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
Hubert Humphrey with civil rights leaders
Lyndon B. Johnson
'When Are You Going to Pass Your Civil Rights?'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.
Jackie Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy standing next to each other
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I’m Just as Close as the Phone'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Jacqueline B. 'Jackie' Kennedy | Robert F. 'Bobby' Kennedy
LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Go On and Report My Poverty Bill'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Charles A. “Charlie” Halleck
LBJ leans toward Everett Dirksen while they talk
Lyndon B. Johnson
'You’re a Hard Bargainer'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Everett M. Dirksen
Victims are honored at 1964 DNC
Lyndon B. Johnson
'This Means Murder'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Lee C. White
President Johnson and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach
Lyndon B. Johnson
'What Do You Think Happened to Them?'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Nicholas deB. 'Nick' Katzenbach
LBJ on the phone with FBI missing poster of three civil rights workers
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We Got Three Kids Missing'
Lyndon B. Johnson | James O. 'Jim' Eastland
Burned out car in Mississippi countryside
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We Found the Car'
Lyndon B. Johnson | J. Edgar Hoover
Robert S. McNamara on the phone
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I’m Here with the Parents of These Boys'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert McNamara
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
Lyndon B. Johnson
'The Bodies Were Not in the Car'
Lyndon B. Johnson | J. Edgar Hoover
Burned out car recovered in Mississippi
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Likely That None of Them Were Burned'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert Goodman | Anne Schwerner | Lee C. White
Edward Kennedy and LBJ sitting together in the Oval Office
Lyndon B. Johnson
'You Got Lots of Guts'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Edward M. Kennedy
LBJ and RFK with civil rights leaders
Lyndon B. Johnson
'If It’s Signed Today'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Robert F. 'Bobby' Kennedy
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Sign It as Soon as We Could'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Roy O. Wilkins
LBJ talks with George Mahon in the Oval Office
Lyndon B. Johnson
Turning 'Tax-Eaters' into 'Taxpayers'
Lyndon B. Johnson | George H. Mahon
President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Senator Lister Hill and Mary Lasker
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Modernizing Urban Hospitals'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Kermit Gordon