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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-OWH-01
In this interview Hill discusses working on John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign; the negative reaction to Lyndon B. Johnson as the vice-presidential candidate in the South and among African-Americans; difficulties for the Southern operations of the JFK campaign; getting the African-American vote in the South for JFK in the 1960 election; working with and around different civil rights groups and leaders in the 1960 campaign; other campaign staff members at the federal and state levels; attempts to solve the problem of discrimination in housing during JFK’s Administration; the Federal Housing Administration, including staff and directives and projects in the South; the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunities in Housing; and the 1962 executive order in housing, among other issues.
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-AJB-02
Biemiller discusses the Kennedy and Johnson administrations’ legislative records, particularly on labor issues; specific issues and pieces of legislation; civil rights; and the labor movement’s relationship with the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JRL-01
In this interview Lewis discusses President John F. Kennedy on civil rights; Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] as Attorney General and civil rights; working on RFK’s 1968 presidential campaign; RFK’s assassination, 1968; J. Edgar Hoover and FBI investigations of the civil rights movement; discrimination, hatred, and violence; and the march from Selma to Montgomery and “Bloody Sunday,” 1965, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-07
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss the very limited proposal for voting rights legislation before the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama; how civil rights groups did not always understand politics or how to get things through Congress; John F. Kennedy [JFK] trying to explain political difficulties to civil rights leaders; meetings on civil rights legislation and the strategy for getting the votes for a civil rights bill in both houses of Congress; RFK’s disagreements with Lyndon B. Johnson on civil rights legislation; RFK, the Justice Department, and the reapportionment cases; RFK’s meeting with James Baldwin and the subsequent attack on RFK in the press; JFK’s role in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963; speeches at the March on Washington; George Wallace, Alabama state troopers, and the investigation into the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, September, 1963; and JFK, James J. Delaney, and the issue of aid to church schools, 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-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-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-RBT-01
In this interview, Troutman discusses Kennedy’s campaign for the Presidency, his decision to choose Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate, and their work for equal employment during the Civil Rights movement, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HLW-03
Wofford discusses the “talent search” after John F. Kennedy's election, and Kennedy administration appointees; Lyndon B. Johnson’s civil rights work as vice president; FBI wiretaps of Martin Luther King, Jr.; and the Civil Rights Commission.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HHW-02
Wilson discusses his role as a member of John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] staff, including descriptions of other staff members and his interactions with them. He also covers JFK’s relationship with Congress, various legislative bills, and his thoughts on Lyndon B. Johnson, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-TGW-02
In this interview Wicker discusses John F. Kennedy's [JFK] unique way of giving speeches; Lyndon B. Johnson’s unhappiness with his position as Vice President; Anthony J. Celebrezze’s appointment to the Cabinet, 1962; Wicker’s sources for Kennedy Without Tears; traveling with JFK to Texas in November, 1963; the motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963; the confusion after the shooting and learning what happened; gathering information from witnesses and hospital staff at Parkland Hospital; the announcement of JFK’s death and the general atmosphere after; Johnson’s swearing in as President; reporting on the day’s events from the airport; and the rapid transition to the Johnson White House, 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.