This dissertation examines the role Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy played in national security policy during the Kennedy administration, drawing on significant new archival sources made available only in recent years. For decades Robert Kennedy’s involvement in national security affairs from 1961 to 1963 has gone largely unexamined, in part because of a lack of declassified archival evidence documenting his activities as the overseer of covert operations against Cuba. The writing and research presented here offers the only sustained examination of this aspect of RFK’s political life to date, filling a major gap in the historiography. What emerges is a refined understanding of RFK as a major 20th century historical figure challenging conventional narratives characterizing him as an icon of liberalism and a new lens for studying the foreign policy process of the Kennedy administration as a whole. The dissertation shows that RFK was extremely hawkish during his time as attorney general, a sharp contrast to his later reputation. At the president’s behest, the attorney general involved himself in a wide range of national security issues. RFK’s actual influence varied depending on the issue. In some cases he was the driving force behind U.S. policy. In others, he was simply one voice among many in the White House inner circle. In others still, he served as a conduit for sensitive communications to and from the president. Beyond describing RFK’s personal role, the dissertation challenges longstanding notions of the foreign policy process in the Kennedy administration by showing how RFK, the consummate White House insider, often struggled to exercise influence as a policymaker. Most scholarship examining the Kennedy administration argues that President Kennedy crafted foreign policy and national security decisions with a small group of advisers who held enormous influence. But, as RFK’s experiences in this realm demonstrate, structural forces larger than the influence wielded by individual policymakers appears to have played a greater role in the Kennedy administration than the scholarship to date has recognized.

This thesis examines the Kennedy Administration's decision to propose comprehensive civil rights legislation in June, 1963. The work focuses on the relationship between the Kennedy brothers, particularly on Robert F. Kennedy's position as his brother's main adviser and his influence on the president's final decision to go forward with legislation. It begins by exploring the Kennedy's childhood, then traces the brothers' approach toward civil rights during the campaigns of 1952 and 1960, and concludes with an assessment of the Kennedy administration's civil rights policy during his presidency. The thesis puts special emphasis on a May, 1963 meeting between Robert Kennedy and an eclectic bi-racial group of intellectuals led by the novelist James Baldwin arguing that the meeting profoundly altered Kennedy's understanding of civil rights, ultimately transforming the Kennedy legacy regarding civil rights.

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Decision-making during crises is an important task that many elected officials face during their time in office. This thesis seeks to identify principles that make up a sound policy decision-making process and may lead to more positive outcomes. The analysis here is a comparative case study of three national security crises that faced the John F. Kennedy administration: the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam conflict. Each case is examined for the presence of indicators of groupthink. I hypothesize that the relative absence of groupthink is related to a positive outcome. That hypothesis is examined by reviewing each case; the cases that contained higher levels of the indicators of groupthink tended to have a poorer quality process than those with less evidence of groupthink. / Master of Arts