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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.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6287-F
Swearing in ceremony and reception for Cabinet members and their families, East Room, White House, Washington, D.C. Newly sworn-in Cabinet members and their families pose with President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and wife Margaret McNamara; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and wife Ethel Kennedy; Postmaster General J. Edward Day and Mary Louise Day; Erma Lee Udall with husband Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; Jacqueline Kennedy; President Kennedy; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Lady Bird Johnson; United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai E. Stevenson; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges and wife Martha Hodges; Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman. Children seated in foreground include: Joseph P. Kennedy II (second from left); Tom Udall (third from right); Scott Udall (fourth from right).
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6287-C
Swearing in ceremony and reception for Cabinet members and their families, East Room, White House, Washington, D.C. Newly sworn-in cabinet members and their families pose with President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Photo includes: Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and wife Margaret McNamara; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and wife Ethel Kennedy; Postmaster General J. Edward Day and wife Mary Louise Day; Erma Lee Udall with husband Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; Jacqueline Kennedy and President Kennedy; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson; United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai E. Stevenson; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges and wife Martha Hodges. Children seated in foreground include: Joseph P. Kennedy II (second from left); Tom Udall (third from right); Scott Udall (fourth from right).
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6862-A
Cabinet meeting. At table (clockwise from bottom left): Frederick C. Belen, Assistant Postmaster General; Vice President Lyndon Johnson; Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; Charles S. Murphy, Under Secretary of Agriculture (mostly hidden); Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Abraham Ribicoff, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Secretary of State Dean Rusk; President John F. Kennedy; Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon; Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. Seated at back right of room (L – R): Unidentified man; Najeeb Halaby, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency; Walter Heller, Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.