Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-AUG-01
In this interview Heckscher discusses John F. Kennedy [JFK] and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis as an “inspiration to cultural life”; Heckscher’s involvement in government affairs prior to becoming a Special Consultant to the President; the invitation of 168 artists to JFK’s 1961 inauguration and its impact; how Heckscher came to work for the White House; discussing Heckscher’s position with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.; the reasoning behind the creation of the new position of Special Consultant on the Arts and the favorable public reaction to it; enlarging the definition of “The Arts,” especially regarding architecture; Arthur Goldberg; the establishment of the Freedom Medal; creating the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts through executive order; personal impressions of JFK; setting up Heckscher’s office and staff; how Heckscher was meant to advise JFK and what his position entailed; the Cultural Center [Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]; conversations with JFK; Mrs. Kennedy’s expansive work for the arts; the arts as part of national policy; working with other White House staff members and other Departments; designing special postage stamps; what the President’s role in the arts should be; and the Fine Arts Commission, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-07
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss the very limited proposal for voting rights legislation before the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama; how civil rights groups did not always understand politics or how to get things through Congress; John F. Kennedy [JFK] trying to explain political difficulties to civil rights leaders; meetings on civil rights legislation and the strategy for getting the votes for a civil rights bill in both houses of Congress; RFK’s disagreements with Lyndon B. Johnson on civil rights legislation; RFK, the Justice Department, and the reapportionment cases; RFK’s meeting with James Baldwin and the subsequent attack on RFK in the press; JFK’s role in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963; speeches at the March on Washington; George Wallace, Alabama state troopers, and the investigation into the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, September, 1963; and JFK, James J. Delaney, and the issue of aid to church schools, 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-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.
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-06-14-D
AR22, ST11, KN18
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-02-12-A
AR16
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6441-C
Meeting with the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Management. Seated, L-R: President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, George Meany; Publisher of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, Ralph E. McGill; unidentified man; Secretary of Commerce, Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President John F. Kennedy; President of the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees, George M. Harrison; Chairman and President of Burlington Industries, Inc., J. Spencer Love; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford II. Standing, L-R: Professor of Labor Relations in the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. George W. Taylor; unidentified; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inland Steel Company, Joseph L. Block; President of the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Thomas J. Watson, Jr.; President of Reynolds Metal Company, Richard S. Reynolds, Jr.; President of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, David Dubinsky; Editor and Publisher of Business Week Magazine, Elliott V. Bell; President of the International Union of United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Walter P. Reuther; President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Dr. Arthur Burns; unidentified man. Also included in the President’s schedule: David L. Cole, of Cole, Morrill, and Berman; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Lines Company, John M. Franklin. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6441-B
Meeting with the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Management. Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg, sits on the far right, speaking to reporters. Conference Room (Fish Room), White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6441-A
Meeting with the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Management. Seated, L-R: Unidentified man; Secretary of Commerce, Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President John F. Kennedy. Standing, L-R: Professor of Labor Relations in the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. George W. Taylor; unidentified; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inland Steel Company, Joseph L. Block; President of the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Thomas J. Watson, Jr.; President of Reynolds Metal Company, Richard S. Reynolds, Jr.; President of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, David Dubinsky. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C22256
President John F. Kennedy stands with members of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission after receiving the Commission's report. Left to right (in foreground): Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Carlisle P. Runge; Samuel Silver, of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Joseph S. Imirie. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. [Please see the President's schedule for a complete list of Commission members, staff, and guests.]
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C22255
President John F. Kennedy stands with members of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission after receiving the Commission's report. Left to right (in foreground): Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Carlisle P. Runge; Samuel Silver, of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Joseph S. Imirie; Executive Secretary of the Commission, Julius E. Kuczma; Vice President of Industrial Relations for Martin Marietta Corporation, Douglas V. Dorman (partially hidden on edge of frame). Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. [Please see the President's schedule for a complete list of Commission members, staff, and guests.]
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C22254
President John F. Kennedy poses with members of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission after receiving the Commission's report. Left to right (in foreground): Samuel Silver, of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Joseph S. Imirie; Executive Secretary of the Commission, Julius E. Kuczma; Vice President of Industrial Relations for Martin Marietta Corporation, Douglas V. Dorman. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. [Please see the President's schedule for a complete list of Commission members, staff, and guests.]
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR7035-E
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women in the Fish Room (Conference Room), White House, Washington, D.C. Members pictured include: Representative Jessica Weis of New York; Cynthia C. Wedel, Co-chairwoman of the National Council of Churches’ Committee on the Cooperation of Men and Women in Church and Society; Eleanor Roosevelt, Chairwoman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; John W. Macy, Jr., Chairman of the Civil Service Commission; Dr. Richard A. Lester, Vice-chairman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Margaret Hickey, Ladies' Home Journal editor; Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards, Esther Peterson; Senator George Aiken of Vermont.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR7035-D
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. (L-R) Two unidentified; Lawyer Marguerite Rawalt; Representative Jessica Weis of New York; unidentified; Margaret Mealey, Executive Secretary of the National Council of Catholic Women; Cynthia C. Wedel, Co-chairwoman of the National Council of Churches’ Committee on the Cooperation of Men and Women in Church and Society; William F. Schnitzler, Secretary-Treasurer of American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Eleanor Roosevelt, Chairwoman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; John W. Macy, Jr., Chairman of the Civil Service Commission; Representative Edith Green of Oregon (mostly hidden); President Kennedy; Dr. Richard A. Lester, Vice-chairman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg (back to camera); Dorothy Height, President of the National Council of Negro Women; three unidentified; Margaret Hickey, Ladies' Home Journal editor.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR7035-C
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. (L-R) Unidentified; Margaret Mealey, Executive Secretary of the National Council of Catholic Women; Cynthia C. Wedel, Co-chairwoman of the National Council of Churches’ Committee on the Cooperation of Men and Women in Church and Society; William F. Schnitzler, Secretary-Treasurer of American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Eleanor Roosevelt, Chairwoman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; John W. Macy, Jr., Chairman of the Civil Service Commission; Representative Edith Green of Oregon (mostly hidden); President Kennedy; Dr. Richard A. Lester, Vice-chairman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (mostly hidden); Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards, Esther Peterson; Senator George Aiken of Vermont; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Dorothy Height, President of the National Council of Negro Women.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR7035-B
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. (L-R) Unidentified; Margaret Mealey, Executive Secretary of the National Council of Catholic Women; Cynthia C. Wedel, co-chairwoman of the National Council of Churches’ Committee on the Cooperation of Men and Women in Church and Society; William F. Schnitzler, Secretary-Treasurer of American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Eleanor Roosevelt, chairwoman of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; John W. Macy, Jr., chairman of the Civil Service Commission; Representative Edith Green of Oregon; President Kennedy; Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards, Esther Peterson; Senator George Aiken of Vermont; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Dorothy Height, President of the National Council of Negro Women.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-ST-280-1-62
President John F. Kennedy poses with members of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission after receiving the Commission's report. Left to right (in foreground): Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, William E. Simkin; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Carlisle P. Runge; Samuel Silver, of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Joseph S. Imirie; Executive Secretary of the Commission, Julius E. Kuczma; Vice President of Industrial Relations for Martin Marietta Corporation, Douglas V. Dorman; Chief of Army Engineers, Lieutenant General Walter K. Wilson, Jr. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. James E. Webb (in back, partially hidden), stands at far left. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. [Please see the President's schedule for a complete list of Commission members, staff, and guests.]
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR7303-A
President John F. Kennedy stands with members of the President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission after receiving the Commission's report. Left to right (in foreground): Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, William E. Simkin; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Carlisle P. Runge; Samuel Silver, of the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Joseph S. Imirie; Executive Secretary of the Commission, Julius E. Kuczma; Vice President of Industrial Relations for Martin Marietta Corporation, Douglas V. Dorman; Chief of Army Engineers, Lieutenant General Walter K. Wilson, Jr. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. James E. Webb (in back), stands at far left. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. [Please see the President's schedule for a complete list of Commission members, staff, and guests.]