"I Think That's Hopeless"
Transcript+Audio ClipIn this conversation with chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee J. William Fulbright∇ (D-AR), President Johnson considers the reasons for the appointment of Henry...
View ArticleTesting Sargent Shriver: Vietnam and Assassinations
Transcript+Audio ClipJohnson had spent much of the day on the phone with Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps Director. Despite Shriver's clear resistance, Johnson named him the director of the War on...
View ArticleVietnam: Getting In or Getting Out?
Transcript+Audio ClipThe newspaper baron John Knight was a regular target of Johnson's lobbying efforts, which paid their reward in the fall, when all Knight Ridder papers endorsed Johnson's...
View ArticleVietnam: More War or More Appeasement
Transcript+Audio ClipJohnson had given a speech at UCLA that accused the Vietnamese of engaging in a "deeply dangerous game" in Southeast Asia. Reaction had not been favorable. Internationally, the...
View ArticleReporting Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipJust prior to a discussion of a possible troop withdrawal from Vietnam, Kennedy and his advisers discuss media coverage of the war in Southeast Asia. The group is particularly...
View ArticleThe Kennedy Withdrawal
Transcript+Audio ClipOver the course of several meetings, from October 2 through October 5, 1963, President Kennedy and his advisers debated the merits of a plan to withdraw the bulk of U.S. troops...
View ArticleThe Kennedy Withdrawal (Combined)
Transcript+Audio ClipOver the course of several meetings, from October 2 through October 5, 1963, Kennedy and his advisers debated the merits of a plan to withdraw the bulk of U.S. troops from Vietnam...
View Article1,000 Troop Withdrawal from South Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipHaving returned to Washington earlier that morning from their fact-finding mission to South Vietnam, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...
View Article1,000 Troop Withdrawal from South Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipFollowing a morning briefing by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maxwell Taylor on their trip to Vietnam, the National Security...
View Article1,000 Troop Withdrawal from South Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipWhile discussing a new set of instructions for Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge∇ to help manage a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam, President Kennedy continues to ruminate on...
View ArticleCut Off His [Thieu's] Head
Transcript+Audio ClipThe Nixon Library's June 23, 2009, release of 150 hours of Nixon tapes from January 1973 shed light on a little-known chapter in the history of the Vietnam War. That month, Nixon...
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Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara Dies
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara passed away on July 6, 2009. He was one of the most frequently recorded participants in the Kennedy and Johnson tapes. Of particular note are...
View ArticleExplaining Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipIn the wake of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara∇'s recent trip to South Vietnam, Johnson had pressed him to prepare a speech on the subject, as several members of Congress were...
View ArticleThe Best in the Army
Transcript+Audio ClipIn this conversation snippet, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara responds to the President's question about a possible replacement for Henry Cabot Lodge∇ as ambassador to...
View ArticleVietnam and the Ghost of Ben Milam
Transcript+Audio ClipThis excerpt from a lengthy conversation between President Johnson and Georgia Senator Richard Russell highlights the serious early concerns about Vietnam prevalent among Johnson...
View ArticleLBJ and Sen. Richard Russell on Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipThough Johnson awoke on May 27 to the news that Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had died of a heart attack, the bulk of his day would be dominated by the problems of...
View ArticleLBJ and Gerald Ford
Transcript+Audio ClipThat morning's Washington Post carried a front page story of several members of Congress critical of the Johnson administration's campaign to bomb the North Vietnamese supply lines...
View ArticleLBJ and Gerald Ford on Bombing in Vietnam
Transcript+Audio ClipAfter some initial pleasantries, President Johnson discusses a bombing operation in Vietnam with House minority leader Gerald R. Ford∇, who takes the opportunity to ask Johnson...
View ArticleGround Troops and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Transcript+Audio ClipIn this morning telephone conversation with the secretary of defense, Johnson expresses dismay at recent proposals, prepared by his most senior civilian officials, for U.S. action...
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