Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-TMH-01
In this interview Hesburgh discusses his contact with John F. Kennedy [JFK] before he was elected President; Harris Wofford on JFK’s staff; different members of the Commission on Civil Rights; meeting with President JFK about the Commission’s reports and recommendations; JFK versus Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson on civil rights, respectively; JFK’s political priorities as President and what that meant for civil rights issues during his Administration; tension between the Commission and the Department of Justice; JFK’s characterization of civil rights as a moral problem; and a shift in Commission reports towards the local level, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-05
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss how John F. Kennedy [JFK] and RFK grew increasingly more involved with and concerned about civil rights; getting Martin Luther King out of jail during JFK’s 1960 campaign; civil rights advisers during JFK’s 1960 campaign; RFK becoming Attorney General amidst the civil rights battle and the transitional period in the Department of Justice [DOJ]; how Marshall got his position in the DOJ; the struggle over school desegregation; the New Orleans school crisis of February 1961; the Freedom Riders and violence against them; sending federal marshals to Alabama; trying to find a bus driver to get the Freedom Riders out of Birmingham, Alabama; criticism of RFK’s response to the Freedom Riders; how Freedom Riders were arrested and threatened in Mississippi; African-American voting rights in the South and DOJ authority; difficulties with judges; Supreme Court appointments; the FBI and organized crime; reorganization of the DOJ; RFK’s interactions with the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover after JFK’s death; Hoover’s allegations about JFK and the Kennedy family; the alleged FBI wiretapping of officials; JFK’s opinion of Hoover; FBI press releases; connecting the civil rights movement with communism to discredit it; FBI involvement in civil rights matters; issues with the FBI as having civilian control of a police force; JFK’s communication with King and other civil rights leaders; civil rights legislation; the issue of equal employment; the Civil Rights Commission; and violence against African Americans in Birmingham in the spring of 1963, among other issues.
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6908-C
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the United States Commission on Civil Rights in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. Seated, facing away from the camera (L-R): Berl I. Bernhard; Erwin N. Griswold; and John A. Hannah, Chairman. Seated, facing the camera (L-R): President Kennedy (in rocking chair); Harris Wofford, Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights; Spottswood Robinson, III; Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh; Robert G. Storey, Vice Chairman (partially hidden); and Robert S. Rankin. Members of the news media in background, including White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI) Helen Thomas (third from left).
Photograph
White House Photographs
JFKWHP-AR6908-B
President John F. Kennedy meets with members of the United States Commission on Civil Rights in the Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. Seated (L-R): Harris Wofford, Special Assistant to the President for Civil Rights; Spottswood Robinson, III; Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh; Robert G. Storey, Vice Chairman (partially hidden); Robert S. Rankin; John A. Hannah, Chairman; Erwin N. Griswold; Berl I. Bernhard; and President Kennedy (in rocking chair). Members of the news media in background.