Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-AUG-01
In this interview Heckscher discusses John F. Kennedy [JFK] and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis as an “inspiration to cultural life”; Heckscher’s involvement in government affairs prior to becoming a Special Consultant to the President; the invitation of 168 artists to JFK’s 1961 inauguration and its impact; how Heckscher came to work for the White House; discussing Heckscher’s position with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.; the reasoning behind the creation of the new position of Special Consultant on the Arts and the favorable public reaction to it; enlarging the definition of “The Arts,” especially regarding architecture; Arthur Goldberg; the establishment of the Freedom Medal; creating the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts through executive order; personal impressions of JFK; setting up Heckscher’s office and staff; how Heckscher was meant to advise JFK and what his position entailed; the Cultural Center [Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]; conversations with JFK; Mrs. Kennedy’s expansive work for the arts; the arts as part of national policy; working with other White House staff members and other Departments; designing special postage stamps; what the President’s role in the arts should be; and the Fine Arts Commission, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-EWC-01
Clague discusses the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ role during John F. Kennedy’s administration; Kennedy’s Labor Secretaries, Arthur J. Goldberg and W. Willard Wirtz; and the working relationships among the various bureaus during the Kennedy Administration, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-MC-02
Cass discusses changes in the responsibilities of various assistant secretaries of labor under Secretaries of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg and Willard Wirtz, employment and anti-poverty efforts, and federal intervention in labor-management negotiations, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-MC-01
Cass discusses the operations of the Department of Labor and the various Secretaries of Labor that he worked under, the transition between the Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy administrations, and Secretary Arthur J. Goldberg’s administrative style, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-07
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss the very limited proposal for voting rights legislation before the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama; how civil rights groups did not always understand politics or how to get things through Congress; John F. Kennedy [JFK] trying to explain political difficulties to civil rights leaders; meetings on civil rights legislation and the strategy for getting the votes for a civil rights bill in both houses of Congress; RFK’s disagreements with Lyndon B. Johnson on civil rights legislation; RFK, the Justice Department, and the reapportionment cases; RFK’s meeting with James Baldwin and the subsequent attack on RFK in the press; JFK’s role in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963; speeches at the March on Washington; George Wallace, Alabama state troopers, and the investigation into the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, September, 1963; and JFK, James J. Delaney, and the issue of aid to church schools, 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-JCD-01
Donovan discusses Maine politics, Secretaries of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg and W. Willard Wirtz, and John F. Kennedy administration labor policy, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WES-02
This interview focuses on John F. Kennedy (JFK)’s relationship with business, the effects of the Civil Rights movement on labor mediation, and distinctions between how the Kennedy and Johnson administrations handled strikes, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-WES-01
This interview focuses on Simkin’s role within the FMCS, the relationship between the FMCS and the executive and legislative branches, and Simkin’s impressions of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-SNS-03
This interview focuses on Shulman’s experiences in the Departments of Labor and Defense, Secretary Goldberg’s accomplishments as Secretary of Labor, and various issues and controversies within the Labor Department, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-SNS-02
This interview focuses on Goldberg’s role in mediating labor disputes, Shulman’s involvement with the Plans for Progress program, and the effectiveness of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-SNS-01
This interview focuses on Shulman’s role as executive assistant to Secretary Arthur Goldberg, Goldberg’s efforts to reduce unemployment, and Secretary Goldberg’s relationships with President Kennedy and the Cabinet, among other issues.