You have to take the word of the various experts that have been lined up to authenticate the picture, because it’s damn hard to identify John F. Kennedy in the creased, black-and-white picture. But it sure does fit in with the whole Marilyn Monroe legend.

The celebrity gossip website that got its hands on the picture, TMZ, says experts on both photo manipulation and JFK say it is the real thing. It also makes a compelling argument that the photo dates from a 2-week cruise that then Senator Kennedy took with his brother Ted and Senator George Smathers. Which means, in turn, that the future President was entertaining loose (presumably European) women while his wife was in the process of losing a baby.

Which, if true, probably would have turned the voting public against JFK if the picture had emerged before his inauguration. So yes, perhaps this is a photo that could have changed history.

But is also a picture of a rich man living the dream, even before he became the most powerful man in the world. In the eyes of some, at least, this will possibly cement JFK’s reputation as a froody dude rather than tarnish it.

One thing, however, is not disputable: more than 46 years after he was assassinated, JFK still lives large in our collective minds.

Read much more: TMZ. Watch the TMZ expert video here.

Update: In the meantime, TMZ has admitted JFK photo is a fake.