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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HHH-01
Humphrey discusses first impressions of JFK, their shared service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, political wrangling over the Democratic vice presidential candidacy in 1956, 1960 Democratic primaries and Presidential election.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-PSH-02
In this interview, Hughes discusses the transition from Dwight D. Eisenhower to John F. Kennedy, how the Bureau of the Budget handled this transition and interactions between the Bureau of the Budget and White House staff, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-PSH-01
In this interview, Hughes discusses the transition from Dwight D. Eisenhower to John F. Kennedy, how the Bureau of the Budget handled this transition and interactions between the Bureau of the Budget and White House staff, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-CHAH-01
In this interview Horsky discusses how the position of Adviser to the President for National Capital Affairs was created; problems within the District of Columbia; how Horsky came to the Adviser position and how he developed it as he went along; advising President John F. Kennedy [JFK] on children and juvenile delinquency in the District; the November 1962 Thanksgiving disturbances at the District of Columbia Stadium; the process of getting the District to participate in the President’s Commission on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime; Washington Action for Youth; the problem of District finance; and JFK and the congressional District Committee, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-KGH-02
In this interview Heath discusses how she came to join the Office of Education; the leadership within the Office of Education and different ideas on how it should be run; other agencies within the Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW]; changes in the status and administration of HEW; various pieces of education legislation; the 1954 Supreme Court decision on separate but equal and segregation in schools; international education affairs; the reasons for pushing for general school aid over categorical aid; the 1955 White House conference on education; coalescing all the organizations within HEW into one voice for the Department; working with other Departments; the International Labor Organization and the United Nations; getting political support from the different presidential Administrations; the nationalization of the Suez Canal; the shift to considering social matters in a much broader context; the impact of the Sputnik launch on the Office of Education; and the National Defense Education Act, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JAB-01
Baker discusses the National Farmers’ Union’s involvement in the 1960 Democratic National Convention, John F. Kennedy’s positions on agricultural issues during the presidential campaign, and Kennedy administration agricultural policy, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-AJB-02
Biemiller discusses the Kennedy and Johnson administrations’ legislative records, particularly on labor issues; specific issues and pieces of legislation; civil rights; and the labor movement’s relationship with the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HB-01
Bertsch discusses John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) views on agriculture, the successes of the Farmers Home Administration during JFK’s presidency, and the tone that JFK set in government, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-FCB-01
Belen discusses the congressional retirement program, relations between the Kennedy White House and the Postal Service, and the Plymouth mail robbery, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-OB-03
Beaty discusses appointments to the Interior Department and problems Stewart Udall ran into early in his tenure as Secretary, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JWM-01
This interview focuses on Macy’s appointment as chairman, his service on various committees during the Kennedy administration, and the development of a labor management program, among other topics.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-05
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss how John F. Kennedy [JFK] and RFK grew increasingly more involved with and concerned about civil rights; getting Martin Luther King out of jail during JFK’s 1960 campaign; civil rights advisers during JFK’s 1960 campaign; RFK becoming Attorney General amidst the civil rights battle and the transitional period in the Department of Justice [DOJ]; how Marshall got his position in the DOJ; the struggle over school desegregation; the New Orleans school crisis of February 1961; the Freedom Riders and violence against them; sending federal marshals to Alabama; trying to find a bus driver to get the Freedom Riders out of Birmingham, Alabama; criticism of RFK’s response to the Freedom Riders; how Freedom Riders were arrested and threatened in Mississippi; African-American voting rights in the South and DOJ authority; difficulties with judges; Supreme Court appointments; the FBI and organized crime; reorganization of the DOJ; RFK’s interactions with the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover after JFK’s death; Hoover’s allegations about JFK and the Kennedy family; the alleged FBI wiretapping of officials; JFK’s opinion of Hoover; FBI press releases; connecting the civil rights movement with communism to discredit it; FBI involvement in civil rights matters; issues with the FBI as having civilian control of a police force; JFK’s communication with King and other civil rights leaders; civil rights legislation; the issue of equal employment; the Civil Rights Commission; and violence against African Americans in Birmingham in the spring of 1963, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-04
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses American aid to Argentina; American, British, and French involvement in Africa; the 1962 executive order about segregation in federally-funded housing; appointing African-American judges; changes John F. Kennedy [JFK] was contemplating in the Alliance for Progress; the Dominican crisis; the wheat sale to the Soviet Union; the Bobby Baker case; preparing for JFK’s 1964 campaign; RFK’s return to work after JFK’s assassination and disagreements among the Cabinet members and under President Lyndon B. Johnson; changes in White House staff and the Democratic Party; RFK’s political plans for after 1964; and JFK’s opinions of his staff and appointees, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-03
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses the 1962 steel crisis; some major issues and accomplishments of John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] presidency; choosing the U.S. Ambassador to Russia; foreign aid and treaties; the military coup in Peru; the space race during the Kennedy Administration; the 1962 congressional and gubernatorial campaigns; JFK’s dinner for the Nobel Prize winners; the Polaris submarines; problems with the New York Herald Tribune; New York politics; various pieces of federal legislation, 1961–1963; the Dominican Republic; Department of Justice investigations under RFK; the difficulties of being Attorney General; congressional issues in early 1963; the Vietnam War escalation in 1963; American support of the coup in Vietnam; Henry Cabot Lodge as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam; the prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion; American actions in Cuba; unemployment and civil rights; RFK’s meeting with James Baldwin; JFK’s trips to the South and speeches on civil rights; the nuclear test ban treaty; and JFK’s trip to Ireland and Rome, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-02
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses the 1961 Berlin crisis; American forces, military and diplomatic, in Germany; John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] recommendation for Americans to have fallout shelters; nuclear testing; problems with the Department of State; the start of the conflict in Vietnam, 1961; the Department of Justice under RFK and organized crime; RFK’s difficult relationship with J. Edgar Hoover; the wiretapping bill; new federal judgeships in 1961 and other presidential appointments; the Alliance for Progress; Red China; crises during JFK’s presidency and how he was an optimist; RFK’s move for an income tax increase during the Berlin crisis; RFK’s disagreements with President JFK; indecisiveness over picking JFK’s running mate, 1960; the missile gap; fighting and UN operations in the Congo; Nikita S. Khrushchev’s speeches; RFK’s 1962 trip to Japan, Indonesia, Germany, and other countries; the release of Allen L. Pope; Dutch disputes in Southeast Asia; the 1961 crisis in the Dominican Republic and the assassination of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina; the 1962 disarmament conference in Geneva; Edward M. Kennedy’s 1962 campaign for U.S. Senate; the Kennedy family national and political reputation; the Justice Department under RFK and civil rights; and the 1962 steel crisis, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-01
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses beginning John F. Kennedy's [JFK] presidential Administration with no political obligations; carefully picking Cabinet members, specifically Secretaries of State, Defense, and Treasury; RFK’s decision on what role to play in JFK’s Administration; JFK’s unhappiness with Dean Rusk as Secretary of State; JFK’s advisers and other presidential appointments; Cabinet meetings; Department of Justice organization under RFK; the first 100 days of the Kennedy Administration; the role of the Vice President, according to RFK; JFK’s relationship with Lyndon B. Johnson and why JFK put Johnson on the ticket in 1960; what JFK was most concerned with as President; domestic programs versus foreign affairs in the Kennedy Administration; Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.’s role during JFK’s presidency; the Bay of Pigs, the aftermath, and its effect on JFK; how JFK approached problems as President; dealing with Georgi Bolshakov; negotiating with the Soviet Union in Vienna, over Laos and Cuba, etc.; JFK’s relationship with foreign heads of state; State Department staff and U.S. Ambassadors; the military coup in Vietnam; the Berlin crisis of the summer of 1961 and the Berlin Wall; RFK’s 1961 trip to the Ivory Coast; and Soviet and American nuclear testing, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JOFD-02
Dolan discusses the federal judgeship appointment process, his involvement with the 1960 Citizens’ for Kennedy-Johnson, and the civil rights issues of the 1960s, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JFF-02
Feeney discusses Kennedy’s labor legislation in Congress and John McCormack’s support during the 1960 presidential campaign, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LEM-03
In this interview Martin discusses helping fill government positions after John F. Kennedy [JFK] is elected President, 1960; the appointment of African American judges, including Thurgood Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; providing African American candidates for different agency positions; civil rights crises during JFK’s Administration; Lee White as the White House advisor on civil rights; the civil rights bill introduced in 1963; religious groups in the civil rights movement; the issue of “white backlash”; and working for President JFK versus working for President Lyndon B. Johnson, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-IAN-02
This interview focuses on the reorganization of the Heath, Education, and Welfare department during the Kennedy administration, legislative matters, and communication between various departments in the White House, among other topics.