 1962\. Their only[ “sexual encounter”](https://books.google.com/books?id=r2W9SGUyRmgC&pg=PA486&lpg=PA486&dq=October+1961+and+August+1962,+john+f.+kennedy+marilyn+monroe&source=bl&ots=QAdq7OpbcB&sig=xwDXrdje%5FWTpNosFnrZ3cuKskAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfnO2Kz8zcAhUXiIMKHYGiDJEQ6AEwDXoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=October%201961%20and%20August%201962%2C%20john%20f.%20kennedy%20marilyn%20monroe&f=false) is believed to have taken place two months before the concert in a bedroom at Bing Crosby’s house on Mar. 24, 1962, her masseur Ralph Roberts has said. So, while rumors of their affair may have ramped up after her performance at Madison Square Garden, their interest in each other may have been winding down at that point, Roberts has claimed. [Referring to their March encounter,](https://books.google.com/books?id=r2W9SGUyRmgC&pg=PA486&lpg=PA486&dq=October+1961+and+August+1962,+john+f.+kennedy+marilyn+monroe&source=bl&ots=QAdq7OpbcB&sig=xwDXrdje%5FWTpNosFnrZ3cuKskAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfnO2Kz8zcAhUXiIMKHYGiDJEQ6AEwDXoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=October%201961%20and%20August%201962%2C%20john%20f.%20kennedy%20marilyn%20monroe&f=false) he said, “Marilyn gave me the impression that it was not a major event for either of them: it happened once, that weekend, and that was that.” And yet, especially given Monroe’s death and Kennedy’s assassination not too long after, the idea of their relationship still holds its grip on many Americans’ imaginations. 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