Oral history transcript, Lawrence F. O'Brien, interview 5 (V), 12/5/1985, by Michael L. Gillette

Title:

Oral history transcript, Lawrence F. O'Brien, interview 5 (V), 12/5/1985, by Michael L. Gillette

Number of Pages:

81

Description:

O'Brien's and John F. Kennedy's (JFK) relationship with John Glenn; how Glenn's space success helped NASA; the role of a vice president and how well Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) fit it; JFK's staff members' opinion of LBJ after JFK was assassinated; LBJ's interest in legislative progress; LBJ's role as chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO); LBJ's commitment to civil rights; efforts to end discrimination in the Defense Department; JFK's use of executive orders when administration-backed legislation did not pass; suggestions that the JFK administration was not committed to civil rights; JFK's response to unrest caused by desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962; events leading up to the Cuban missile crisis and O'Brien's role during the crisis; requesting that appropriate congressional leadership and committee members return to Washington D.C. immediately so that JFK could brief them on the situation; possible courses of action and criticism of JFK's decisions; JFK's leadership through the crisis; keeping Pierre Salinger and JFK informed about legislative matters; press relations under JFK; Peter Lisagor; contact with John Bailey and the Democratic National Committee; Mike Mansfield's leadership style as senate majority leader; the 1962 proposed tax cut and reform bill; efforts to organize a citizens' support committee for the tax bill; O'Brien's office preparing supportive statements for legislators to release; Carl Albert's intellect and leadership; proposed tax reforms to balance the proposed tax reductions; Wilbur Mills' personality and leadership style as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee; tension between members of Congress who sought a more extensive civil rights bill and those who were willing to accept incremental changes; how Roland Libonati's stance on civil rights affected his political career in Chicago; LBJ's request that House Minority Leader Charlie Halleck encourage his colleagues to support civil rights legislation; Richard Bolling's discharge motion; the public accommodations provision of the bill; the effect of violent civil-rights related events on the likelihood of enacting legislation; JFK's regard for Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) and the FBI's effort to destroy MLK's reputation; J. Edgar Hoover's power; LBJ's relationship with MLK; contrasting JFK's and LBJ's approaches to what became the 1964 Civil Rights Act; JFK's physical condition; LBJ as storyteller versus JFK as listener; LBJ's outward showing of emotions versus JFK's stoicism; JFK's close friends; socializing with the Johnsons; story about LBJ feeding cigarettes to a deer at the LBJ Ranch; LBJ and gift-giving; LBJ's concern over the apparent relationship between Irish political insiders such as JFK and Richard J. Daley; the courteous nature of southern politicians; vice presidents' self-confidence; how O'Brien's opinion of LBJ developed over time; JFK and LBJ as opposites.

Contributor:

O'Brien, Lawrence F. (Lawrence Francis), 1917-1990

Collection:

LBJ Library Oral Histories

Collection Description:

Go to List of Holdings

Series:

Transcripts of LBJ Library Oral Histories

See Also:

See all online interviews with Lawrence F. O'Brien

Relation:

Go to Interviewee bio page

Rights:

Possibly copyright restricted: see deed at end of transcript for details