In 1962, Monroe suffers a severe drug overdose in what is speculated to be a suicide attempt. After a brief coma, Monroe awakens and publicly admits to the "error of her ways." She decides to forgo her past - drug use, sexual promiscuity, the frivolous lifestyle of a Hollywood starlet - and dedicates her career to various charitable causes. As a result of her near-death experience, she undergoes a religious awakening and adopts more conservative, traditional social views, of which she becomes an outspoken proponent. In the mid 1970s, she will eventually speak openly about her personal struggles with depression and anxiety while giving a personal testimony on the healing power of religion, which wins her support with both the growing Religious Right and certain progressives who admire her work on mental health.
Her past stardom slowly gives way to her new public persona. Marilyn Monroe is a novelty of the past, and throughout the late 1960s and the 1970s the memory of Norma Jeane Mortenson as anything but the modestly dressed brunette is a curious thing. In 1978, Mortenson's network of charitable donors, social conservative speakers, and big-name entertainers come together and thrust her into politics, running for Congress following the sudden death of 18th District representative William M. Ketchum.
If there were any doubts remaining, Congresswoman Mortenson's tenure in the House solidifies her new niche in history and forces even her most outspoken opponents to admit that her lifestyle change was genuine. She is in Congress for the remainder of the Carter administration into the Reagan administration, tragically cut short by an assassin's bullet in March of 1981. Now-president Bush nominates a new Vice President. It isn't Mortenson, but an old-guard Republican insider who is considered more of a caretaker for the role. In the 1984 election, Bush's caretaker VP does not remain on the ticket. Bush wants to recapture the combined celebrity status and staunch conservatism that made the late Gipper so popular among the party, and realizes there's only one woman for the job.
In 1988, Bush is barred from seeking a second full term, as doing so would put him over the 10 year total limit. The Bush Revolution of the 1980s was not as strong as Reagan's might have been, but it's still enough for Mortenson to ride the wave throughout the primaries and into the general election. On November 8, 1988, at the age of 62, Norma Jeane Mortenson defeats Michael Dukakis to become the 42nd President of the United States and the first woman to serve in the role.