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
LBJ and Martin Luther King Jr. sitting at a table during a meeting
Lyndon B. Johnson
'A Very Complex Problem'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Martin Luther King
LBJ and Martin Luther King Jr. sitting at a table during a meeting
Lyndon B. Johnson
'I Don’t Want to Be a Warmonger'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Martin Luther King
LBJ talking to John McCormack
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Unite Their Families'
Lyndon B. Johnson | John W. McCormack
LBJ and MLK sit together during a meeting in the Oval Office
Lyndon B. Johnson
LBJ, King, and the Watts Revolt
Lyndon B. Johnson | Martin Luther King
Congressman Mendel Rivers and President Lyndon B. Johnson sit talking to each other
Lyndon B. Johnson
'He Ought to Be Removed'
Lyndon B. Johnson | John W. McCormack
Statue of Liberty
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Get the Immigration Bill Reported'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Emanuel “Manny” Celler | Nicholas deB. 'Nick' Katzenbach
President Lyndon Johnson and Robert Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
'He’s Giving Me Lots of Problems'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Dwight D. Eisenhower
aerial photo of flooded Louisiana from Hurricane Betsy
Lyndon B. Johnson
'We Need Your Help'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Russell B. Long | Edwin E. Willis
Flooding in New Orleans after Hurricane Betsy
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Make the Law Bend to the Problem'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Russell B. Long | Robert Y. 'Bob' Phillips
LBJ with Richard Daley
Lyndon B. Johnson
'They’re Trying to Pressure You'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Richard J. 'Dick' Daley
Vice President Hubert Humphrey talking to President Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
'He’s a Fool'
Lyndon B. Johnson | McGeorge 'Mac' Bundy
President Lyndon Johnson talks to former President Dwight Eisenhower on a plane
Lyndon B. Johnson
'It Doesn’t Bother Me One Bit'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Dwight D. Eisenhower
Soldiers in Vietnam
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Then We’re Really in It All'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Abraham 'Abe' Fortas
President Johnson sitting next to Ngô Đinh Diệm
Lyndon B. Johnson
'The Architect of Surrender'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Eugene J. 'Gene' McCarthy
LBJ leaning in to talk to Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman
Lyndon B. Johnson
No 'One-Way Deal'
Lyndon B. Johnson | Orville L. Freeman
Douglass Cater and President Lyndon B. Johnson talking to each other, snow on the ground in bkg
Lyndon B. Johnson
'Don’t Make the Government Fall'
Lyndon B. Johnson | S. Douglass 'Doug' Cater