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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 folder
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-1962-02-20-F
AR16, ST08, KN12
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6763-E
Postmaster General J. Edward Day speaks at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the first state Workmen's Compensation Law, enacted in Wisconsin in 1911, on the South Lawn driveway at the White House, Washington, D.C. Postmaster General Day stands beside an image of the commemorative stamp created for the occasion. Seated in front of the audience are (L-R): Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman; Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Ivan A. Nestingen; and the only living members of the 1911 Wisconsin legislature, former Wisconsin state Senator Theodore W. Brazeau and Judge Edward T. Fairchild.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6763-C
Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg speaks at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the first state Workmen's Compensation Law, enacted in Wisconsin in 1911, on the South Lawn driveway at the White House, Washington, D.C. Secretary Goldberg stands beside an image of the commemorative stamp created for the occasion. Seated in front of the audience are (L-R): Governor Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin (on far left edge of frame); Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon (left of Secretary Goldberg); Postmaster General J. Edward Day; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Ivan A. Nestingen; and the only living members of the 1911 Wisconsin legislature - former Wisconsin state Senator Theodore W. Brazeau and Judge Edward T. Fairchild.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6287-D
Swearing in ceremony and reception for Cabinet members and their families, East Room, White House, Washington, D.C. President John F. Kennedy speaks during the swearing-in ceremony for his Cabinet. (L-R) Front row: Secretary of State Dean Rusk; Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon; Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara; Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; Postmaster General J. Edward Day; Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy; President Kennedy; Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman; Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges; Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg; Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Abraham A. Ribicoff; Chief Justice Earl Warren. Back row: Military Aide General Chester V. Clifton; Air Force Aide Colonel Godfrey T. McHugh; Naval Aide Commander Tazewell Shepard, Jr.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C20221
Mezzo-soprano opera singer Grace Bumbry greets Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Abraham Ribicoff (right) and his wife Ruth Ribicoff following Ms. Bumbry's performance at a dinner in honor of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives John W. McCormack, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. President John F. Kennedy looks on from left; others in the audience include: Speaker McCormack; Nina Warren, wife of Chief Justice Warren; Vice President Johnson; Harriet McCormack, wife of Speaker McCormack; Chief Justice Warren; Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency Najeeb Halaby; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; and Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg. East Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6498-A
President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson attend a meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity in the Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C. (L-R) Seated: Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Vice President Johnson. Those standing include President of Mechanics and Farmers Bank John H. Wheeler; Dean of the Washington National Cathedral (Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) in Washington, D.C. the Very Reverend Francis B. Sayre, Jr.; president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) George Meany; Chairman of Kaiser Steel Corporation Edgar F. Kaiser; Chairman of the Civil Service Commission John W. Macy, Jr.; Director of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC) Monsignor George Gilmary Higgins; Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Glenn Seaborg.
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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.
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White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6441-C
Meeting with the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Management. Seated, L-R: President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, George Meany; Publisher of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper, Ralph E. McGill; unidentified man; Secretary of Commerce, Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President John F. Kennedy; President of the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees, George M. Harrison; Chairman and President of Burlington Industries, Inc., J. Spencer Love; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford II. Standing, L-R: Professor of Labor Relations in the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. George W. Taylor; unidentified; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inland Steel Company, Joseph L. Block; President of the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Thomas J. Watson, Jr.; President of Reynolds Metal Company, Richard S. Reynolds, Jr.; President of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, David Dubinsky; Editor and Publisher of Business Week Magazine, Elliott V. Bell; President of the International Union of United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Walter P. Reuther; President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Dr. Arthur Burns; unidentified man. Also included in the President’s schedule: David L. Cole, of Cole, Morrill, and Berman; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Lines Company, John M. Franklin. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
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White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6441-A
Meeting with the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Management. Seated, L-R: Unidentified man; Secretary of Commerce, Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg; President John F. Kennedy. Standing, L-R: Professor of Labor Relations in the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. George W. Taylor; unidentified; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Inland Steel Company, Joseph L. Block; President of the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Thomas J. Watson, Jr.; President of Reynolds Metal Company, Richard S. Reynolds, Jr.; President of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, David Dubinsky. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C17492
President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson attend a meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity in the Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C. (L-R) President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) George Meany; Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; health activist Mary Woodward (Woodard) Lasker; Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Glenn Seaborg (partially hidden behind Lasker); Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Deputy Secretary of Defense, Roswell Gilpatric.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-KN-C17491
President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson attend a meeting of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity in the Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C. (L-R) Seated: Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges; Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg; President Kennedy; Vice President Johnson. Those standing include president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) George Meany; Chairman of Kaiser Steel Corporation Edgar F. Kaiser; Chairman of the Civil Service Commission John W. Macy, Jr.; Director of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC) Monsignor George Gilmary Higgins; Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Glenn Seaborg; Secretary of the Army Elvis J. Stahr.