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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-BBH-01
In this interview Hickenlooper discusses various meetings with President John F. Kennedy [JFK] on foreign relations; Soviet and American nuclear testing; the nuclear test ban treaty; the Bay of Pigs invasion; Laos and Vietnam; the Punta del Este Conference in 1962; the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; Hickenlooper's 1962 reelection campaign; traveling with JFK to Costa Rica; the 1961 Berlin crisis; JFK's congressional relations; and social occasions at the Kennedy White House, 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-RAJ-01
Amory discusses his role in various organizations, his relationship with President Kennedy and White House staff, and foreign policy issues such as the Berlin Wall, Laos, and Vietnam, among other issues.
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1961-06-14-A
KN04
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-DEB-02
Bell discusses U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) during the Kennedy administration including the process of and difficulties with getting Congressional appropriations for foreign aid; and Vietnam and Laos, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-SEB-02
Belk discusses the division of labor within the National Security Council, its relationship with the Department of State and Department of Defense, Latin American and African affairs, and McGeorge Bundy, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WCB-02
Battle discusses the internal politics of the Virginia delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1956 and 1960; his appointment as ambassador to Australia; conflicts, both active and political, that arose in the South Pacific during his tenure as ambassador, including West New Guinea (West Irian), Malaysian independence, and the Vietnam War; Australian politics and politicians; and military cooperation between the U.S. and Australia.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-GWB-03
Ball discusses U.S. military involvement in Laos and Vietnam in the early 1960s, the crisis in the Congo following secession of Katanga Province, and the development of U.S. foreign policy towards Africa, 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-WPB-01
Bundy discusses planning the Bay of Pigs invasion; escalation of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam during the Kennedy Administration, and Robert S. McNamara’s role in developing Vietnam policy; and U.S. military aid to India, 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-MGB-03
Bundy discusses documents from the National Security Files relating to Vietnam and Laos. These documents are listed in the footnotes of this interview, along with their specific folder locations in the Kennedy Library.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WIB-01
Brown discusses his role in the Kennedy Administration, White House staff and daily operations, as well as the morale and staff outlook, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-HCL-01
Lodge discusses his 1952 Senate race against John F. Kennedy, his appointment as Ambassador to Vietnam in 1963, and the final months of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-CF-01
Fritchey discusses appointment to position at the United Nations and the relationship between John F. Kennedy and Adlai E. Stevenson, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-VHK-01
Krulak discusses his earliest contact with John F. Kennedy in the Solomons, the Special Group (CI) on counterinsurgency, Robert S. McNamara, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and Krulak’s observations on Vietnam, among other issues.
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-ROWK-03
In this interview Komer discusses negotiating disengagement with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia; John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] involvement in the Yemen crisis and the negotiations with Nasser and Faisal; U.S. New Guinea policy and the Dutch-Indonesian conflict; JFK and counterinsurgency; Komer and police programs as part of U.S. counterinsurgency efforts; JFK’s policy towards and involvement with India and Pakistan; U.S. military assistance to India, 1962; and U.S. missions to Pakistan and India, 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-RFK-02
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses the 1961 Berlin crisis; American forces, military and diplomatic, in Germany; John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] recommendation for Americans to have fallout shelters; nuclear testing; problems with the Department of State; the start of the conflict in Vietnam, 1961; the Department of Justice under RFK and organized crime; RFK’s difficult relationship with J. Edgar Hoover; the wiretapping bill; new federal judgeships in 1961 and other presidential appointments; the Alliance for Progress; Red China; crises during JFK’s presidency and how he was an optimist; RFK’s move for an income tax increase during the Berlin crisis; RFK’s disagreements with President JFK; indecisiveness over picking JFK’s running mate, 1960; the missile gap; fighting and UN operations in the Congo; Nikita S. Khrushchev’s speeches; RFK’s 1962 trip to Japan, Indonesia, Germany, and other countries; the release of Allen L. Pope; Dutch disputes in Southeast Asia; the 1961 crisis in the Dominican Republic and the assassination of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina; the 1962 disarmament conference in Geneva; Edward M. Kennedy’s 1962 campaign for U.S. Senate; the Kennedy family national and political reputation; the Justice Department under RFK and civil rights; and the 1962 steel crisis, 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.