Herbert Hoover’s “Philosophy of Rugged Individualism” Campaign Speech

On October 22, 1928, Herbert Hoover gave the penultimate speech of his successful presidential campaign entitled, "Principles and Ideals of the United States Government." In that speech, the self-made millionaire expressed his belief that the American system was based on "rugged individualism" and "self-reliance."

The G.I. Bill

On July 28, 1943, in his Fireside Chat 25, President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid out what he believed returning servicemen were entitled to when they came home from World War II. His conditions became the basis for the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, known informally as the G.I. Bill, which Congress passed in 1944. The G.I. Bill has been amended and expanded and is still in existence today.

The Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan was an extensive program that provided economic relief to Europe from 1947 to 1951 in the aftermath of World War II. The United States offered monetary aid to the infrastructure of European nations to help prevent the spread of Soviet-sponsored Communism. Secretary of State George C. Marshall first backed restoring the war-torn countries of Europe during a commencement address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. President Harry Truman and other Western European political leaders responded favorably, and the Economic Cooperation Act, or Marshall Plan, became law on April 3, 1948.

JFK and The Space Race

On November 21, 1962, the White House Cabinet Room became the setting for a pivotal and volatile meeting on the course of the U.S. space program. At issue was the very purpose of NASA and its Apollo program, the project that sought to land a man onthe moon before the end of the decade.

Status Report on Vietnam, January 8, 1963 (11:48)

On January 2, 1963, South Vietnamese troops and their U.S. military advisers engaged Vietcong forces in what became known as the Battle of Ap Bac. Three U.S. soldiers died in the skirmish, which received extensive coverage in the American press. . . .

Dispatching the Wheeler Mission, January 15, 1963 (6:29)

President Kennedy met with his senior military advisers immediately preceding their departure on a fact-finding trip to Vietnam. The Wheeler Mission, named for Army Chief of Staff Gen. Earle G. Wheeler, had been proposed by the Joint Chiefs the previous week following the Battle of Ap Bac, the first major confrontation between South Vietnamese and Vietcong forces. . . .

The Wheeler Report, February 2, 1963 (10:26)

Following the Battle of Ap Bac in early January 1963, in which South Vietnamese troops and U.S. military advisers came under heavy attack, Army Chief of Staff General Earle G. Wheeler led a fact-finding mission to Vietnam to assess the situation. Three days after he returned to the United States, Wheeler briefed the president on the state of the U.S. advisory mission in Vietnam. . . .

Reporting Vietnam, October 2, 1963 (1:03)

Just prior to a discussion of a possible troop withdrawal from Vietnam, Kennedy and his advisers discuss media coverage of the war in Southeast Asia. The group is particularly concerned about New York Times reporter David Halberstam and UPI correspondent Neil Sheehan. According to Secretary of Defense Robert S.McNamara, the two were "allowing an idealistic philosophy to color all their writing."

The Kennedy Withdrawal, October 2, 1963

Over the course of several meetings, from October 2 through October 5, 1963, President Kennedy and his advisers debated the merits of a plan to withdraw the bulk of U.S. troops from Vietnam by the end of 1965. Segments from two of those meetings, from the morning and evening of October 2, reveal Kennedy's concerns about that plan and the language with which it was to be explained to the American public.

Robert Kennedy on a Possible Coup in South Vietnam, October 29, 1963 (2:22)

In this conversation excerpt, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy considers the liabilities of promoting a coup against South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem.

Kennedy on the Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, November 4, 1963 (5:22)

In this recording, made on the the evening of Monday, November 4, 1963, less than three weeks before he himself would eventually be assassinated, Kennedy reflects upon the tumultuous events that had transpired in Saigon over the previous weekend.

The Great "What If": JFK and the Withdrawal of Troops from Vietnam

Arguably, the most vexing of all the great questions of the Vietnam era is: "what if" President John F. Kennedy had not been cut down by an assassin's bullet and had lived out his term—and perhaps a subsequent one—as President of the United States?

JFK Assassination Tapes, November 22-November 30, 1963

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Below are some highlights of presidential recordings from the days immediately following the event.

LBJ and Sen. Richard Russell on Vietnam, May 27, 1964 (4:19)

Just prior to 11 a.m., the President placed a call to his friend, mentor, and sometime antagonist, Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia. In this conversation, Johnson reveals his deeply conflicted thinking on Vietnam, a profound sense of anxiety absent from his public remarks on the subject.

Preparing a Response, August 4, 1964

Roughly two days after a North Vietnamese attack on the U.S.S. Maddox off the Gulf of Tonkin, President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S.McNamara consider their options for responding to a second such attack.

Gulf of Tonkin, 1964: Perspectives from the Lyndon Johnson and National Military Command Center Tapes

In August 1964, Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution—or Southeast Asia Resolution, as it is officially known—the congressional decree that gave Johnson a broad mandate to wage war in Vietnam.

Edward R. Murrow & LBJ

Two days before Murrow's departure was official, Lyndon Johnson tracked him down in an airport as the newsman was traveling to La Jolla, California, to visit with Jonas Salk. Johnson wanted to talk to talk about Murrow's replacement, the journalist and U.S. ambassador to Finland Carl Rowan, and to express his fondness for Murrow's work.

LBJ and the Logic of Escalation, July 7, 1965 (2:56)

Five days before this call, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had given a speech in Petersburg, Virginia, to a chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. According to the New York Times, King declared that "the war in Vietnam must be stopped" and called for "a negotiated settlement even with the Vietcong." . . .

An Exceptional Alliance: Johnson, Eisenhower, and the Vietnam War

President Johnson, like Kennedy before him, demonstrated impressive political savvy by including Eisenhower’s advice in determining policy. Johnson forged a strong bi-partisan relationship with his predecessor, appealing to Eisenhower both as a friend and a sage.

LBJ's Nomination of Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court, July 1965

LBJ and the Response to Hurricane Betsy

Mississippi Burning & the LBJ Tapes, 1964-1967

Exactly 41 years after the murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, the state of Mississippi obtained its first homicide conviction in the case. On Tuesday June 21, 2005, 9 white and 3 black jurors convicted 80-year-old Edgar Ray “Preacher” Killen of manslaughter for his role in orchestrating the nighttime roadside lynching, which transpired approximately a half-mile from his house. For his crime, Killen received the maximum sentence of 60 years.

Nixon, Kissinger, and the Decent Interval, August 3, 1972 (2:43)

More than 30 years after the fall of Saigon, the most hotly debated question regarding President Richard M. Nixon's conduct of the Vietnam War remains whether he adopted a "decent interval" exit strategy. . . .

The First Domino: Nixon and the Pentagon Papers

Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara Dies, 2009

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara passed away on July 6, 2009. He was one of the most frequently recorded participants in the Kennedy and Johnson tapes. Of particular note are discussions recorded during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War. Here is a small sampling of the hundreds of recorded conversations that involved or discussed McNamara.

Senator Edward Kennedy and the JFK, LBJ, and Nixon White House Tapes

As part of our ongoing series of releases pulling together material from the White House tapes related to prominent figures, we have posted a collection of transcripts of conversations involving and directly related to the long Senate career of Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy.