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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.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-061-001
This scrapbook, compiled by Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy, Jr., documents his education, travels, and other aspects of his life from 1936 to 1940. The scrapbook contains clippings, photographs, postcards, and printed ephemera related to his time at Harvard University; his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.’s tenure as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom; trips to various European countries; and social events and activities. Newspaper and periodical clippings cover a wide range of topics, including Joe, Jr.’s athletic career and involvement in student government at Harvard; the Kennedy family’s arrival in London, England, following Joe, Sr.'s appointment as ambassador; the prospect of British involvement in the global conflict that became World War II; Joe, Sr.'s opinions on and actions related to the war; and other political and society news and events. Others featured in clippings and pictured in photographs include Joe, Jr.’s mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy; his siblings, John F. “Jack” Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, Patricia Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy, and Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy; his grandparents, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald; his cousin, Joseph Francis Gargan, Jr.; and family friend, Hugh Fraser. Printed ephemera pasted into the scrapbook include invitations to various parties, receptions, luncheons, dinners, weddings, meetings, and banquets, including a ball at Buckingham Palace; event programs; menus; tickets; and calling cards. Of note are a set of fingerprints that Joe, Jr., had taken during a visit to the Boston Police Headquarters; an envelope containing five bird feathers; photographs of Joe, Jr., dressed in drag for a Harvard theater production; clippings related to his purported relationship with figure skater Megan Taylor; a letter from British Member of Parliament, Anthony Eden; photographic prints and postcards that capture a Kennedy family trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland; a photograph of Joe, Jr., aboard the R.M.S. Mauretania; clippings related to Joe, Jr.’s voyage from London to New York City, New York; Spanish paper currency; an unsent postcard addressed to Katherine “Kikoo” Conboy, nanny to the Kennedy children, signed by Joe, Jr.; a photographic postcard signed by Alois Lang, the actor who portrayed Jesus in the 1934 performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria, Germany; contact prints of strips of 35mm black and white negatives that capture scenes from Joe, Jr.’s 1939 trip to Spain with Kathleen following the end of the Spanish Civil War, including images of Spanish Loyalist tanks and damage from the siege of the Alcázar of Toledo; a photographic postcard featuring an image of Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Hermann Göring; signed portrait photos of several unidentified women; and prints of four watercolor illustrations depicting scenes from the Spanish Civil War, credited to “Artillery Lieutenant Luis Serrano.” Other destinations pictured in photographic prints and postcards include Warsaw, Poland; Cannes, France; Capri, Rome, Venice, Naples, and Amalfi, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark; Czechoslovakia; Killarney and other locations in Ireland; and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia. Original handwritten captions and inscriptions are written in black ink on some of the leaves. This photograph album contains 164 photographic prints and postcards, 134 newspaper and periodical clippings, 29 pieces of printed ephemera, six banknotes and two banknote fragments, four pieces of correspondence, and four prints of watercolor drawings.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-058-001
This photograph album, compiled by Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, documents her life during the years 1935 to 1937, when she spent time abroad attending the Holy Child School in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and traveling with family and friends before returning to the United States to complete her education at the Noroton School of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Noroton Heights, Connecticut. The stamped title on the cover reads, “Pictures.” Photographs capture her time spent in Gstaad, Switzerland, for the 1935 Christmas holiday; sightseeing in Paris, France; a tour of Italy with friends from March to April 1936; a trip to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and Moscow, Russia, with her mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, in May 1936; a visit to England with friends in June 1936; sailing on Cape Cod in the summer of 1936; Christmas in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1936; and a trip to Ireland and Scotland with her brother, Joseph P. "Joe" Kennedy, Jr., in August 1937. Also included are numerous photographs of Kathleen and her classmates at both the Holy Child School and the Noroton School. Of note are photographs of Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini; Nazi soldiers marching in Berlin, Germany; Michelangelo’s David statue at its original location in Florence, Italy; Mt. Vesuvius and the ruins at Pompeii, Italy; and Kathleen kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle in Ireland. Other Kennedy family members, friends, and classmates of Kathleen’s pictured include Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.; John F. Kennedy; Rosemary Kennedy; Eunice Kennedy; Patricia Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy; Jean Kennedy; Edward M. Kennedy; Alexander William Guy “Alex” de Pourtales; Eleanor “Ellie” Hoguet; Derek Richardson; Frederick Sinclair “Freddy” Carson; Lawrence “Larry” Wilkinson; Anne McDonnell; Charlotte McDonnell; Torbert “Torb” Macdonald; Sir James Calder; Lady Mildred Calder; Jim McColl; Kirk LeMoyne “Lem” Billings; Ralph “Rip” Horton; Elizabeth “Betty” Rice; Mary Veronica “Von” Rice; Sonio Coletti-Petrucca; Allison Garver; and Edith Garver. This photograph album contains 331 photographic prints.
Textual folder
Kennedy Family Collection
KFC-054-001
This scrapbook, compiled by Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy, Jr., documents his education, travels, and family life between 1932 and 1938. The title on the cover reads, “Album.” The scrapbook contains photographs of and printed ephemera related to his studies at the London School of Economics (1933-1934) and Harvard University (1934-1938), as well as time spent with family and friends at the Kennedy family residences in Bronxville in New York, Palm Beach in Florida, and Hyannis Port in Massachusetts, and traveling in Europe. Destinations pictured include Switzerland, England, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Scotland, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Bermuda, Georgia, and France. Of note are telegrams from Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy to their son; photographs of Joe, Jr., skiing with friends in Zermatt, Switzerland; two portrait cards from the Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany; photographic postcards featuring images of the 1934 performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria, Germany; an invitation from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to Joe, Jr., for an event at the White House; materials related to Joe, Jr.’s athletic career at Harvard, where he participated in football, swimming, and rugby, including photographs of the 1936 Bermuda Rugby Week competition; a Bermuda Islands court summons issued to “Joseph Kennedy” and dated March 30, 1936; and telegrams sent to Joe, Jr., for his birthday. Kennedy family members and friends pictured in photographs and clippings include Joseph, Sr.; Rose; John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald; John F. Kennedy; Rosemary Kennedy; Kathleen Kennedy; Eunice Kennedy; Patricia Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy; Jean Kennedy; Edward M. Kennedy; Kirk LeMoyne “Lem” Billings; nanny to the Kennedy children, Katherine Conboy; Edward E. Moore and Mary Moore; Sir James Calder; and economist Harold Laski. Handwritten captions and inscriptions are written in blue and black ink on many of the leaves. This scrapbook contains 224 photographic prints (including three tintypes), 53 newspaper and magazine clippings, and 36 photographic postcards, as well as telegrams, letters, invitations, menus, tickets, picture postcards, calling cards, and other types of printed ephemera.