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Window Into the White House Social Education 72(3), pp 130–135 ©2008 National Council for the Social Studies Window Into the White House Stephanie van Hover, Marc J. Selverstone, and Patrice Preston-Grimes Have you ever wanted to eavesdrop on American presidents as they deliberate, Designed for use by the research and agonize, debate, discuss, or reflect on key policy issues? An exciting online resource, teaching communities, whitehousetapes. www.whitehousetapes.org, makes this possible. From 1940–1973, six presidents (from org provides teachers and students the Franklin D. Roosevelt to Richard M. Nixon) secretly taped almost 5,000 hours of opportunity to learn more about how conversations, including telephone calls, meetings, and memoirs. Hosted and main- American presidents have made deci- tained by the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller sions and exercised leadership dur- Center of Public Affairs, whitehousetapes.org offers free access to presidential record- ing pivotal moments in United States ings covering myriad topics that range from the significant—World War II, the Cold history.1 These fascinating historical War, the Space Race, the War on Poverty, the Civil Rights Movement, the Cuban sources offer students the opportunity Missile Crisis—to the mundane—President Lyndon B. Johnson ordering some custom- to explore the presidency beyond the made pants. All presidential recordings, declassified and released by the respective pages of the textbook. They practice key presidential libraries, are available on the website. In addition, the site offers links historical thinking skills as they listen, to numerous recordings that the Miller Center has augmented to include a scrolling analyze, and discuss the revealing con- transcript with the audio, so teachers and students can both see and hear the conversa- versations that often provide conflict- tion as it plays (see Figure 1). Each of these recordings provides an introduction that ing viewpoints on events in history. In details contextual information such as the date, topic and participants, as well as the this article, we highlight the resources type of recording (e.g., telephone conversation, meeting, or memoir). available on this site for teaching about a topic that continues to be both con- troversial and extremely relevant to the current political debate: the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Recordings The website’s Vietnam tapes include conversations from the administrations of presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon, with the earliest stemming from 1962—the year Kennedy instituted his taping system—to the spring of 1973, when Nixon dismantled his own taping opera- tion. These tapes capture some of the key moments in presidential decision making about the war, from the build-up of the U.S. advisory mission to the final Figure 1. S OCIAL EDUCATION 130 Bill Cowell edits an original tape from the Nixon White House at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington in this undated photo. For two decades, President Nixon’s White House tapes have been pre- served and pro- tected in a cold storage vault at the National Archives. (AP Photo/National Archives) withdrawal of American troops. These relationship with the media, his own The Vietnam Recordings and the tapes highlight, as no other document thoughts on escalating and de-escalating Classroom can, the complexity of the challenge American involvement in Vietnam, and To facilitate use of this site by teachers confronting these statesmen. the political calculus that underlay his and their students, Marc Selverstone, a The Vietnam recordings are partic- endgame for the war. historian and assistant professor at the ularly helpful in illuminating various Collectively, these tapes offer Miller Center, has constructed a Digital policymaking dynamics, including the a unique window into a period in Classroom Initiative (DCI) at www.white- role of presidential advisers, tensions American history that is perhaps housetapes.org/classroom (see Figure 2). The between the executive and legislative unparalleled in its array of personali- “topics” link on the menu offers visitors branches of government, the role of ties, political change, and drama. They a variety of recordings organized into electoral politics, and the challenges cover scenes from the massive transfor- of managing the media. Students can mation of American life that resulted hear Kennedy ruminating on topics not only from Vietnam, but from the such as the critical reporting of the Civil Rights Movement, the War on American press corps in Vietnam, the Poverty, and the political realignment possibility of withdrawing U.S. troops, of the country. These tapes therefore and America’s involvement in the over- provide a portrait of three politicians, throw of South Vietnamese President at the height of their political powers, Ngo Dinh Diem. President Johnson also as they strove to shape both the country comes alive in these recordings as listen- and the world around them. But they do ers hear him “work over” members of so by humanizing the president and the Congress, discuss the pros and cons of presidency—a role and an office too fre- escalating the war, and anguish over the quently characterized by mythology— Figure 2. wisdom of committing American blood revealing the messy business of crafting and treasure. Materials from the Nixon national policy and the personal quali- broad historical themes including Civil recordings are likewise illuminating, as ties of those who make it. Rights; the Economy; Foreign Policy & they detail the 37th president’s stormy National Security; Law; Politics; Space; A PRIL 2008 131 the War on Poverty; and Presidents: the learning more about the policymaking and the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem Human Dimension. To access resources and personalities of presidents. The DCI and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, Kennedy on Vietnam, click on “Foreign Policy site provides suggestions for classroom refers to the chairman of the joint chiefs of & National Security” and then select use through content-specific lessons and staff, General Maxwell Taylor; Attorney “Vietnam.” The first section of the site instructional activities. Teachers can General Robert Kennedy, Secretary of offers a series of virtual exhibits that access these resources by clicking on the Defense Robert McNamara, Director explore different aspects of the Vietnam “Classroom” link on the front page or by of Central Intelligence John McCone, War. “The Great What If” explores a scrolling to the bottom of each subject- Ambassador to Vietnam Henry Cabot fascinating question: What if President specific page. Lodge Jr.; Undersecretary of State John F. Kennedy had lived out his term— Averell Harriman, Undersecretary of would he have made good on an expressed Sound Recording Analysis: Pre- State George Ball; Assistant Secretary of desire to withdraw American troops Post-During Listening Activities State Roger Hilsman; National Security from Vietnam? The exhibit includes a Another resource for teachers interested Council aide Michael Forrestal; and the series of conversations over the course of in using recordings in the classroom is the head of the U.S. military assistance com- October 2 through October 5, 1963, in “Sound Recording Analysis Worksheet” mand, Vietnam, General Paul Harkins. which Kennedy and his advisers debate available on the National Archives web- Basic background information on those the merits of withdrawing the bulk of site (www.archives.gov/education/lessons/ mentioned or involved in the conver- American troops from Vietnam by the worksheets/sound_recording_analysis_work- sation can add richness to the listening end of 1965. It also provides related sheet.pdf). This worksheet emphasizes the experience. A useful source for this resources, including articles and other importance of pre-listening, during-lis- information is the website www.ameri- relevant recordings. tening, and post-listening strategies, and canpresident.org (also maintained by the Another exhibit, “The Gulf of Tonkin, the recordings on this site raise particular Miller Center), which provides in-depth 1964,” explores the recordings that cap- questions and issues to consider. background on each president, a list of ture Johnson and his advisers discussing Pre-listening: Before listening to a key figures in each administration, and the Tonkin Gulf Incident of 1964. These presidential recording, it is important links to presidential speeches and other tapes reveal the contradictory and incom- to ensure that students have the requisite resources. Similarly, many recordings plete reports flowing into Washington, as background knowledge so that they are reference historical events that will need well as Johnson’s own doubt about the aware of (a) the historical context of each to be identified and defined. veracity of the intelligence he was receiv- recording and (b) the roles and respon- During-Listening: The web-based ing prior to passage of the Gulf of Tonkin sibilities of the people featured in the “transcript + audio” feature makes it Resolution. The exhibit includes excerpts recordings. The contexts surrounding easy to simultaneously read and hear the from LBJ’s presidential diary around the each recording are often quite complex. conversation. The scrolling transcript time of the event, offering insight into the Presidents rarely have the luxury of deal- highlights the sentence as it becomes multiple issues and crises facing Johnson ing with one event at a time; for
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