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http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Dffto 0f % Atfcmg @. (E April 10, 1964 Dear Mr. Chairman: As you know, we are planning an oral history program on the Kennedy Administration — i.e., a systematic effort to interview President Kennedy's colleagues and contemporaries about the issues and decisions of the Administration. Such a program is unprecedented in American history. Its significance can be easily grasped when one considers the treasures which would have been available to historians if similar programs had been carried through for earlier Presidents — Jefferson or Lincoln or vVilson or F.D.ll. You are obviously one of the persons who ought to be interviewed in order to get a full record of the Administration, its policies and its achievements. I emphasize the fact that the interviews will receive exactly the same treatment in the Library as any personal papers deposited — that is, the man who agrees to an interview can decide on security classifications, if any are necessary, as well as make any stipulations he desires about access to the transcripts. The interviews will be seen by no one except the interviewer and the transcriber without your permission; and a copy of the transcript will be deposited in your possession. I well know the demands on your time, and, assuming your willingness to join in this effort, would hope that the process can be made as efficient and expeditious as possible. It would help us immensely in planning the program if you could let me have your views on the following questions: 1. Are you willing, in principle, to grant interviews for this program? http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2. What are the issues on which you think your testimony would be most valuable? 3. How would you prefer to be interviewed — by a single interviewer on a range of problems? or by several interviewers, each on a particular problem? 4. What sort of person would you prefer as interviewer — someone who is or has been in the Administration? an outsider with historical training? Are there any names which occur to you as an interviewer in whom you would have particular confidence? 5. Under what conditions would you prefer to be interviewed — during the working day? on week ends? I would appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible. Sincerely, Robert F. Kjfcnedy The Honorable William McC. Martin, Jr., Chairman Board of Governors Federal iteserve System 20th £ Constitution Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis POSSIBLE ITEMS (Preliminary) '. I. Items in the Field of National Security Affairs 1. 2. 3. 4. Soviet Relations and Peace Cuba Berlin/Germany Limited Test Ban Treaty 5. MLF 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Diem family) DeGaulle and France (e. g. EEC, NATO) Latin America in general and Alliance for Progress Arabs, Israelis, Nasser, and Yemen Policy Towards Neutrals General Defense Policy 12. 13. 1.4. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.. 23. 24. 3f>. 2tt, 27. 28. 29. Congo Indonesia (W. Irian/Malaysia) Ghana Indian/Chinese Border War Panama Canada ; ' • ; Brazil South Africa/Portugal/Azores Balance of Payments (general, gold, in Government) Trade (e. g. Kennedy Round, LDC's) and Relations with Common Market Disarmament & Control of Nuclear Weapons (e. g. black box, permissive links, Communist China) Missile Gap TFX ;<;' Skybolt ; ' , Moon Shot Counter-Insurgency How to. Ope rate; Men and Means; Organization for Decision-Making Wheat Sales to Soviets 3<i. 31. 32. 38. 8-1. 35. 3(>, 37. 38. 30. Guinea (To are) Ni/forin (economic plan) Yugoslavia Dorninicaft Republic (recognition problem) US/UK Alliance British Guiana Venezuela; ; , IL-Titi African Politics in UN Mooting with Khrushchev v http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis i - 2- 40. 41. 43. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. Khrushchev's Design for World Conquest Grand Design Reform & Social Change Abroad Changes in U. S. Strategy Revamping of US Force Posture MAP Program SSN Deep Hole Intelligence Reconnaissance Policy AID Foreign Affairs Academy The Arts Good Press Real & Political View Personal Diplomacy UN Bond Issue Civil Defense Food for Peace Termination of Defense Projects II. Items in the Domestic Field Civil Rights Ending the 1960 recession and unemployment Aid to depressed a,reas -- ARA, APW, Appalachia, Eastern Kentucky Separation of church and state Relations with Congress Relations with the press Building a government team Tax policy — In the Berlin crisis, after the stock market decline, and"the 1962 and 1964 laws Balance of payments The 1962 and 1963 steel price increases Railroad strike legislation Labor-management relations--newspaper strike, Maritime unions, advisory cornrrrittee Stockpile investigations and legislation Monetary policy and the Federal Reserve Board http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - .3- 15. The following legislative struggles: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. Education Trade expansion Department of Urban Affairs The Communication Satellite bill The drug reform bill and thalidomide Cotton and relief for the textile industry in general Feed grains, wheat and the wheat referendum Hospital insurance for the elderly And possibly these others: minimum wages, housing, mass transit, mental retardation and mental health, youth employment, manpower training and development, juvenile delinquency and the President's Committee, National Service Corps, transportation, national seashores and outdoor recreation, welfare, postal rate increase, highway program, water pollution. Physical fitness Cultural affairs Supersonic Transport Commission on Status of Women Exec. Order on Employee-Management Relations in Federal Service Beautification of the District of Columbia including Jackson Place and Council on Pennsylvania Avenue Development Missile Sites Labor Committee Council on Aging Consumer Advisory Council Narcotics Conference Conflicts of Interest Billie Sol Estes Case Executive Privilege - Clearing and Editing of Speeches by DOD Federal Pay Reform (Executive and Classified) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Establishment of National Communications System Reopening of National Service Life Insurance for Veterans Commission on Campaign Costs Commission on Registration and Voting Participation National Power Survey Reduction of Maximum Interest Rates on FHA-insured Mortgages Iriteragericy Committee on Transportation Mergers Creation of Office of Science and Technology Desalination of Water 40. Oceanography 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - 4- 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. Reorganization of Regulatory Agencies and the Administrative Conference Oil Policy (including relationship to coal products) Lumber program International Air Policy (including important CAB decisions) Expansion of Distribution of surplus foods Improvement of Radio and Television programming (all channel sets, Wienner Research, Educational Television) Security and Exchange Commission Study of stock market and needed reforms III. A number of other items should undoubtedly be included,' including particularly scientific and technical matters. Each person interested will almost certainly have special areas that he will want to cover beyond those set forth above. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE, MASS. RELEASE: MORNING PAPERS OF THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1964 UNIVERSITY NEWS OFFICE Carnegie Corporation of New York has made a grant to Harvard University for recording on tape the oral history of the administration of President John F. Kennedy. The taped record will be deposited in the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library. Under the Carnegie grant of $300,000, Harvard University will collaborate with the Kennedy Memorial Library in compiling the oral history. Commenting on the grant, John W. Gardner, President of the Carnegie Corporation, said: "We have been fortunate that many of our Presidents have been able, after they have left office, to put their papers in order and write their memoirs. This project should be particularly useful as a means of putting together the record of President Kennedy's actions and decisions by those who worked most closely with him and participated in the domestic and foreign events of his time in office. For historians and other scholars of the future, it should be an extremely valuable resource." A University committee, consisting of Prof. Oscar Handlin, the American historian (chairman), Dean Franklin L. Ford of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Dean Don K. Price of the Graduate School of Public Administration, will supervise the project. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (more) COPY * - 2 They will work with a committee for the Kennedy Memorial Library consisting of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; McGeorge Bundy, the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs; and Frederick Button, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. At the initiative of the Attorney General/ intimate associates of the late President have begun to record their recollections in taped interviews. This phase of the project, which is under the direction of Mr. Dutton, on leave from his State Department post, will be completed this spring. The accumulated interviews will be reviewed by the Harvard scholars during the summer for the purpose of mapping out the full scale of a broad objective oral history. Interviews will be conducted under careful security—pre~—. cautions, and it is expected that some of the taped material will not be made public for about 25 years. I http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (end) XERO COPY XERO COPY April 14, 1964. The Honorable Robert F. Kennedy, The Attorney General, Washington, S. C. 20530. Bear Mr. Attorney General: In Mr, Martin's absence from the office, I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter to him of April 10 with respect to plans for an oral history program on the Kennedy Administration. Mr. Martin will return to the office on April 23 and 1 will bring your letter to his attention at that time. However, 1 know that I can speak for Mr. Martin in expressing his willingness to participate in the interview program in any way that may be helpful. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Miss) Margaret Muehlhaus, Secretary to Mr. Martin. 1 http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis April 14, 1964, The Honorable Robert F. Kennedy, The Attorney General, Washington, D. C. 20530. .'. . Dear Mr. Attorney General: In Mr. Martin's absence from the office, I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter to him of April 10 with respect to plans for an oral history program on the Kennedy Administration. Mr. Martin will return to the office on April 23 and I will bring your letter to his attention at that time. However, I know that I can speak for Mr. Martin in expressing his willingness to participate in the interview program in any way that may be helpful. Sincerely yours. (Miss) Margaret Muehlhaus, Secretary* to Mr, Martin. '•' Friday, November 13 / Mr. Martin This letter came in j u s t b e f o r e you left for New York and I/did not bother you with it at the time. It is a follow-up on the correspondence of last April with r e s p e c t to the oral history program on the Kennedy Administration and is a specific request for your taped oral history interview--before Thanksgiving if possible e (The earlier correspondence is also attached,,) Miss Nancy Hogan in the State Department is coordinating the interview program and I talked to her by phone--to say (1) you w e r e away and would not have an opportunity to see this immediately, and (2) that because of your heavy travel schedule it is possible you might not be able to fit it in b e f o r e their Thanksgiving date (November 26) "deadline. " On this I take it this could be worked out. The letter does state they hope to get the interviews taped in November and reviewed by those interviewed in December. Miss Hogan indicated that they had been remiss in not following up on the April exchange of correspondence; for it is up to you to choose your interviewer^ She said that of course this program of oral history is a rather new field; there are few "oral historians" in the country and they have not attempted to engage these professional men to make the interviews* Instead, they are more or less leaving to the men to be interviewed the choice of the person who will interview them, For example, she said that Dixon Donnelly and Bob Wallace in the Treasury are interviewing the Treasury officials. Joe Peckrnan of Brookings is doing the interviewing for the members of the Council of Economic Advisers. In some cases, a particular official p r e f e r s to have a person in his own organization, familiar with its work and its relationship to the Kennedy administration, take the interview because of the confidential nature of the material. You may name anyone you want--any economist you know, any p r o f e s s o r , anyone in your office. Miss Hogan's office then contacts the "interviewer" and briefs them on the conduct of the interview though there is no set list of questions--the usual pattern is for the interviewer, by questions, to bring out when you f i r s t met John Kennedy, and to go on to bring out your association with him, as President--perhaps citing specific c o n f e r e n c e s , contacts, etc. , specific problems considered, and, if you like, any personal evaluation you may care to make. Miss Hogan did say that they wanted to keep them on an "interview" basis--they want more than a "statement" f r o m each individual interviewed (a "eulogy" she called it) 0 Incidentally, I showed this letter to Mr 0 Molony; you may perhaps want to talk to him about it. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis rrmm JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY LIBRARY I N CORPORATE D LYNDON B. JOHNSON November h, 1964 Honorary Chairman " ..... * REp LY TO.T Dutton c/o Hanoi Hogan ROBERT F. KENNEDY RoOd President Department of State JACQUELINE B. KENNEDY Vice President EDWARD M. KENNEDY Washington, D. Kice President Dear Mr, Chairman: With the hectic campaign and election behind us, I want to express a hopeful reminder that you will have time before Thanksgiving to complete your Oral History interview for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library. We are undertaking to complete the interviews this year if at all possible and would like to use December for typing of the tapes and your own review of the manuscript. I know how busy you are and hope that you will not consider this request out of place. But the relative immediacy which marks this phase of the project of the over-all Oral History Project is rapidly diminishing. We are consequently most anxious to get the tapes of your interview during November if at all possible. We will be glad to offer any assistance that you might desire in trying to do that. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Sincerely, Frederick G. Dutton Coordinator Oral History Project The Honorable William McC. Martin, Jr. Chairman, Board of Governors Federal Reserve System 20th and Constitution Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C. 260 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 C.
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