Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
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
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6763-E
Postmaster General J. Edward Day speaks at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the first state Workmen's Compensation Law, enacted in Wisconsin in 1911, on the South Lawn driveway at the White House, Washington, D.C. Postmaster General Day stands beside an image of the commemorative stamp created for the occasion. Seated in front of the audience are (L-R): Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman; Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Ivan A. Nestingen; and the only living members of the 1911 Wisconsin legislature, former Wisconsin state Senator Theodore W. Brazeau and Judge Edward T. Fairchild.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6763-C
Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg speaks at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the first state Workmen's Compensation Law, enacted in Wisconsin in 1911, on the South Lawn driveway at the White House, Washington, D.C. Secretary Goldberg stands beside an image of the commemorative stamp created for the occasion. Seated in front of the audience are (L-R): Governor Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin (on far left edge of frame); Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon (left of Secretary Goldberg); Postmaster General J. Edward Day; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Ivan A. Nestingen; and the only living members of the 1911 Wisconsin legislature - former Wisconsin state Senator Theodore W. Brazeau and Judge Edward T. Fairchild.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6287-D
Swearing in ceremony and reception for Cabinet members and their families, East Room, White House, Washington, D.C. President John F. Kennedy speaks during the swearing-in ceremony for his Cabinet. (L-R) Front row: Secretary of State Dean Rusk; Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon; Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Postmaster General J. Edward Day; Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy; President Kennedy; Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Abraham A. Ribicoff; Chief Justice Earl Warren. Back row: Military Aide General Chester V. Clifton; Air Force Aide Colonel Godfrey T. McHugh; Naval Aide Commander Tazewell Shepard, Jr.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6862-A
Cabinet meeting. At table (clockwise from bottom left): Frederick C. Belen, Assistant Postmaster General; Vice President Lyndon Johnson; Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; Charles S. Murphy, Under Secretary of Agriculture (mostly hidden); Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Abraham Ribicoff, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Secretary of State Dean Rusk; President John F. Kennedy; Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon; Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. Seated at back right of room (L – R): Unidentified man; Najeeb Halaby, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency; Walter Heller, Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.