July of 1962 was a tense time for the United States and the entire world, a period of perilous confrontation between the West and Communist nations. The Soviet Union declared that it would defend China against any attacker. Americans had begun to die in Vietnam. And in tests that month, the U.S. detonated a series of advanced nuclear bombs.
On July 26 an official of the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division — the counterespionage department — filed a cryptic note at headquarters in Washington based on reports from agents in Mexico City: “Info received from informants [names deleted] advised Marilyn Monroe attended a luncheon at the residence of Peter Lawford with President Kennedy. Informants characterized Monroe’s views as positively and concisely leftist.” MORE>>>>