Oral history transcript, David E. McGiffert, interview 1 (I), 5/13/1969, by Dorothy Pierce (McSweeny)
Title:
Oral history transcript, David E. McGiffert, interview 1 (I), 5/13/1969, by Dorothy Pierce (McSweeny)
Number of Pages:
28
Description:
McGiffert's career from 1953 to 1965; how McGiffert got into government work and promotion opportunities under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; meetings with LBJ, including one after the assassination of Martin Luther King; McGiffert's contact with White House staff; meetings with Joe Califano; McGiffert's responsibilities relating to legislative affairs; McNamara's relationship with members of Congress; a preparedness subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding public statements made by military and Defense Department officials; Mendel Rivers as chair of the House Armed Services Committee; problems with the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) contract to build the F-111 plane; McNamara's relationship with Congress; military base closures; McGiffert's duties as under secretary of the Department of the Army; McGiffert's involvement in international issues with Okinawa and the Panama Canal Zone; the relationship between the U.S. and Panama; McGiffert's work in army manpower and personnel; racial integration in the army and in housing; the duties of the undersecretary of the army; McGiffert's duties relating to military response to civil disturbances, the National Guard and the reserves; McGiffert's involvement in issues relating to Vietnam; McNamara's resistance to sending reserve units to Vietnam.
