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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-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
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-TGW-01
In this interview Wicker discusses early impressions of John F. Kennedy [JFK], 1952–1961; Lyndon B. Johnson campaigning for JFK in the South, 1960; Richard M. Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge’s 1960 presidential campaign; JFK and Johnson in the August 1960 special session of Congress; Wicker’s first interview with President JFK for the New York Times, 1961; building a rapport with JFK’s staff; various Times articles, by Wicker and others, about the Kennedy Administration and White House reactions to them; Wicker’s arguments with Pierre E.G. Salinger over certain articles; year-end briefings in Palm Beach; and President JFK’s press conferences, among other issues.
Sound recording
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-TPH-25A
Dictation Belt 25A contains six sound recordings. Item 25A.1 is a telephone conversation held on July 31, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon. They discuss an unidentified situation concerning United Air Lines. They also discuss Peru using aid money from the United States to buy gold. Item 25A.2 is a telephone conversation held on July 31, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana. Senator Long raises an objection to an order requiring the state government of Louisiana to enforce compliance with a federal integration order on a highway project. Item 25A.3 is a brief telephone exchange between President John F. Kennedy and a White House Operator. When President Kennedy answers, the operator informs him that the call from Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John W. McCormack of Massachusetts is intended for Special Assistant to the President Kenneth O’Donnell. Item 25A.4 is a brief telephone exchange between an unidentified man and a White House Operator. The unidentified man asks for an outside line. Item 25A.5 is a telephone conversation held on August 6, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Special Assistant to the President Claude Desautels. They discuss the integration of African Americans into the federal workforce and plans for a field hearing in Philadelphia. The recording begins in mid-conversation. Machine noise follows the conversation. Item 25A.6 is part of a telephone conversation held on August 7, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Representative Martha W. Griffiths of Michigan. They discuss their positions on a tax bill and its possible effects on the economy and politics. Machine noise precedes the conversation, and the conversation begins in mid-sentence. The recording of this conversation ends abruptly and continues on Dictation Belt 25B.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.