Featured Content / Listening to the Presidency

Listening to the Presidency

Candid, unscripted glimpses of American presidents

Explore audio recordings along with contextual materials from several presidential administrations. Miller Center scholars have selected and edited each recording to help visitors gain insights into the presidency.  

 

You can filter Listening to the Presidency conversations by president, topic, and keyword.  
Richard Nixon campaigning
Secret White House tapes

Hear conversations from the secret White House tapes. The Presidential Recordings Program lets users listen in on presidents and their advisers at critical historical moments.
Madeline Albright portrait
Oral histories

Review key excerpts from the Presidential Oral History Program as senior decision-makers reflect on their time in the White House.
LBJ at his desk
Sample conversation

President Johnson asks his mentor, Senator Richard B. “Dick” Russell Jr. [D–Georgia], for advice on the Vietnam War. “It’s the damned worst mess I ever saw,” Russell declares. 
President
Conversation Topics
John Lindsay sits in the Oval Office with President Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
'This Country’s in Trouble'
Lyndon B. Johnson | John V. Lindsay
LBJ standing and talking in front of a photo of the USS Pueblo
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We Just Have Got to Act Quickly'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert McNamara
US soldiers during Tet Offensive
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It’s Largely a Propaganda Effort'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert McNamara
LBJ sitting around a table on Air Force One with former President Eisenhower
Lyndon B. Johnson
'No Nuclear Weapons in South Vietnam'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Dwight D. Eisenhower
Kerner Commission with LBJ
Lyndon B. Johnson
'The Trouble with a Commission'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard J. 'Dick' Daley
LBJ and Henry Fowler
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I’m Not Master of a Damn Thing'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Henry H. 'Joe' Fowler
LBJ and Eugene McCarthy relaxing at the LBJ Ranch
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Our Friendship Was Never Severed'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Lady Bird Johnson | Abigail Q. McCarthy
View of LBJ through window at night
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We’re Doing Everything We Can'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Ivan E. Allen Jr. | Lady Bird Johnson
National guard troops walking amongst tear gas in Chicago, 1968
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It’s Starting to Break Down'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard J. 'Dick' Daley
People on railway line, waiting for funeral train for Bobby Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It’s a Horrible, Tragic Thing'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Edward M. Kennedy
Richard Nixon and LBJ sitting next to each other
Lyndon B. Johnson
'My Congratulations and My Sympathy'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard M. Nixon
Soviet tank in Czechoslavakia
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Something [on] the Order of Hungary'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard M. Nixon
The Johnson family watching the 1968 Democratic convention on television
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Let’s Don’t Mislead and Deceive People'
Lyndon B. Johnson | James R. 'Jim' Jones | Charles S. 'Charlie' Murphy
Abe Fortas stands next to LBJ who is sitting and on the phone
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I Thought We Were Going to Confirm Him'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Everett M. Dirksen
Hubert Humphrey and Ed Muskie at 1968 DNC
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I’d Go with Muskie'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.
people in a crowd holding Humphrey/Muskie signs during the 1968 presidential campaign
Lyndon B. Johnson
'The Vice Presidency Is an Impossible Job'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.