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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.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-225-010
This file contains memoranda and reports from various government departments and agencies regarding support for missile technology and nuclear aid to France. Materials include a Department of Defense report titled, "Policy on Sharing Nuclear Information, Materials and Delivery Systems with France"; a Department of State report titled, "Nuclear Aid to France"; and minutes from a meeting between President John F. Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, and McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-225-008
This file contains Department of State memoranda regarding the "Agreement for Cooperation in the Operation of Atomic Weapons Systems for Mutual Defense Purposes with the Government of France," proposed by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to support and maintain NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces. The memoranda include advice to President John F. Kennedy regarding requests made by United States Ambassador to France, James M. Gavin, to supply France with enriched uranium for military purposes.