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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-OWH-01
In this interview Hill discusses working on John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign; the negative reaction to Lyndon B. Johnson as the vice-presidential candidate in the South and among African-Americans; difficulties for the Southern operations of the JFK campaign; getting the African-American vote in the South for JFK in the 1960 election; working with and around different civil rights groups and leaders in the 1960 campaign; other campaign staff members at the federal and state levels; attempts to solve the problem of discrimination in housing during JFK’s Administration; the Federal Housing Administration, including staff and directives and projects in the South; the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunities in Housing; and the 1962 executive order in housing, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-TMH-01
In this interview Hesburgh discusses his contact with John F. Kennedy [JFK] before he was elected President; Harris Wofford on JFK’s staff; different members of the Commission on Civil Rights; meeting with President JFK about the Commission’s reports and recommendations; JFK versus Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson on civil rights, respectively; JFK’s political priorities as President and what that meant for civil rights issues during his Administration; tension between the Commission and the Department of Justice; JFK’s characterization of civil rights as a moral problem; and a shift in Commission reports towards the local level, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-OH-01
In this interview Harris discusses John F. Kennedy [JFK] as a member of the House of Representatives; the Arkansas delegation to the 1956 Democratic National Convention and the vote for the vice presidential candidate; the 1960 Democratic National Convention; the results of the 1960 presidential election in Arkansas; the proposed changes for U.S. regulatory agencies after 1960; and various legislative proposals and battles during JFK’s Administration, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-NEH-02
In this interview Halaby discusses different civil rights issues throughout John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] Administration, including the process of and problems with desegregating airport terminals in accordance with Boynton v. Virginia (1960); the 1961 hijacking of a plane, referred to as the El Paso incident; constructing and dedicating the new John Foster Dulles Airport; federal transportation policy; different White House staff members and procedures; and running the Federal Aviation Administration, including problems with certain political figures, 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-06
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss civil rights legislation, and how it was innovative and yet inevitable; meetings between RFK and businessmen on civil rights legislation; RFK’s unintentional intimidation of the businessmen based on his history with Senate hearings on labor; attempting to put leadership in the community (North and South) to deal with the problem of segregation and other racial discrimination; hostile treatment of RFK in Alabama; working with the NAACP on school desegregation; the desegregation of the University of Alabama, and the question of if and how to bring in troops to help; and using the incident at the University of Alabama as a political stepping stone, among other issues.
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-NDK-01
Katzenbach discusses his first meetings with John and Robert F. Kennedy, the Freedom Riders, civil rights, aid to parochial schools, and appointments to the Supreme Court, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-REJ-01
This interview focuses on John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] time in the House of Representatives, personal relations with JFK, and involvement in JFK’s 1960 campaign, among other things.
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-LEM-01
In this interview Martin discusses joining John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign and his role, including working with other campaign staff members; JFK and civil rights; using the issue of civil rights in the campaign; African-American leadership and the Democratic Party in the 1960 campaign; getting civil rights leaders involved in the 1960 campaign; and the National Conference on Constitutional Rights, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-JTC-03
In this interview Conway discusses getting Martin Luther King out of jail in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963; Robert F. Kennedy’s [RFK] view of King and his actions; the March on Washington; working with RFK and the Justice Department on civil rights legislation; Walter Reuther; Conway’s decision to leave John F. Kennedy’s Administration and working on legislation from the outside; the Community Action Program; working with Senator RFK during the Johnson Administration; Senator RFK’s involvement in the labor movement; Jesse M. Unruh, RFK, and the 1968 California presidential primary; Department of Urban Affairs legislation; getting accelerated public works legislation through Congress; Housing and Home Finance Agency staff members; and the attempt to pick up congressional seats in 1962 and 1964, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-JTC-02
In this interview Conway discusses working with John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign; the negative reaction to the choice of Lyndon B. Johnson for JFK’s running mate; labor leadership and JFK’s campaign; unions and the religious issue during the 1960 election; discussing presidential appointments with JFK after the election; Conway’s role in JFK’s Administration; the Housing and Home Finance Agency, legislation, and working with Congress; accelerated public works, the Department of Commerce, and problems with the extent of presidential powers; Walter Reuther and his relationship with JFK; confrontations between Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy [RFK]; working with RFK on civil rights marches and their legislative demands; and interactions with RFK from 1964 through 1968, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-BRW-02
White discusses his time with the Department of Justice, the various responsibilities within the Department of Justice, and the appointment of staff to the Kennedy Administration, among other issues.