In May 2019, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, home to the nation’s longest-running nonpartisan presidential oral history program, announced that it would conduct a comprehensive oral history of the Barack Obama presidency. In March 2026, the Miller Center released transcripts for those interviews that have been cleared for public use. 

Nearly 80 officials and staff members from the Obama administration participated in individual and group interviews for the Barack Obama Oral History Project, ranging in length from several hours to day-long sessions. Many interviews covered the entirety of respondents’ lives, careers, and public service. Participants included White House officials, cabinet members, military leaders, agency staff, key campaign advisors, the First Lady’s staff, and congressional policy experts. 

Group oral histories focused on the Affordable Care Act and women and gender policies. Other topics included in the interviews addressed the 2008 campaign and transition into the White House amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bin Laden raid, the 2012 reelection, the Biden vice presidency, terrorism, climate policy, marriage equality, race issues, natural disasters, mass shootings, foreign policy, trade negotiations, speechwriting, media relations, and the Trump 2016 election. 

“As the American presidency faces a unique crossroads,” noted Professor Barbara A. Perry, cochair of the Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program, “the Obama project provides lessons on how the office arrived at this inflection point and what the future might hold for the world’s most powerful leader.”

The Miller Center’s half-century of conducting presidential oral histories from Gerald Ford to Joseph Biden has made it the nation’s premier program in this field. It is known for producing extensive briefing materials that inform its interview teams consisting of leading experts in political science, history, national security, law, business, and public policy, as well as allow officials to reflect on the details of their service. 

Over five decades, the Presidential Oral History Program has produced rich materials that journalists, authors, scholars, students, biographers, and practitioners rely on to illuminate the inner workings of modern presidencies. 

“Capturing and preserving the thoughts and recollections of the most senior administration officials shortly after their service allows us to understand more clearly the events of the time and their context,” said Miller Center Director and CEO William Antholis. 

The Miller Center’s presidential oral history interviews are widely praised and cited for their scholarly rigor and independence. The combination of confidentiality for the interviewee, deep research, subject-matter scholarly expertise, and delayed release of interview transcripts produces an unmatched historical record. 

As with previous oral history projects, the Miller Center will forge partnerships with think tanks, publishers, teacher institutes, and media outlets to bring the insights from the Obama project interviews to policymakers, educators, and the public.

All released transcripts in the Obama project are archived on the Miller Center’s website. It is the first of the Center’s presidential oral history projects to be captured in both audio and video recordings, some conducted in person and others online.