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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.
Sound recording
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-TPH-22A
Dictation Belt 22A contains four sound recordings. Item 22A.1 a brief telephone exchange on June 12, 1963, between Personal Secretary Evelyn Lincoln and a White House Operator. Lincoln asks the operator to place a call to Mrs. John Fell on behalf of President John F. Kennedy. Machine noise precedes and follows the exchange. Item 22A.2 is a telephone conversation held on June 12, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Representative Carl Albert of Oklahoma. They discuss the defeat of a bill in the House of Representatives, votes of particular congressmen, and the effect of an order requiring racial integration. [White House Operator?] speaks to Representative Albert while he holds for President Kennedy. There is an echo during a brief segment of the recording. Item 22A.3 is a telephone conversation held on June 14, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. They discuss a close vote in Louisiana and a possible visit by Governor Davis. The quality of recording of Governor Davis’s side of the conversation is very poor. Most of Governor Davis’s speech is inaudible. Item 22A.4 is part of a telephone conversation held on June 18, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, Allen C. Thompson. They continue to discuss demonstrations and other aspects of the civil rights situation in Mississippi. President Kennedy asks about issues raised by visiting clergymen from Jackson. The recording of this conversation ends abruptly and continues on Dictation Belt 22B.Transcript included. Each item listed above is also available individually as an excerpt derived from this full-length digitized recording. See Related Records for more information.