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. 
Conversation Topics
President
Richard Russell and LBJ talking close to each other
Lyndon B. Johnson
'You’re Goddamn Sure Going to Serve'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard B. 'Dick' Russell Jr.
LBJ greets Jackie Kennedy at the funeral of President John Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
'You Give Me Strength'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Jacqueline B. 'Jackie' Kennedy
Tom Mann and President Johnson talk to each other at desk
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We've Been Talking Enough'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Thomas C. 'Tom' Mann
LBJ sitting and talking to Walter Heller
Lyndon B. Johnson
'He’s for Grandma'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Walter W. Heller
Group sitting around the LBJ Ranch living room
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I’m Not Lying About That One'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Lady Bird Johnson | Albert W. 'Judge' Moursund III | Richard B. 'Dick' Russell Jr.
LBJ talks to advisers in the White House pool
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Never Felt Better in My Life'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Walker Stone
Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, and Geraldine Whittington talk together at White House
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I’m Not a Hater and a Bigot'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Whitney M. Young Jr.
Barry Goldwater and LBJ in the Oval Office looking at a portrait of Franklin Roosevelt
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Finest Advertisement He Could Give Me'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Thomas G. 'Tommy the Cork' Corcoran
Protestors in Panama
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Hot as a Firecracker'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard B. 'Dick' Russell Jr.
President Lyndon Johnson talks with Senator Richard Russell outside the White House
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It's Poison'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard B. 'Dick' Russell Jr.
Roy Wilkins and President Lyndon Johnson lean toward each other talking
Lyndon B. Johnson
"Find Some of the Top People"
Lyndon B. Johnson | Roy O. Wilkins
US troops in Santo Domingo, April 1965
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I Can’t Ever Make Phi Beta Kappa'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Herman E. Talmadge
President Lyndon B. Johnson with Senate Democratic Leadership and Democratic Members of Senate Finance Committee
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Can’t You Help Me'
Lyndon B. Johnson | R. Vance Hartke | Abraham A. 'Abe' Ribicoff
LBJ and Hubert Humphrey sitting in chairs outside
Lyndon B. Johnson
'This Is What We Stand For'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.
LBJ with the president of South Vietnam, Ngô Đinh Diệm
Lyndon B. Johnson
'That Wasn’t Smart at All'
Lyndon B. Johnson | R. Sargent Shriver
President Johnson giving the "Johnson treatment" (leaning in close) to Sargent Shriver
Lyndon B. Johnson
'You’re Mr. Poverty'
Lyndon B. Johnson | R. Sargent Shriver