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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-BIB-01
Bernhard discusses the often contentious relations between the Commission on Civil Rights, John F. Kennedy’s White House, and the Justice Department, especially after a report and recommendations that the Commission made about Mississippi, 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.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. White House Staff Files of Lee C. White
JFKWHSFLCW-024-007
Collection
WICPP
Papers, 1922-2011 (bulk 1948-2004). Congressional staffer; federal and local government official; educator; consultant; advocate for criminal justice reform. Legislative assistant, Congressman Brooks Hays of Arkansas (1956-1959); legislative assistant and press secretary, Senator Clair Engle of California (1959-1960); research analyst, Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (1960-1961); assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Affairs, U.S. Department of State (1961-1962); White House staffer (1962-1966); staff director, Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations (1962-1963); special assistant to the staff director, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1963-1965); special assistant to the administrator for equal opportunity, Agency for International Development (1965-1967); director of legislative affairs, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1967-1969); management consultant (1969-1975); Mount Vernon Supervisor, Fairfax County (Va.) Board of Supervisors (1975-1980); senior staff member, Center for Public Policy Education, the Brookings Institution (1975-1993); vice chairman, National Committee on Community Corrections (1987-2004); author, In Search of Middle Ground: Memoirs of a Washington Insider (2005). Professional and personal papers documenting lengthy career in Washington, D.C., and community volunteer work, with an emphasis on civil rights, intergovernmental relations, equal employment regulations, health care policy, criminal justice, and prison industries. Correspondence, drafts, writings, reports, conference files, notes, research material, press releases, speeches, and news clippings.