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
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
US Navy's base at Guantánamo
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I Think It’s Dynamite'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert McNamara
Guantanamo Bay view in 1969
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We Don’t Want Your Damn Water'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard B. 'Dick' Russell Jr.
President Lyndon Johnson talks with Katharine M. “Kay” Graham of the Washington Post
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Before It Goes to Hell'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Thomas C. 'Tom' Mann
Robert McNamara sitting by himself in an empty room
Lyndon B. Johnson
'More War' or 'More Appeasement'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert McNamara
Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
'A Good B-Plus'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Lady Bird Johnson
LBJ with Lady Bird filling up a plate at a BBQ
Lyndon B. Johnson
'He Just Like[s] Beans'
Juanita Roberts | Zephyr Wright
Alaska after being struck by an earthquake in 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It Is a Major Disaster'
Lyndon B. Johnson | George E. Reedy
Soldiers in Vietnam
Lyndon B. Johnson
'The Biggest Damn Mess I Ever Saw'
Lyndon B. Johnson | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy
LBJ and McNamara with their heads in their hands looking tired
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It’s a Mess'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard B. 'Dick' Russell Jr.
RFK throws a football
Lyndon B. Johnson
'How We’re Going to Do at the Olympics'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert F. 'Bobby' Kennedy
A Naval ship celebrates the Olympics
Lyndon B. Johnson
'A Pretty Worthwhile Undertaking'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Lee C. White