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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RH-01
In this interview Hilsman discusses his initial interactions with John F. Kennedy [JFK]; Hilsman’s appointment to the Department of State during the Kennedy Administration; Foreign Service officers and “hot-seat” jobs; issues with Dean Rusk as Secretary of State; reorganizing the Bureau of Intelligence and Research; the flow of information between the State Department and the White House; staffing the State Department; the use of satellite intelligence; John A. McCone; working with and around Robert F. Kennedy [RFK]; JFK, RFK, and Vietnam; Edward G. Lansdale; Maxwell D. Taylor; the connection between Vietnam and Laos; U.S. action in Laos; the Buddhist crisis in Vietnam; the impact of WWII on Hilsman and JFK’s generation; and the 1963 coup in Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JRL-01
In this interview Lewis discusses President John F. Kennedy on civil rights; Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] as Attorney General and civil rights; working on RFK’s 1968 presidential campaign; RFK’s assassination, 1968; J. Edgar Hoover and FBI investigations of the civil rights movement; discrimination, hatred, and violence; and the march from Selma to Montgomery and “Bloody Sunday,” 1965, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-08
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] Cabinet and appointing the various secretaries; problems in and JFK’s wariness of the Department of State; the ideal State Department organization; problems with Dean Rusk; Maxwell D. Taylor’s Cuba investigation; the Bay of Pigs and its effect on U.S. action in Laos; John McCone’s prediction of missiles in Cuba; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and foreign policy; JFK’s vice-presidential choice at the 1960 Democratic National Convention; Johnson’s hesitant acceptance of the vice-presidential slot; RFK’s appointment as Attorney General; RFK’s involvement in staffing the White House for JFK and other presidential appointments; Lord Harlech (William David Ormsby-Gore); and State Department staff, 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-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
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-WOD-01
Douglas discusses his personal and professional relationship with Robert F. Kennedy, their 1955 trip to Russia, and his impressions of Robert F. Kennedy as Attorney General, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JEN-01
In this interview he discusses the Cuban prisoners release project, including working with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; why the Cubans agreed to the prisoners’ release; trips to Cuba and interactions with Fidel Castro; starting as the administrative assistant to the Attorney General; James B. Donovan; Castro’s view of the United States; problems with the prisoners’ release; and the significance of this project in regards to John F. Kennedy’s Administration as a whole, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-JEN-05
In this interview Nolan discusses Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] right after John F. Kennedy’s assassination; RFK’s speeches and appearances in early 1964 and his plans to leave the Department of Justice; the trip to Europe in the summer of 1964; planning RFK’s visit to Poland; RFK in Germany and Poland; and RFK’s decision to run for Senate in New York in 1964 and his campaign, among other issues.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-333-016
This file contains a copy of National Security Action Memoranda number 124 (NSAM 124) titled, “Establishment of the Special Group (Counter-Insurgency),” from President John F. Kennedy to Secretary of State Dean Rusk; Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; General Lyman Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Director of Central Intelligence John McCone; Fowler Hamilton, Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID); Edward R. Murrow, Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA); and General Maxwell Taylor, Military Representative to the President.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-339-018
This file contains copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 204 (NSAM 204) titled, "Special Group (Counter-Insurgency)," to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone, Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) Fowler Hamilton, and Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow from President John F. Kennedy.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-014
This file contains copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 186 (NSAM 186) titled, "Countries under the Cognizance of the Special Group (CI)," to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone, Administrator for the Agency for International Development (AID) Fowler Hamilton, and Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-012
This file contains copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 184 (NSAM 184) titled, "Countries under the Cognizance of the Special Group (CI)," to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone, Administrator for the Agency for International Development (AID) Fowler Hamilton, and Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-010
This file contains a draft and copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 182 (NSAM 182) titled, “Counterinsurgency Doctrine,” to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Lyman Lemnitzer, Director of Central Intelligence John McCone, Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) Fowler Hamilton, Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow, and Military Representative to the President General Maxwell Taylor from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Also included is a paper prepared by the Department of State in conjunction with the Special Group (CI) titled, “U.S. Overseas Internal Defense Policy.”
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-009
This file contains memoranda relating to National Security Action Memoranda number 181 (NSAM 181) regarding action to be taken in response to new activity in Cuba by the Soviet Union to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Director of Central Intelligence John McCone, and Military Representative to the President General Maxwell Taylor from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Topics include United States reconnaissance operations in Cuba, protocol for U.S. flights over Cuba, and increased economic and military aid to Cuba by the Soviet Union. Of note is a draft of a proposed statement on Cuban policy for President John F. Kennedy containing annotations and edits by the President.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-008
This file contains drafts of National Security Action Memoranda number 181 (NSAM 181) regarding action to be taken in response to new activity in Cuba by the Soviet Union to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Director of Central Intelligence John McCone, and Military Representative to the President General Maxwell Taylor from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Also included are memoranda discussing Soviet Union military shipments to Cuba; the military significance of missile installations in Cuba; and the probable military, political, and psychological impact of missiles in Cuba.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-007
This file contains copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 180 (NSAM 180) titled, “Membership of the Special Group (CI),” to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Lyman Lemnitzer, Director of Central Intelligence John McCone, Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) Fowler Hamilton, Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow, and Military Representative to the President General Maxwell Taylor from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-338-003
This file contains a draft and copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 176 (NSAM 176) titled, “Release of Public Information Concerning Soviet Nuclear Tests,” to Secretary of State Dean Rusk; Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges; Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) Anthony J. Celebrezze; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone; Director of the Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) Edward McDermott; Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Glenn T. Seaborg; Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow; Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) James E. Webb; and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Jerome B. Wiesner from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-337-010
This file contains copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 170 (NSAM 170) titled, “Intelligence Collection through Audio Surveillance (President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board Recommendation No. 35),” to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. This file contains material that is closed due to security restrictions.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-337-004
This file contains a draft and copy of National Security Action Memoranda number 165 (NSAM 165) titled, "Assignment of Additional Responsibility to the Special Group (CI)," to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone, Administrator for the Agency for International Development (AID) Fowler Hamilton, and Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Also included is a draft of NSAM 162.