The President’s Desk
Primary Sources
Listed by Topic
Although The President’s Desk is not a comprehensive
presentation of all of the issues that President Kennedy
dealt with in his administration, several key topics are
covered in these modules.
16
Topic Module
1960 Election
• Campaign Materials (Campaign Button)
Civil Rights
• Phone conversation with John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Governor Ross Barnett on the integration of the University of Mississippi (Telephone)
• Meeting with Americans for Democratic Action regarding Birmingham, AL (Secret Recording Button)
• “Blue bomb” pamphlet (Campaign Button)
• White House Diary: June 11, 1963 (address to the nation on civil rights) (Diary)
Cuba
• Phone conversation between John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy about the Bay of Pigs (Telephone)
• Conversation between John F. Kennedy and Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric about the Missile Crisis (Telephone)
• Conversation between John F. Kennedy and President Eisenhower about the Missile Crisis (Telephone)
• Meeting on the Cuban Missile Crisis (Secret Recording Button)
• White House Diary: April 17-20, 1961 (Bay of Pigs), October 16-28, 1962 (Cuban Missile Crisis) (Diary)
Diplomacy/
International Travel
• Photo album for Jacqueline Kennedy (Picture Frames)
• Telephone conversation with Special Assistant to the President
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. discussing a prospective post in Central or Latin America for Samuel H. Beer and Schlesinger’s recent trip to a conference in England (Telephone)
• White House Diary: May 31-June 2, 1961 (France), June 3-4, 1961 (Vienna), June 5, 1961 (England), December 16, 1961 (Venezuela),
June 23-26, 1963 (West Germany), June 26-29, 1963 (Ireland) (Diary)
International Trade
• Phone conversation with Senator Edward M. Kennedy discussing a meeting with the wool industry about international trade (Telephone)
17
Topic 18
Module
John F. Kennedy’s
Life
• John F. Kennedy’s love of the sea (Scrimshaw)
• John F. Kennedy in World War II and PT-109 (Coconut)
• Photo albums of his family, Jacqueline Kennedy, and their children (Picture Frame)
• White House Diary (Diary)
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
• Phone conversation between President Kennedy and President Truman (Telephone)
• Conversation between President Kennedy and leading scientists (Secret Recording Button)
• Conversation among President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara, and Joint Chiefs of Staff (Secret Recording Button)
• White House Diary: June 10, 1963 (Commencement address at American University), October 7, 1963 (Signing of the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty)(Diary)
Peace Corps
• White House Diary: March 1, 1961 (signing of Executive Order 10924 establishing the Peace Corps)
• Phone conversation between President Kennedy and Peace Corps
Director R. Sargent Shriver on the Peace Corps and the CIA (Telephone)
Space
• Meeting between John F. Kennedy and science advisors
(Secret Recording Button)
• Conversation with Major Gordon Cooper, NASA astronaut (Telephone)
• White House Diary: May 25, 1961 (Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs), September 12, 1962 (Rice University Speech) (Diary)
Vietnam
• Meetings with advisors in August 1963 regarding President Diem (Secret Recording Button)