Second Best Thing Quotes

“That August, seventy-eight days after her electrifying performance in New York, she would be found dead at her home in Brentwood, California. The birthday salute at Madison Square Garden was her last major public appearance. Peter Lawford’s introduction of her as “the late Marilyn Monroe” had been tragically prescient.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“Her calls to the White House were rebuffed, and she agonized about being ugly, unloved, and barren. She resorted to painkillers and sedatives that left her virtually comatose.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“there is no evidence that they had a private rendezvous after this party.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“The president of the United States was going to another party, this one behind carefully closed doors.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“No film exists of the president’s reaction, but one can imagine his response, even if he had already seen her naked.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“Jackie was a star, too, and she refused to be upstaged by a dyed-blonde sex kitten.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“Her husband’s conquests included her own press secretary, Pamela Turnure; a nineteen-year-old White House intern, Mimi Alford; and numerous starlets and call girls.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“but one person was conspicuous by her absence from the presidential booth: his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“In late March 1962, JFK personally asked Marilyn Monroe to appear at his birthday gala. Both were attending an event—and were overnight guests—at singer and actor Bing Crosby’s home at 70375 Calico Road, near Palm Springs, California, in the appropriately named Rancho Mirage area. According to rumor (no one knows for sure), the president and the movie star ensconced themselves in the two-bedroom attached casita, complete with its own fireplace, kitchen, and—importantly—private entrance.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember

“unceremoniously as “John F. Kennedy: The Photographic Archive of Cecil W. Stoughton.” I knew—even sight unseen—that this was no ordinary scrapbook collection of scratchy Polaroids and faded albums. No, this might be the treasure trove of one of Camelot’s court photographers, a man who had visually documented some of the most important events in the presidency of John F. Kennedy, including a secret party in New York City attended by the president and the most glamorous movie star of the time: Marilyn Monroe.”
― James L. Swanson, Second Best Thing: Marilyn, JFK, and a Night to Remember