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Nixon, Kissinger, and Haldeman on John F. Kerry, April 23, 1971 |
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Nixon, Kissinger, and Haldeman discuss John F. Kerry's performance testifying at a televised hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Nixon and Haldeman were both impressed. In the course of the discussion, Haldeman says that Kerry did "a superb job" and that he is "A Kennedy-type guy. He looks like a Kennedy and he talks exactly like a Kennedy." |
Nixon and Haldeman discuss John F. Kerry, June 2, 1971 |
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In this Oval Office conversation, Bob Haldeman updated the President on recent press coverage of pro-administration veterans' organizations countering the anti-Vietnam War protests of Veterans Against the War and their unofficial spokeman, John F. Kerry. Haldeman described Kerry as "eloquent" but a "ham." |
JFK on the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, Nov. 4, 1963 |
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President Kennedy, of course, never had the opportunity to write his memoirs; but he had the intention to do so after his presidency. In this dictated memoir entry, recorded just a few weeks before his assassination in Dallas, Kennedy reflected on the assassination over the previous weekend of South Vietnamese President Diem and on the extent of the U.S. government's responsibility for the coup. While recording, Kennedy was joined briefly by his two young children. Before getting back to the grim topic of the assassination of Diem, the President gave his 3-year-old son, John John, a lesson on the seasons. |
LBJ orders some custom-made pants from the Haggar clothing company, August 9, 1964 |
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In this telephone call, which has become one of the more famous exchanges on the Johnson tapes, the President asked a leader of the Haggar clothing company for some custom-made pants, providing specific--and sometimes graphic--instructions on how they should be customized. |
LBJ on the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, Feb. 1, 1966 |
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While talking to Senator Eugene McCarthy, Johnson says that "I just can't be the architect of surrender" in Vietnam and that in 1963 Diem was a problem for U.S. policy "So we killed him. We all got together and got a goddamn bunch of thugs and we went in and assassinated him." |
| LBJ and Robert Kennedy on the Integration of Alabama Public Schools, February 4, 1964 |
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President Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy discuss Alabama governor George Wallace's attempts to prevent the integration of public schools near Tuskegee, Alabama. |
Nixon on Donald Rumsfeld, March 9, 1971 |
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Nixon contemplates assigning Rumsfeld as Special Trade Representative "because at least Rummy is tough enough. He's a ruthless little bastard...". |
Nixon and Donald Rumsfeld discuss comments made by Vice President Spiro Agnew, July 22, 1971 |
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The unscripted remarks of Vice President Spiro Agnew were a recurring problem for President Richard Nixon. When Nixon sat down for this discussion with Donald Rumsfeld, then a counselor to the president, the president complained of recently published comments in which Agnew had unfavorably compared African-American leaders to authoritarian African leaders-Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and Joseph Mobutu of Congo. |
LBJ talks with John McCone about the civil disorders in Los Angeles, August 18, 1965 |
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McCone had been asked to chair a committee to investigate the August 1965 civil disorders in Los Angeles. In the course of this exchange, LBJ outlines his understanding of the plight of African Americans and says, "We've just got to find some way to wipe out these ghettoes." |
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These two clips concern the murder of three civil rights works in Mississippi in June 1964. On the day of this recording, news had reached the White House that the three workers were missing, but their bodies had not yet been found or their fate determined. Throughout the day of this recording and through the next week, Johnson continued to follow the case closely, holding over 40 recorded conversations. In the first clip, Johnson reached out to Senator James O. Eastland, a staunch segregationist from the Mississippi Delta. Eastland declared the episode a publicity stunt, denied the existence of organized white supremacy groups in that part of Mississippi, and ridiculed Fannie Lou Hamer. In the second clip, Johnson spoke with the mother of one of the missing men. |
| LBJ on the Republican Party and the Voting Rights Act, July 7, 1965 |
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LBJ assesses the Grand Ole Party's prospects for the future, concluding that "they are disintegrating as a party." |
| LBJ and Charles Halleck, June 21, 1964 |
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LBJ urges House Minority Leader Charles Halleck to speed up passage of the Civil Rights Bill through Congress. |
| Nixon and Haldeman discuss the nation's youth, March 25, 1971 |
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Nixon complains about the deterioration in the quality of the nation's youth since his days as student body president of Whittier College. |
| JFK with White Birmingham Leaders, Sept. 23, 1963 |
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Meeting with white Birmingham leaders just days after the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Kennedy makes his argument for opening up public accommodations to African Americans. |
| LBJ and Jacqueline Kennedy, Dec. 2, 1963 |
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In this phone call, recorded 10 days after President Kennedy's assassination, LBJ comforts Jackie Kennedy. |
| JFK and the Space Race, November 21, 1962 |
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JFK lays out his agenda for the space race. |
| Selected JFK clips |
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A selection of several clips spanning several topics taken from the Kennedy tapes. |
