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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JCPW-01
In this interview they discuss their article in Look magazine; personal recollections of President John F. Kennedy's [JFK] assassination; working on JFK’s 1960 presidential campaign; JFK’s campaigning style; JFK’s relationship with the press, White House staff, and his family; and JFK’s trips to Nassau, Europe, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s ranch, 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.
Sound recording
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-TPH-23D-4
Sound recording of a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. They discuss former Vice President Richard M. Nixon’s upcoming meeting with President Charles de Gaulle of France. They consider whether Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John A. McCone should speak to Nixon about the meeting. They also discuss the protection of U.S. embassy property in Havana, Cuba.This sound recording was originally recorded on Dictation Belt 23D, which contains additional sound recording(s) preceding and following this one. To hear all of the recordings on the Dictation Belt, see Digital Identifier: JFKPOF-TPH-23D, Title: Telephone recordings: Dictation Belt 23D.
Sound recording
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-TPH-23D
Dictation Belt 23D contains six sound recordings. Item 23D.1 is a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur Sylvester. They discuss the purchase of furniture at Otis Air Force Base and wasteful spending. The recording begins in mid-conversation. Item 23D.2 is a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and United States Air Force General Godfrey T. McHugh, Air Force Aide to the President. They discuss the purchase of furniture at Otis Air Force Base and the possible effect on the Air Force budget. Item 23D.3 is a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy. They discuss the timing of a presidential speech on a treaty banning atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, later known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) or the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT). The recording begins in mid-conversation. Machine noise follows the conversation. Item 23D.4 is a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. They discuss former Vice President Richard M. Nixon’s upcoming meeting with President Charles de Gaulle of France. They consider whether Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John A. McCone should speak to Nixon about the meeting. They also discuss the protection of U.S. embassy property in Havana, Cuba. Item 23D.5 is a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Deputy Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach. They discuss James M. Landis and an issue involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Machine noise follows the conversation. Item 23D.6 is a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Senator Clair Engle of California. They discuss the impending resignation of Postmaster General J. Edward Day and their thoughts on choosing a successor. Following this conversation, there is a fragment of another conversation; the entire conversation, including this fragment, is recorded on Dictation Belt 23E.Transcript included. Each item listed above is also available individually as an excerpt derived from this full-length digitized recording. See Related Records for more information.