General Correspondence, 1961-1964
Arranged alphbetically by name of correspondent or subject. Foreign correspondence may be filed either under the name of the correspondent or under the country of origin.
Correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, some job applications and personal resumes, and occasional attachments of newsclips, magazines, photographs, musical scores, various printed materials, and several manuscripts.
Comprising nearly half of the total correspondence series, the General Correspondence grew in importance as less and less mail was filed in the Chronological Correspondence. Material here reflects the activity of at least four other individuals besides Rcbert-F. Kennedy: John Seigenthaler, John Nolan, Andrew Oehmann, and James Symington. At various times they served as administrative assistants to the Attorney General and handled many of the functions and most of the correspondence arising out of Rcbert Kennedy's political and foreign policy roles. Consequently, there are documents on state and local politics; elections, appointments to federal offices; invitations, particularly for 1961 and 1962; Cuba and other Third World countries; and in 1964, the possibility of RFK as a vice presidential candidate. The file also contains some condolence letters, correspondence with government officials, departments and agencies (e.g., USIA, Department of State, Narcotic and Drug Abuse Commission), and extensive foreign correspondence, most notably from Japan and Indonesia. Normally material about specific cases or official work of the Department was not filed here; however, some memoranda about official business do appear, especially in regard to civil rights
