An image of Marilyn Monroe in a tight, pearl-encrusted dress flanked by President John Kennedy and his brother Robert, then U.S. attorney general, used to be kept in an envelope tagged “Sensitive material.”
Included in a lot estimated at $4,000 to $6,000, the photograph will be sold at Bonhams in New York as part of the 12,000-image archive of Cecil Stoughton, the first official White House photographer.
Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s election, the sale is expected to fetch as much as $250,000 on Dec. 9.
“She is wearing an outrageous dress,” said Matthew Haley, historical-photograph specialist at Bonhams. “We believe it’s the only picture where the three of them appear together.”
The actress, who died less than three months after the picture was taken, was romantically linked to both Kennedy brothers.
Kennedy was the first president to create an official position for a White House photographer.
Some images show Kennedy “playing golf, swimming, sailing, smoking cigars,” said Haley. “The next image would be of him addressing the Senate or the United Nations.”
The black-and-white Monroe photograph was taken May 19, 1962, the day she sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to Kennedy at the packed Madison Square Garden in New York.
