Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
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-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-WAH-03
In this interview, Harriman discusses American opinion on negotiations in Laos; U.S. negotiations and objectives in Indonesia; American relations with Achmed Sukarno; friction between the State Department and the Pentagon over who should control the situation in Vietnam, civilians or the military; Ngo Dinh Diem and the military coup that overthrew him; problems with and for newspapermen in Vietnam; and his opinion on where the United States went wrong in Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-CLC-03
Cooper discusses Vietnam policy during the Kennedy administration, Henry Cabot Lodge’s ambassadorship to Vietnam, and the November 1963 coup that overthrew Ngo Dinh Diem, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WPB-03
Bundy discusses 1961 and 1963 debates about supporting a coup in Vietnam a trip that Bundy, Robert S. McNamara, Maxwell D. Taylor, and other took to Vietnam to gauge sentiments within the country about Ngo Dinh Diem’s government; the November 1963 coup that overthrew Diem, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WPB-02
Bundy discusses documents from the 1961 National Security Files about Vietnam, increasing troop strength, questioning Ngo Dinh Diem’s ability to lead Vietnam, use of defoliants and other unconventional weapons, and U.S. counterinsurgency theory, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-MGB-04
Bundy discusses documents relating to military aide, Vietnam, and the coup against Diem.
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-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-MVF-03
Forrestal discusses ambassador’s role in Vietnam, the strategic hamlet program, the August 24th telegram and escalating tensions, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WHS-02
This interview focuses on Sullivan’s involvement in Vietnamese affairs, the 1963 coup that overthrew Ngo Dinh Diem, and tensions between the United States military and the embassy in South Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-PDS-02
This interview focuses on Sprouse’s own views of Norodom Sihanouk, the United States’ shaky diplomatic relations with nations of the Indochinese Peninsula, and tensions between Sprouse and the Department of State, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-PDS-01
This interview focuses on Sprouse’s previous experience in the Foreign Service, relations between the United States and Cambodia under the leadership of Norodom Sihanouk, and tensions between the nations of the Indochinese peninsula, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-BS-01
This interview focuses on John F. Kennedy (JFK)’s handling of the international crises, the difficulties of establishing an efficient information system for JFK, and tensions between the White House and the State Department, among other issues.
Sound recording
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files.
JFKPOF-TPH-52-1
Sound recording of President John F. Kennedy dictating a memoir entry in November 1963. He talks about the coup in Saigon, South Vietnam, and the assassinations of Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu, about the Soviet Union's stand on autobahn access, about American oil contracts in Latin-American countries, and about a statement by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer concerning the Berlin Wall. President Kennedy also speaks with his son John F. Kennedy, Jr.The recording ends abruptly.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-MDT-03
This interview focuses on the reorganization of the U.S. military command in Vietnam, general concern regarding the influence of Nhu within the Vietnamese government, and the Kennedy administration’s disillusionment with Diem, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-MDT-02
This interview focuses on Taylor’s role in dealing with crises in Southeast Asia, the Special Group (Counterinsurgency)’s actions in Vietnam, and the debate over whether to put troops in Vietnam, among other issues.
Textual folder
James C. Thomson Personal Papers
JCTPP-023-015
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-204-013
This file contains Department of State telegrams regarding South Vietnam (officially known as the Republic of Vietnam), including proposed military plans for a coup d'état to oust President Ngo Dinh Diem, and potential United States involvement.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-204-012
This file contains Department of State telegrams regarding South Vietnam (officially known as the Republic of Vietnam), including discussions between Lieutenant Colonel Lucien E. Conein and Major General Tran Van Don concerning United States involvement in a coup d'état to oust President Ngo Dinh Diem.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-204-011
This file contains Department of State telegrams regarding relations between the United States and South Vietnam (officially known as the Republic of Vietnam). Topics include U.S. economic aid; the political climate in South Vietnam surrounding President Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu, the President's brother and chief advisor; leaks to the press; and the response of the South Vietnamese government to demonstrations by Buddhists and students.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-203-008
This file contains appendices to a report (also known as the Taylor-Rostow Report) by Military Representative to the President General Maxwell Taylor on his trip to South Vietnam (officially known as the Republic of Vietnam). Materials consist of a series of memoranda to General Taylor from various individuals regarding South Vietnam's political situation and the regime of President Ngo Dinh Diem, United States economic aid to South Vietnam, and the conflict between South Vietnam and North Vietnam (officially known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam).
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-203-004
This folder is part of a report (also known as the Taylor-Rostow Report) for Walt Rostow, Deputy Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from Military Representative to the President General Maxwell Taylor. Materials consist of a series of memoranda to General Taylor from Brigadier General Edward Lansdale regarding the conflict between South Vietnam (officially known as the Republic of Vietnam) and North Vietnam (officially known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) including the usage of unconventional warfare, covert intelligence, clandestine operations, and the general sentiment towards President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-202-003
This file contains Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) telegrams, memoranda, and reports regarding South Vietnam (officially known as the Republic of Vietnam) following a coup d'état ousting President Ngo Dinh Diem. Topics include establishment of a provisional government; dissension among the leaders of the coup; and public reactions to administrative appointments.
Textual folder
Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files
JFKNSF-202-002
This folder contains Department of State telegrams regarding a coup d’etat in South Vietnam and the deaths of President Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu, the President's brother and chief advisor; establishment of a provisional government; reactions to the coup; and potential United States involvement. Also included are telegrams regarding the South Vietnamese economy and U.S. aid, and military efforts against the Viet Cong.