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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-KN-C17763
Presentation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. On platform, L-R: Commander Shepard; Deputy Administrator of NASA, Hugh L. Dryden; astronaut Lieutenant Commander Walter M. Schirra, Jr. (partially hidden); President John F. Kennedy; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; astronaut Lieutenant Commander M. Scott Carpenter. Standing on colonnade at right, L-R: Postmaster General, J. Edward Day; Secretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas Dillon; Under Secretary of State, Chester B. Bowles. Executive Secretary of National Aeronautics and Space Council, Edward C. Welsh, stands on colonnade at far left. Reporters and photographers unidentified. Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C17758
Presentation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. On platform, L-R: Louise Brewer Shepard (wife of Commander Shepard); Commander Shepard; First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy; President John F. Kennedy; astronaut Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr.; astronaut Captain Gordon Cooper, Jr.; Administrator of NASA, James E. Webb; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; astronaut Lieutenant Commander M. Scott Carpenter. Standing on colonnade at right, L-R: Postmaster General, J. Edward Day; Secretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas Dillon (behind); Under Secretary of State, Chester B. Bowles; Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Abraham Ribicoff. Reporters and photographers unidentified. Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C17756
Presentation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. On platform, L-R: Commander Shepard; Louise Brewer Shepard (wife of Commander Shepard); Deputy Administrator of NASA, Hugh L. Dryden; President John F. Kennedy; Administrator of NASA, James E. Webb; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Congressman Overton Brooks (Louisiana); astronaut Lieutenant Commander M. Scott Carpenter. Standing on colonnade at right, L-R: Postmaster General, J. Edward Day; Secretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas Dillon; Under Secretary of State, Chester B. Bowles; Assistant Special Counsel to the President, Richard Goodwin. Reporters and photographers unidentified. Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C17755
Presentation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. On platform, L-R: Commander Shepard; Renza (Emerson) Shepard (mother of Commander Shepard); astronaut Lieutenant Commander Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Secretary of the Navy, John Connally, Jr.; President John F. Kennedy; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Congressman Overton Brooks (Louisiana); astronaut Lieutenant Commander M. Scott Carpenter. Standing on colonnade at right, L-R: Postmaster General, J. Edward Day; Secretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas Dillon; Under Secretary of State, Chester B. Bowles; Assistant Special Counsel to the President, Richard Goodwin; Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Abraham Ribicoff. Reporters and photographers unidentified. Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C.