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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-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-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-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.
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-JKR-01
In this interview Ruina discusses the Nike-Zeus antiballistic-missile-missiles; briefing President John F. Kennedy [JFK] on the Nike-Zeus missiles; JFK’s comprehension of the briefing material and the type of questions he asked; Project Defender; the background and organization of the Advanced Research Projects Agency; the leadership and organization of the Department of Defense; interactions with Robert S. McNamara; competition between the military and the Defense Department on research and development and for resources and congressional funds; the period of new, advanced—but not always useful—technology; and Project AGILE and counterinsurgency efforts in Vietnam, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-AW-08
Walinsky discusses Robert F. Kennedy’s [RFK] Vietnam speech, the work that went into it, and RFK’s thoughts about it and Vietnam. He also discusses two of his works, “Caesar’s Meat,” which is about Robert S. McNamara, and his book To Seek a Newer World, which covers RFK’s speeches, among other issues.
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.
Photograph folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1963-10-02-C
AR40
Collection
RSMPP
Papers 1969. Report commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara entitled "United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967," also known as the Pentagon Papers.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR8153-A
President John F. Kennedy (in rocking chair) meets with Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Maxwell D. Taylor (far left). Secretary McNamara and General Taylor reported to President Kennedy on their recent survey trip to South Vietnam. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C.