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Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-EDAG-02
In this interview Gullion discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] views on the roles of U.S. Ambassadors and diplomatic missions; Gullion’s work in the Congo, 1961-1963; JFK’s views of the Congo and of Africa; UN policy in the Congo and the U Thant plan; and Moise Kapenda Tshombe and Cyrille Adoula and Katangese secession, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-EDAG-01
In this interview Gullion discusses his first impressions of and early relationship with Congressman John F. Kennedy [JFK]; JFK’s 1951 visit to Indochina and its affect on his stance on foreign policy; the State Department’s issues with JFK throughout his career; and JFK as a Senator, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-06
In this interview Komer discusses U.S. aid to India and Pakistan and some problems involved with it, including the question of long-term U.S. aid and a shift in focus from Pakistan to India; problems with the Agency for International Development; oil and U.S. policy; U.S. involvement in the Congo; Komer’s meetings with President John F. Kennedy [JFK] and how Komer briefed him; the relations among JFK, Dean Rusk, John Kenneth Galbraith, Adlai E. Stevenson, and McGeorge Bundy; JFK’s interest in India and Pakistan and his attempt at a mediation between the two on Kashmir; and JFK and Algeria and Morocco, among other issues.
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.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-04
In this interview Komer discusses President John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] interest in Indonesia and Iran; U.S.-Indonesian relations; the Indian Ocean and Iran task forces; JFK’s contact with the Iranian Shah; Pakistani-Afghani disputes; U.S. aid to Afghanistan; Komer’s attempt to revamp the military aid program; McGeorge Bundy and Walt W. Rostow as President JFK’s advisers; and JFK’s direct contact with a select few National Security staff, 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-ROWK-02
In this interview Komer discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] personal diplomacy with the United Arab Republic [UAR] through letters; normalizing U.S.-Egypt relations; the Yemen conflict and U.S. interests; negotiating Yemen with M. Harold Macmillan and the attempt to have the United Kingdom recognize the Yemen Republic; dealing with Gamal Abdel Nasser; and difficulties with Saudi Arabia and the UAR, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ROWK-01
In this interview Komer discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] stance on U.S. foreign policy during his presidency; JFK’s affinity for preventive diplomacy; comparisons between JFK and previous Presidents on foreign policy focus; JFK’s intellectual curiosity and “flair for detail,” and his willingness to make the unpopular decision, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WEK-01
This interview focuses on Knight’s role on the Italian Desk and the Opening to the Left issue, among other topics.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-08
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] Cabinet and appointing the various secretaries; problems in and JFK’s wariness of the Department of State; the ideal State Department organization; problems with Dean Rusk; Maxwell D. Taylor’s Cuba investigation; the Bay of Pigs and its effect on U.S. action in Laos; John McCone’s prediction of missiles in Cuba; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and foreign policy; JFK’s vice-presidential choice at the 1960 Democratic National Convention; Johnson’s hesitant acceptance of the vice-presidential slot; RFK’s appointment as Attorney General; RFK’s involvement in staffing the White House for JFK and other presidential appointments; Lord Harlech (William David Ormsby-Gore); and State Department staff, 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-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-HPJ-03
This interview focuses on Robert F. Kennedy’s [RFK] involvement in Indonesia, different ideas about Indonesian policy in the early 1960s, and organizational changes under the Kennedy Administration, among other things.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HPJ-02
This interview focuses on observations of the incoming John F. Kennedy Administration, United States involvement in Indonesia, and communication with the Kennedy White House regarding Indonesia, among other things.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HPJ-01
This interview focuses on meeting John F. Kennedy, relations with the Far East, and serving as Ambassador to Indonesia, among other things.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JDJ-01
In this interview Jernegan discusses John F. Kennedy’s 1957 speech on Algeria; working as the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq; the transition between Administrations in the State Department, 1960; Abd al-Karim Qasim and Iraqi politics; Soviet involvement and influence in Iraq; the Kuwait problem; the Iraqi government and Israel; U.S. policy in regard to oil-bearing countries; oil company negotiations with foreign countries; U.S. foreign aid programs in Iraq; Yemen affairs in the State Department, 1963; Middle East affairs in the Kennedy Administration; changes in Jernegan’s long-range views for Near East problems, 1941–1969; and the influence of pro-Israel and pro-Arab groups on U.S. policy, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-ECH-02
This interview focuses on the Africa Program, the relationship of the Agency for International Development with European countries, and specific involvement of the Agency for International Development with African countries, among other things
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JHC-01
Crimmins discusses the political and economic situation in the Dominican Republic in 1961, John F. Kennedy’s handling of the Dominican Republic situation, and Caribbean policy in general during the Kennedy administration, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-WOD-02
Douglas discusses his impressions of Robert F. Kennedy as Attorney General and Senator, and Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-JTC-02
In this interview Conway discusses working with John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] 1960 presidential campaign; the negative reaction to the choice of Lyndon B. Johnson for JFK’s running mate; labor leadership and JFK’s campaign; unions and the religious issue during the 1960 election; discussing presidential appointments with JFK after the election; Conway’s role in JFK’s Administration; the Housing and Home Finance Agency, legislation, and working with Congress; accelerated public works, the Department of Commerce, and problems with the extent of presidential powers; Walter Reuther and his relationship with JFK; confrontations between Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy [RFK]; working with RFK on civil rights marches and their legislative demands; and interactions with RFK from 1964 through 1968, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JCT-01
In this interview, he discusses Chester Bowles’ political style, the unconventional selections of ambassadorial positions, and the nation’s role in the world, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-KTY-03
In this interview Young discusses the creation of the Dean Rusk-Thanat Khoman Agreement in March 1962; drafting the Internal Security Program for Thailand and urging Thai officials to create their own; Robert F. Kennedy’s visit to Bangkok in 1962 and his support on Thai issues; Thailand’s road building program; the different approach to Asia by select assistant secretaries of State; and working with the country team for Thailand, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-KTY-02
In this interview Young discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the high level visit; the need for scholarly diplomacy in U.S. relations with Asian countries; the role of an ambassador; the relationships between the Embassies in Thailand and Laos; William Averell Harriman’s meetings with Thai and Laotian leaders; different strategy proposals for and conflicting opinions on Laos; U.S. programs in Thailand; and the Dean Rusk-Thanat Khoman Agreement, among other issues.