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LBJ Phone Calls

In the 1990s, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas began releasing phone recordings of taped calls from President Johnson's administration. The set available for listening here are those the period immediately following the Kennedy assassination, plus other selected calls relevant to that event.

You may also browse the transcripts directly in the Document Archive - see the LBJ Phone Calls page there.

The Miller Center has online audio for a much more complete set of LBJ phone calls.

22 Nov 1963

LBJ - Nellie Connally, 4:30 PM	transcript	This call occurred while LBJ was aboard Air Force One.
LBJ - Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, 7:10 PM	transcript
Allen Hoover, 8:00 PM	transcript
LBJ - Justice Arthur Goldberg, 9:00 PM	transcript
LBJ - Richard Maguire, 9:10 PM	transcript

23 Nov 1963

LBJ - J. Edgar Hoover, 10:01 AM	transcript	This call is erased - see The Fourteen Minute Gap and The Fourteen Minute Gap: An Update.
LBJ - George Meaney, 10:17 AM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Carl Albert, 1:10 PM	transcript
LBJ - Fred Kappel, 1:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Ralph Yarborough, 1:44 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Everett Dirksen, 1:50 PM	transcript
LBJ - Ed Weisel, 1:55 PM	transcript
LBJ - Bob Anderson, 1:55 PM	transcript
LBJ - Mrs. Tippit, 2:00 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. George Smathers, 2:10 PM (part 1) LBJ - Sen. George Smathers, 2:10 PM (part 2)	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Warren Magnuson, 3:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - Gov. George Romney, 3:22 PM	transcript
LBJ - Alex Rose, 3:35 PM	transcript
LBJ - Speaker John McCormack, 3:54 PM	transcript
LBJ - Dave McDonald, 4:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - Walter Reuther, 4:20 PM	transcript
LBJ - Gov. John Reynolds, 4:30 PM	transcript
LBJ - Patrick Lucey, time unknown	transcript
LBJ - Carl Robard, time unknown	transcript
LBJ - Gov. John Reynolds, time unknown	transcript
LBJ - McGeorge Bundy, 5:52 PM	transcript
LBJ - David Dubinsky, 7:32 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Ted Kennedy, 7:40 PM	transcript

24 Nov 1963

Bill Moyers - Dean Eugene Rostow, time unknown	transcript	In this call, Rostow brought up the idea of a President's Commission, within hours after Oswald's death.
LBJ - Gov. Pat Brown, 4:40 PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Jack Brooks, 4:53 PM	transcript
LBJ - McGeorge Bundy, 5:10 PM	transcript
LBJ - Whitney Young, 5:55 PM	transcript
LBJ - Whitney Young, 6:23 PM	transcript

25 Nov 1963

LBJ - J. Edgar Hoover, 10:30 AM	transcript
LBJ - Joe Alsop, 10:40 AM	transcript	Influential Washington Post columnist Joe Alsop pressed Johnson hard about the idea of a "blue ribbon commission."
LBJ - McGeorge Bundy, 4:00 PM	transcript
LBJ - Larry O'Brien, 4:04 PM	transcript
Ted Sorenson - Walter Jenkins, 6:38 PM	transcript
LBJ - Martin Luther King, 9:20 PM	transcript
LBJ - McGeorge Bundy, 9:29 PM	transcript
LBJ - Ted Sorenson, 10:10 PM	transcript

26 Nov 1963

	LBJ - Sen. Hubert Humphrey, 1:11 PM
	LBJ - Horace Busby, 1:25 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Speaker John McCormack, 3:30 PM
	LBJ - John Bailey, 3:55 PM
	LBJ - James Webb, 4:35 PM
	LBJ - Henry Luce, 5:15 PM
	LBJ - Keith Funston, 5:40 PM
	LBJ - Robert McNamara, 6:00 PM

27 Nov 1963

	LBJ - Cong. Joe Kilgore, 10:27 AM	transcript
	LBJ - Sen. Clinton Anderson, 10:31 AM	transcript
	LBJ - George Aiken, 10:47 AM
	LBJ - Nellie Connally, 1:35 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Jim Haggarty, 2:04 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Otis Chandler, 2:10 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Dr. Frank Stanton, 2:10 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Gen. David Sarnoff, 2:13 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Walker Stone, 2:15 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Cong. Adam Clayton Powell, 2:22PM	transcript
	LBJ - J. Waddy Bullion, 2:30 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Ben McElway, 2:30 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Russell Wiggins, 2:31 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Samuel Newhouse, 2:35 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Louis Seltzer, 2:45 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Gene Pulliam, 3:25 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Joe Alsop, 4:01 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Roscoe Drummond, 5:00 PM	transcript
	LBJ - William S. White, 5:01 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Gould Lincoln, 5:10 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Sen. Spessard Holland, 5:13 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Cong. Joe Kilgore, 5:21 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Gov. Farris Bryant, 5:26 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Prof. Eric Goldman, 6:35 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Jus. Arthur Goldberg, 6:37 PM	transcript
	LBJ - Dr. Jerome Weisner, 6:40PM	transcript
	LBJ - McGeorge Bundy, 6:55 PM

28 Nov 1963

LBJ - Sen. James Eastland, 3:00 PM
LBJ - Sen. James Eastland, 3:21 PM	transcript	Senator Eastland, Judiciary Committee Chairman, agreed in this call to drop committee hearings, in favor of the President's Commission.
LBJ - Lou Deschler, 3:40 PM	transcript
LBJ - Gov. Frank Clement, 6:30 PM	transcript

29 Nov 1963

LBJ - Sen. Mike Mansfield, 11:10 AM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Hale Boggs, 11:30 AM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Everett Dirksen, 10:47 AM	transcript
LBJ - Speaker John McCormack, 12:04 PM	transcript
LBJ - James Farley, 12:27 PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Hale Boggs, 1:11 PM	transcript
LBJ - Abe Fortas, 1:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - David McDonald, 1:29 PM	transcript
LBJ - J. Edgar Hoover, 1:40 PM	transcript	Johnson ran the names of the proposed Commission members by the all-powerful J. Edgar Hoover.
LBJ - Sen. John Pastore, 2:16PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Leverett Saltonstall, 2:22 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Hugh Scott, 2:26 PM	transcript
LBJ - David Lawrence, 3:14 PM	transcript
LBJ - J. Waddy Bullion, 3:37 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Russell Long, 3:45 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Richard Russell, 4:05 PM	transcript
LBJ - A. Philip Randolph, 4:17 PM (part 1) LBJ - A. Philip Randolph, 4:17 PM (part 2)	transcript
LBJ - Speaker John McCormack, 4:55 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Everett Dirksen, 5:10 PM	transcript
LBJ - Allen Dulles, 5:41 PM	transcript
LBJ - Abe Fortas, time unknown	transcript
LBJ - Sen. John Sherman Cooper, 5:45PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Les Arends, 6:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Hubert Humphrey, 6:20 PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Charles Halleck, 6:30 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sec. Dean Rusk, 6:30PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Carl Albert, 6:37 PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Les Arends, 6:43PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Gerald Ford, 6:52 PM	transcript
LBJ - Joe Alsop, 7:00PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. James Eastland, 7:03 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. William Fulbright, 7:11PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Thomas Dodd, 7:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Bourke Hickenlooper, 7:20PM	transcript
LBJ - Cong. Carl Albert, 7:36 PM	transcript
LBJ - Gov. Allan Shivers, 7:45PM	transcript
LBJ - Katherine Graham, 7:50 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Thomas Kuchel, 8:25PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. Richard Russell, 8:55 PM	transcript	In this amazing call, LBJ warned Russell about the possibility of 40 million dead Americans (in a nuclear exchange with the Soviets), and at the end told the story of how he had gotten Earl Warren to head the Commission, by telling him "something Hoover told me about a little incident in Mexico City."

30 Nov 1963

LBJ - William McC. Martin, 10:45 AM	transcript
LBJ - Don Cook, 1:16 PM	transcript
LBJ - Robert Anderson, 1:30 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. George Smathers, 2:05 PM	transcript
LBJ - Sen. George Aiken, 2:15 PM	transcript
LBJ - Jesse Kellam, 2:55 PM	transcript
LBJ - Dir. John McCone, 3:14 PM	transcript	CIA Director McCone informed Johnson that Gilberto Alvarado had retracted his story of seeing Oswald take $6500 in the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City to kill Kennedy.
LBJ - Lucia Alexander, 3:16 PM	transcript
LBJ - Gov. Philip Hoff, 4:25 PM	transcript
LBJ - Bill Moyers, time unknown