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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-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.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-339-006
This file contains a draft and copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 196 (NSAM 196) titled, “Establishment of an Executive Committee of the National Security Council,” to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone from President John F. Kennedy.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-341-012
This file contains drafts and copies of National Security Action Memoranda number 252 (NSAM 252) titled, “Establishment of the National Communications System,” to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John McCone, Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) Edward R. Murrow, Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) James E. Webb, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) E. William Henry, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) Najeeb Halaby, Administrator for the General Services Administration (GSA) Bernard Boutin, Director of the Bureau of the Budget Kermit Gordon, Director of the Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) Edward McDermott, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Jerome B. Wiesner, and the Director of Telecommunications Management [to be established] from McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Also included are memoranda related to NSAM 252.