Description:

As President-Elect John F. Kennedy Seeks Interview for Secretary of Defense with Powerful Congressman

This brief note by President-elect John F. Kennedy informs Georgia Congressman Carl Vinson that he would appoint Robert S. McNamara as his Secretary of Defense. Weeks earlier, McNamara had been appointed president of Ford Motor Company but accepted Kennedy's appointment on December 15, 1960. Kennedy hoped to set up a meeting between his newly chosen Secretary-designate and Vinson, who served as the chair of the House Armed Services Committee from 1949 to 1953 and from 1955 to 1965. McNamara and Vinson met on December 20, 1960, and a "very favorably impressed" Vinson told reporters that McNamara would "make the best defense secretary the country has had."

JOHN F. KENNEDY, Typed Note Signed, to Carl Vinson, ca. December 15-19, 1960, Washington, DC. 1 p., 5.25" x 8". On U.S. Senate stationery. Expected folds; signed in type and signed "Jack" in manuscript.

Complete Transcript
United States Senate
MEMORANDUM
Honorable Carl Vinson
Milledgeville / Georgia
Carl –
I attempted to reach you this afternoon to tell you that I was appointing Robert McNamara Secretary of Defense. I was anxious to have you talk to him on the phone. I suggested that he call you in the next few days to arrange a convenient time for you to get together. I hope everything is going well. Kind regards.
Jack Kennedy
Many many thanks –
Jack.

Historical Background
After his election as president in November 1960, President-elect John F. Kennedy offered the position of Secretary of Defense to Robert A. Lovett, who had been Harry S. Truman's Secretary of Defense. Lovett declined the position but recommended Robert S. McNamara, who had just been named president of Ford Motor Company on November 9, after having served as an innovative manager with the company since 1946. His annual salary was estimated at $3 million.

Kennedy read about McNamara and his career in a Time magazine article on December 2, 1960. On December 8, Kennedy and his younger brother and adviser Robert F. Kennedy interviewed McNamara. When McNamara explained that he did not know anything about government, Kennedy replied, "We can learn our jobs together. I don't know how to be president either."

Impressed with McNamara's confidence and self-assurance, Kennedy offered him the choice of Secretary of Defense or Secretary of the Treasury. A week later, McNamara accepted the post of Secretary of Defense and its $25,000 annual salary, with the condition that he could approve all appointments in the Department of Defense. Kennedy replied: "It's a deal." Because of the financial sacrifices McNamara made to Secretary of Defense, Kennedy gave him wide latitude in running the department and appointing its officials.

Special Counsel Ted Sorensen observed that President Kennedy regarded McNamara as the "star of his team, calling upon him for advice on a wide range of issues beyond national security, including business and economic matters." McNamara was one of the few members of the administration to both work and socialize with President Kennedy. McNamara also became a friend of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and served as a pallbearer at his funeral in 1968.

Carl Vinson (1883-1981) was born in Georgia, attended Georgia Military College, and graduated with a law degree from Mercer University in 1902. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1908 to 1914, when he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. When he took office in November 1914, he was the youngest member of Congress. He served in the U.S. House for the next fifty years and one month, repeatedly re-elected by the state's Democratic majority and a record surpassed later by only six other members of Congress. He was always a champion of national defense, and especially of the U.S. Navy, which gave him the nicknames "the Admiral" and "the Swamp Fox." He became chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee in 1931 and helped expand the navy before World War II. After the war, he became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in 1949, a position he held (with a two-year exception in the mid-1950s) until his retirement in 1965. In 1956, Vinson joined other southern politicians in signing "The Southern Manifesto" to oppose the desegregation of public schools following the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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