PRP TRANSCRIPTS

This site serves as a portal for the Miller Center’s Presidential Recordings Program to share publicly its transcripts online. The site is a work-in-progress; new transcripts will be added regularly. Check the yellow box at right for the latest updates and upcoming releases.

Click on an image below to access the corresponding transcript collections.

New LBJ Volumes Published

In November 2007, W.W. Norton published the next three volumes of the LBJ print series (The Presidential Recordings: Lyndon B. Johnson, vols. 4/5/6), spanning the period February through May 1964. More information. It is available for purchase online at amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

NEWS

Selected Highlights from LBJ volumes 4-6
“Nixon and the Amchitka Nuclear Test, November 1971,” by Patrick J. Garrity
“The First Domino: Nixon and the Pentagon Papers,” by Jordan Moran
Online search now available for Nixon Tapes Finding Aids.
Nixon Tapes Guide, by Ken Hughes
“A Rough Guide to Richard Nixon’s Conspiracy Theories,” by Ken Hughes | Listing of new transcripts
Walter Pincus, “Nixon, Hoover Bashed Justices in ‘71 Phone Call,” Washington Post, September 28, 2007
Timothy Noah, “Nixon’s Jew Count,” Slate.com, September 26, 2007
Jack Shafer, “Dick and J. Edgar Diss Kay Graham,” Slate.com, September 26, 2007

War Powers

LBJ and Gerald Ford, January 19, 1965

Lady Bird Johnson Dies

Having married LBJ in 1934, Lady Bird Johnson proved a vital source of support and advice throughout LBJ’s political career, especially during their time in the White House. Both were firmly rooted in Texas, even as they became Washington’s, and the nation’s, first couple.

A selection of clips featuring Lady Bird drawn from the LBJ and Nixon tapes is available here.

The CIA’s ‘family jewels’ and Project Mockingbird

The CIA’s release on June 26 of the so-called “family jewels,” in response to a FOIA submission by the National Security Archive, included new information on Project Mockingbird, an operation in which the CIA wiretapped two American national security journalists in 1963. The origins of that initiative can be traced back to the Kennedy administration’s efforts the previous year to clamp down on the leak of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to New York Times reporter Hanson Baldwin. In response, the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), a body of advisers answerable only to the President, proposed having the Director of Central Intelligence establish a task force to monitor journalists’ interaction with the Pentagon and to investigate leaks. Dr. James Killian, the chair of PFIAB, argued that such a task force operating under the auspices of the intelligence community would be much better equipped to handle such a mission than the FBI. PFIAB member (and later chair) Clark Clifford strongly supported the plan, telling Kennedy that “To my knowledge it’s never been done before and it is long overdue.” President Kennedy agreed with their recommendation and authorized the establishment of such a group. Director of Central Intelligence John McCone subsequently created the group.

In 2001, the PRP published transcripts documenting the Kennedy administration’s response to the Baldwin leak and the origins of Project Mockingbird, including the August 1962 meeting where PFIAB presented the proposal to President Kennedy. Also included were transcripts of subsequent discussions between President Kennedy and McCone. McCone’s objective was to create the group under his own authority in such a way that it would not be traced back directly to the President himself.

The relevant published transcripts are extracted and available here.

A short multimedia clip extracted from those transcripts is available here.

New York Times coverage of the material is available here.