The Library now has access to the fascinating Presidential Recordings Digital Edition. This rich resource includes transcripts and corresponding audio of secretly recorded conversations in the Oval Office from Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon.
You can access Presidential Recordings Digital Edition via the Databases A-Z list and relevant Databases by Subject lists e.g. Primary Sources, Politics, etc. and you can access it via DiscoverEd.
Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt through to Richard M. Nixon all secretly recorded many of their conversations in the Oval Office. The resulting 5,000 hours of telephone and meeting tape recorded during their time in the White House capture some of the most significant moments in modern American political history. From Birmingham to Berlin, from Medicare to My Lai, from Selma to SALT, and from Watts to Watergate, the presidential recordings offer a unique window into the shaping of U.S. domestic and foreign policy.
Presidential Recordings Digital Edition is the online portal for annotated transcripts of the White House tapes published by the Presidential Recordings Program (RPR). Created by a team of scholars and researchers at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, these transcripts are presented in Presidential Recordings Digital Edition alongside the corresponding audio, enabling users to read and listen to these conversations simultaneously. This effort at deciphering the presidential recordings and decoding their meaning allows these extraordinary documents, many of which would remain otherwise inaccessible, to come alive, providing an intimate view of life inside the Oval Office.
You can access Presidential Recordings Digital Edition via the Databases A-Z list and relevant Databases by Subject lists e.g. Primary Sources, Politics, etc. and you can access it via DiscoverEd.
Access is only available to current students and members of staff at the University.
Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for School of History, Classics and Archaeology
