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
American troops in Vietnam
John F. Kennedy
'Bringing a Thousand Men Home'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Robert McNamara
Ngo Dinh Nhu in 1963
John F. Kennedy
'It’s Pretty Horrible to Contemplate'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Roger Hilsman Jr. | Dean Rusk
President Diem of South Vietnam
John F. Kennedy
'They’re Just Not Right Very Often'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Roger Hilsman Jr.
Robert McNamara
John F. Kennedy
'I Don’t Think We Do Have to Do It'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Robert McNamara | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Maxwell D. “Max” Taylor
President Kennedy with civil rights leaders
John F. Kennedy
'We’re on Our Way'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Roy O. Wilkins | A. Phillip Randolph | Walter P. Reuther
Troops in Vietnam
John F. Kennedy
'You Both Went to the Same Country?'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Joseph A. 'Joe' Mendenhall | Roger Hilsman Jr. | Victor H. 'Brute' Krulak | Rufus C. Phillips III | Dean Rusk
President Kennedy with Maxwell Taylor and Robert McNamara
John F. Kennedy
Dispatching the McNamara-Taylor Mission
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Dean Rusk
Helicopters in Vietnam
John F. Kennedy
'We’re Not Here Forever'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Maxwell D. “Max” Taylor
Civil rights leaders march in Washington
John F. Kennedy
'The Destiny of Our Nation Is Involved'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Martin Luther King
JFK addresses the nation on civil rights
John F. Kennedy
'We’ve Got to Make Progress in This Area'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Frank C. Newton
President Kennedy with Maxwell Taylor and Robert McNamara
John F. Kennedy
'We Have Plans for Withdrawal'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Robert McNamara | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Maxwell D. “Max” Taylor
Members of a U.S. Army Division disembark from a helicopter during their withdrawal from Vietnam.
John F. Kennedy
'We’ll Get a New Date'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Robert McNamara | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Maxwell D. “Max” Taylor | George W. Ball
President Diem of South Vietnam
John F. Kennedy
'Everybody’ll Say We Did It'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Robert McNamara | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Robert F. 'Bobby' Kennedy
Robert Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
'The Road to Disaster'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Robert F. 'Bobby' Kennedy | Maxwell D. “Max” Taylor | John A. McCone | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Dean Rusk
President Diem of South Vietnam
John F. Kennedy
'The Death of Diem and Nhu'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy | Roger Hilsman Jr. | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy | Dean Rusk
President Kennedy at desk
John F. Kennedy
'The Coup in Saigon'
John F. 'Jack' Kennedy