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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-TMH-01
In this interview Hesburgh discusses his contact with John F. Kennedy [JFK] before he was elected President; Harris Wofford on JFK’s staff; different members of the Commission on Civil Rights; meeting with President JFK about the Commission’s reports and recommendations; JFK versus Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson on civil rights, respectively; JFK’s political priorities as President and what that meant for civil rights issues during his Administration; tension between the Commission and the Department of Justice; JFK’s characterization of civil rights as a moral problem; and a shift in Commission reports towards the local level, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-05
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss how John F. Kennedy [JFK] and RFK grew increasingly more involved with and concerned about civil rights; getting Martin Luther King out of jail during JFK’s 1960 campaign; civil rights advisers during JFK’s 1960 campaign; RFK becoming Attorney General amidst the civil rights battle and the transitional period in the Department of Justice [DOJ]; how Marshall got his position in the DOJ; the struggle over school desegregation; the New Orleans school crisis of February 1961; the Freedom Riders and violence against them; sending federal marshals to Alabama; trying to find a bus driver to get the Freedom Riders out of Birmingham, Alabama; criticism of RFK’s response to the Freedom Riders; how Freedom Riders were arrested and threatened in Mississippi; African-American voting rights in the South and DOJ authority; difficulties with judges; Supreme Court appointments; the FBI and organized crime; reorganization of the DOJ; RFK’s interactions with the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover after JFK’s death; Hoover’s allegations about JFK and the Kennedy family; the alleged FBI wiretapping of officials; JFK’s opinion of Hoover; FBI press releases; connecting the civil rights movement with communism to discredit it; FBI involvement in civil rights matters; issues with the FBI as having civilian control of a police force; JFK’s communication with King and other civil rights leaders; civil rights legislation; the issue of equal employment; the Civil Rights Commission; and violence against African Americans in Birmingham in the spring of 1963, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LEM-03
In this interview Martin discusses helping fill government positions after John F. Kennedy [JFK] is elected President, 1960; the appointment of African American judges, including Thurgood Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; providing African American candidates for different agency positions; civil rights crises during JFK’s Administration; Lee White as the White House advisor on civil rights; the civil rights bill introduced in 1963; religious groups in the civil rights movement; the issue of “white backlash”; and working for President JFK versus working for President Lyndon B. Johnson, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LEM-02
In this interview Martin discusses African American voters in the 1960 presidential election; dealing with African American press during John F. Kennedy's [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign; Lyndon B. Johnson’s vice-presidential nomination and African American press; getting prominent African Americans to endorse JFK; the telephone call from JFK to Coretta Scott King, 1960; and mobilizing the African American vote for JFK in different American cities in 1960, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LEM-01
In this interview Martin discusses joining John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign and his role, including working with other campaign staff members; JFK and civil rights; using the issue of civil rights in the campaign; African-American leadership and the Democratic Party in the 1960 campaign; getting civil rights leaders involved in the 1960 campaign; and the National Conference on Constitutional Rights, among other issues.
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-03-02-C
KN13
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-20340
Meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO). Special Assistant to the President, Brooks Hays, sits sixth from left; Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights, Harris Wofford, sits at head of table. All others are unidentified. Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-20338
Meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO). Special Assistant to the President, Brooks Hays, sits sixth from left; Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights, Harris Wofford, sits second from right. All others are unidentified. Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-20336
Meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO). Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights, Harris Wofford, sits on far left. All others are unidentified. Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-20335
Meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO). Special Assistant to the President, Brooks Hays, sits seventh from left; Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights, Harris Wofford, sits at head of table (second from right). All others are unidentified. Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6908-C
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the United States Commission on Civil Rights in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. Seated, facing away from the camera (L-R): Berl I. Bernhard; Erwin N. Griswold; and John A. Hannah, Chairman. Seated, facing the camera (L-R): President Kennedy (in rocking chair); Harris Wofford, Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights; Spottswood Robinson, III; Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh; Robert G. Storey, Vice Chairman (partially hidden); and Robert S. Rankin. Members of the news media in background, including White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI) Helen Thomas (third from left).
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6908-B
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the United States Commission on Civil Rights in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. Seated (L-R): Harris Wofford, Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights; Spottswood Robinson, III; Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh; Robert G. Storey, Vice Chairman (partially hidden); Robert S. Rankin; John A. Hannah, Chairman; Erwin N. Griswold; Berl I. Bernhard; and President Kennedy (in rocking chair). Members of the news media in background.
Collection
JFKWHSFHW
Lawyer, government official. Assistant to Senator John F. Kennedy (1960); Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights (1961-62). Contains correspondence, progress reports, speeches, and occasional background material on civil rights cases.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-20339
Meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO). Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights, Harris Wofford, sits at head of table (center). All others are unidentified. Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-20337
Meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO). Special Assistant to the President, Brooks Hays, sits third from left; Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights, Harris Wofford, sits in center. All others are unidentified. Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.