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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RH-01
In this interview Hilsman discusses his initial interactions with John F. Kennedy [JFK]; Hilsman’s appointment to the Department of State during the Kennedy Administration; Foreign Service officers and “hot-seat” jobs; issues with Dean Rusk as Secretary of State; reorganizing the Bureau of Intelligence and Research; the flow of information between the State Department and the White House; staffing the State Department; the use of satellite intelligence; John A. McCone; working with and around Robert F. Kennedy [RFK]; JFK, RFK, and Vietnam; Edward G. Lansdale; Maxwell D. Taylor; the connection between Vietnam and Laos; U.S. action in Laos; the Buddhist crisis in Vietnam; the impact of WWII on Hilsman and JFK’s generation; and the 1963 coup in Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-BBH-01
In this interview Hickenlooper discusses various meetings with President John F. Kennedy [JFK] on foreign relations; Soviet and American nuclear testing; the nuclear test ban treaty; the Bay of Pigs invasion; Laos and Vietnam; the Punta del Este Conference in 1962; the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; Hickenlooper's 1962 reelection campaign; traveling with JFK to Costa Rica; the 1961 Berlin crisis; JFK's congressional relations; and social occasions at the Kennedy White House, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LCH-02
In this interview Heinz discusses his primary contacts in other government agencies; the Vietnam task force; the different political trips and survey missions to Vietnam; the Maxwell D. Taylor-Walt W. Rostow mission to Vietnam and subsequent report; the Ngo Dinh Diem regime; the rise in interest in the concept of counterinsurgency; problems with working in Vietnam; changing the terrain in Vietnam with the use of defoliants; the Strategic Hamlet program; how to measure success in warfare; the International Control Commission; General Paul D. Harkins; the various agency reports coming out of Vietnam and interagency meetings; the Buddhist crisis in the summer of 1963; the appointment of Henry Cabot Lodge as Ambassador; and the military coup in Saigon and the rumors leading up to it, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-03
In this interview Komer discusses negotiating disengagement with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia; John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] involvement in the Yemen crisis and the negotiations with Nasser and Faisal; U.S. New Guinea policy and the Dutch-Indonesian conflict; JFK and counterinsurgency; Komer and police programs as part of U.S. counterinsurgency efforts; JFK’s policy towards and involvement with India and Pakistan; U.S. military assistance to India, 1962; and U.S. missions to Pakistan and India, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-03
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses the 1962 steel crisis; some major issues and accomplishments of John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] presidency; choosing the U.S. Ambassador to Russia; foreign aid and treaties; the military coup in Peru; the space race during the Kennedy Administration; the 1962 congressional and gubernatorial campaigns; JFK’s dinner for the Nobel Prize winners; the Polaris submarines; problems with the New York Herald Tribune; New York politics; various pieces of federal legislation, 1961–1963; the Dominican Republic; Department of Justice investigations under RFK; the difficulties of being Attorney General; congressional issues in early 1963; the Vietnam War escalation in 1963; American support of the coup in Vietnam; Henry Cabot Lodge as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam; the prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion; American actions in Cuba; unemployment and civil rights; RFK’s meeting with James Baldwin; JFK’s trips to the South and speeches on civil rights; the nuclear test ban treaty; and JFK’s trip to Ireland and Rome, among other issues.
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.
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-JCT-03
In this interview, he discusses Roger Hilsman’s 1963 speech on firm policies towards China, the changing approaches to foreign policy in Southeast Asia between the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and the conflicting ideologies on U.S. involvement in Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JKR-01
In this interview Ruina discusses the Nike-Zeus antiballistic-missile-missiles; briefing President John F. Kennedy [JFK] on the Nike-Zeus missiles; JFK’s comprehension of the briefing material and the type of questions he asked; Project Defender; the background and organization of the Advanced Research Projects Agency; the leadership and organization of the Department of Defense; interactions with Robert S. McNamara; competition between the military and the Defense Department on research and development and for resources and congressional funds; the period of new, advanced—but not always useful—technology; and Project AGILE and counterinsurgency efforts in Vietnam, among other issues.
Sound recording
White House Audio Collection
JFKWHA-068-007
Sound recording of President John F. Kennedy’s message to the people of Vietnam on the occasion of Tết (Vietnamese New Year) recorded and transmitted through the Voice of America. In his speech President Kennedy wishes the Vietnamese people a peaceful new year, and discusses the presence of communism in Southeast Asia.
Textual folder
Richard W. Reuter Personal Papers
RWRPP-011-006
Textual folder
Richard W. Reuter Personal Papers
RWRPP-011-004
Textual folder
James C. Thomson Personal Papers
JCTPP-026-013
Textual folder
James C. Thomson Personal Papers
JCTPP-024-018
Textual folder
James C. Thomson Personal Papers
JCTPP-023-015
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-193-004
This folder contains telegrams and memoranda regarding Vietnam. Topics include a counterinsurgency plan by the United States for South Vietnam; relations between Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand; and the threat of communism in the region. Also included in this folder is a letter and report to Walt W. Rostow, Deputy Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from Kenneth T. Young (later U.S. Ambassador to Thailand) on observations made during Mr. Young’s trip through Southeast Asia.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-200-005
This folder contains summaries of public opinion towards United States policy and developments in Vietnam, a memorandum regarding articles written by journalist David Halberstam on the Mekong Delta, and memoranda by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on South Vietnam. Of note is correspondence between Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Madame Nhu (Tran Le Xuan), wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu and sister-in-law to President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-198-008
This folder contains materials regarding the political climate in South Vietnam; the relationship between Ngo Dinh Nhu and President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) summaries and reviews of developments in South Vietnam; and correspondence between President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge, and Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs Roger Hilsman.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-198-005
This folder contains telegrams to and from the United States Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam regarding demonstrations by Buddhists and students and the subsequent imposition of martial law, the political climate in South Vietnam surrounding President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem and his chief advisor Ngo Dinh Nhu, and censorship of outgoing press by the South Vietnamese government. Also included in this folder are telegrams summarizing meetings between Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, and President Diem.
Textual folder
Roger Hilsman Personal Papers
RHPP-004-012
Textual folder
Roger Hilsman Personal Papers
RHPP-003-022
Textual folder
Roger Hilsman Personal Papers
RHPP-003-020
Textual folder
Roger Hilsman Personal Papers
RHPP-003-018
Textual folder
Roger Hilsman Personal Papers
RHPP-003-017
Textual folder
Roger Hilsman Personal Papers
RHPP-003-016