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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-05
In this interview Komer discusses working with McGeorge Bundy; the “inner circle” of the Bundy State Department; Komer’s major contacts; the intelligence system; the power and responsibilities of the State Department; how Bundy screened what President John F. Kennedy [JFK] would see; relations with other key officials; Robert F. Kennedy and foreign policy issues; the Bundy State Department and White House staff; the “little State Department” in the White House; the bureaucratic role of the State Department; U.S. foreign policy in Asia; relations with key U.S. Ambassadors; handling Arab-Israeli issues; domestic pressures of American-Jewish community on JFK; Arabists in the Kennedy Administration; working with Myer Feldman on Israeli issues; the United States, Saudi Arabia, and oil; filling the power vacuum left by the British; dealing with Congress on foreign aid matters; counterinsurgency; and looking back at programs during the Kennedy Administration, among other issues.
Sound recording
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-TPH-XXXA
Sound recording of President John F. Kennedy dictating memoranda for the following staff members: Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Tom Walsh, Anne Lincoln, Andrew T. Hatcher, Deputy Special Counsel to the President Myer “Mike” Feldman, Special Assistant to the President Ralph A. Dungan, and Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. Jerome B. Wiesner. President Kennedy also dictates a memorandum for his own files regarding reflections on recent events and issues.Occasionally the recording echoes and is noisy.
Transcript included.