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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LCH-02
In this interview Heinz discusses his primary contacts in other government agencies; the Vietnam task force; the different political trips and survey missions to Vietnam; the Maxwell D. Taylor-Walt W. Rostow mission to Vietnam and subsequent report; the Ngo Dinh Diem regime; the rise in interest in the concept of counterinsurgency; problems with working in Vietnam; changing the terrain in Vietnam with the use of defoliants; the Strategic Hamlet program; how to measure success in warfare; the International Control Commission; General Paul D. Harkins; the various agency reports coming out of Vietnam and interagency meetings; the Buddhist crisis in the summer of 1963; the appointment of Henry Cabot Lodge as Ambassador; and the military coup in Saigon and the rumors leading up to it, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-05
In this interview Komer discusses working with McGeorge Bundy; the “inner circle” of the Bundy State Department; Komer’s major contacts; the intelligence system; the power and responsibilities of the State Department; how Bundy screened what President John F. Kennedy [JFK] would see; relations with other key officials; Robert F. Kennedy and foreign policy issues; the Bundy State Department and White House staff; the “little State Department” in the White House; the bureaucratic role of the State Department; U.S. foreign policy in Asia; relations with key U.S. Ambassadors; handling Arab-Israeli issues; domestic pressures of American-Jewish community on JFK; Arabists in the Kennedy Administration; working with Myer Feldman on Israeli issues; the United States, Saudi Arabia, and oil; filling the power vacuum left by the British; dealing with Congress on foreign aid matters; counterinsurgency; and looking back at programs during the Kennedy Administration, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-03
In this interview Komer discusses negotiating disengagement with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia; John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] involvement in the Yemen crisis and the negotiations with Nasser and Faisal; U.S. New Guinea policy and the Dutch-Indonesian conflict; JFK and counterinsurgency; Komer and police programs as part of U.S. counterinsurgency efforts; JFK’s policy towards and involvement with India and Pakistan; U.S. military assistance to India, 1962; and U.S. missions to Pakistan and India, 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.
Sound recording
White House Audio Collection
JFKWHA-132-004
Sound recording of President John F. Kennedy’s remarks at the swearing-in ceremonies of General Maxwell D. Taylor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held in the White House Rose Garden.
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-06-07-B
ST25, KN36
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-06-06-E
ST25, KN36
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-06-06-C
ST25
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-06-06-B
ST25, KN36
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-05-30-C
AR37, ST25, KN35
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-08-10-A
AR25, ST12
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-06-06-A
ST11
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-05-15-F
AR21, ST10, KN17
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-10-10-D
AR28, KN24
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-10-02-I
ST14
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-10-01-B
AR28, ST14, KN24
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-09-28-E
AR27, ST14, KN23
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-02-06-C
AR32, ST20, KN30
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-01-15-A
ST19, KN28
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-11-14-A
AR29, ST15, KN25
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-12-27-B
ST18
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-327-011
This folder contains memoranda and letters regarding the appointment of General Maxwell Taylor as Military Representative to the President, his responsibility in the role to strengthen the President’s knowledge of military and intelligence matters, and General Taylor’s working relationship with the National Security Council (NSC). Also included in this folder is a memorandum to the President on military policy and a set of questions and answers on an increase in military divisions to Europe.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C29092
President John F. Kennedy (center, wearing sunglasses) views weapons demonstrations from his seat in the reviewing stand during his visit to Naval Air Facility (NAF) China Lake's Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) in China Lake, California. Seated in reviewing stand (left to right): Undersecretary of the Navy, Paul "Red" Fay; Senator Clair Engle of California (wearing safari hat); Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell D. Taylor; Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), Admiral John H. Sides; Governor of California, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown (face partially obscured); White House Secret Service agent, Gerald A. "Jerry" Behn (mostly obscured); President Kennedy; Military Aide to the President, General Chester V. Clifton (in back); Commander of NOTS, Captain Charles Blenman, Jr.; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell T. Shepard, Jr.; Secretary of the Navy, Fred Korth; unidentified; Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral George W. Anderson, Jr.; unidentified (facing away); Secret Service agent, Roy Kellerman.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C28966
President John F. Kennedy (seated in high-back chair at center) and other distinguished guests watch U.S. Pacific Fleet demonstrations from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63), at sea off the coast of San Diego, California. Seated in front row (left to right): Commander of the First Fleet, Vice Admiral Robert T. S. Keith; Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral George W. Anderson, Jr.; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell D. Taylor; Secretary of the Navy, Fred Korth; Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), Admiral John H. Sides; President Kennedy; Governor of California, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown; Senator Clair Engle (California); Under Secretary of the Navy, Paul "Red" Fay; Commandant of the Marine Corps, General David M. Shoup. Also pictured: Commander of Carrier Division One, Rear Admiral Paul Masterton; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell T. Shepard, Jr.; Personal Secretary to the President, Evelyn Lincoln.