Happy Birthday, Mr. President

[1] Monroe sang the traditional "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics in a sultry, intimate voice, with "Mr. President" inserted as Kennedy's name.

Thanks, Mr. President For all the things you've done The battles that you've won The way you deal with U.S. Steel And our problems by the ton We thank you so much Afterwards, as a large birthday cake was presented to him, President Kennedy came on stage and joked about Monroe's version of the song, saying, "I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way," alluding to Monroe's delivery, skintight dress, and image as a sex symbol.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who rarely attended Democratic Party events, instead spent the day at the Loudoun Hunt Horse Show with her children, John and Caroline.

[4] Monroe attended the event during the production of Something's Got to Give, resulting in her receiving a hand-delivered note stating that she had violated her contract with 20th Century Fox and eventual firing in June 1962.

According to his New York Times obituary, "Perhaps his most famous, although unintentional, touch was the lighting he designed for Marilyn Monroe's birthday serenade to Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, which caused her dress to become see-through.

In 2022, reality TV star Kim Kardashian wore Monroe's Happy Birthday Mr. President dress for the Met Gala.

"[18][19] In an interview with BBC in June 2022, a senior lecturer in cultural studies at Falmouth University, Dr Kate Strasdin, remarked, "You can't even handle a dress like that without damaging it in some way, let alone wear it, so it was inevitable that there was going to be significant damage just by even wearing it on the red carpet... there will have been oils in her skin, there will have been all of that chemical reaction with a silk that is fragile".

It is also noted that an Instagram account dedicated to "The Marilyn Monroe Collection", a company which claims to hold "the world's largest privately held collection of Marilyn Monroe's personal property," managed by owner Scott Fortner's team, posted a comparison image of the dress which showed significant irreversible damage which occurred after the gala event.

[25][26] In a season two episode of Breaking Bad, "Mandala" (2009), Skyler White sings the song to her boss Ted Beneke for his birthday.

[28] In 2012, American musician Lana Del Rey reenacted the performance in the music video for her song "National Anthem", with herself as Monroe and ASAP Rocky as President Kennedy.