Presidential tapes reveal serious and mundane

The audience at The Lodge at Old Trail traveled decades back into American history Thursday night to listen to U.S. presidents air their deepest fears and their most mundane requests.

Presidential conversations provided by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia revealed President Lyndon Johnson agonizing over the future of the Vietnam War with Georgia Sen. Richard Russell in 1964.

But on another tape, the audience was amused to hear Johnson speak to an official of Haggar Clothing and talk about ill-fitting slacks and jackets he ordered.

President John F. Kennedy is heard speaking to former President Dwight Eisenhower about a possible 1962 invasion of Cuba, and the chances that the Soviet Union would counter by launching missiles against the United States.

Former Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles, director and CEO of the Miller Center, said the tapes dating from Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon show the presidents in unvarnished relationships with their families and close colleagues.

“There is insight into the presidential motivations,” Baliles said. “The tapes are far more valuable than what could have been captured with the written record.”

Baliles said the hours of available tapes per president vary.

There are only eight hours of FDR tapes, but 3,700 hours of Nixon tapes.

Some of the most intriguing tapes played Thursday night were those of Johnson.

He called then Michigan congressman and future President Gerald Ford, a week after the Kennedy assassination in November 1963.

A conversation that starts with “Jerry, I’ve got something I want you to do for me,” evolves into a description of a commission to investigate Kennedy’s death. Ford was one of the two House members chosen for the commission.

When talking to Russell, his mentor in the U.S. Senate, Johnson asked for a frank assessment of the Vietnam War.

Russell minces no words, saying the war “is the damn worse mess I ever saw,” and “I don’t know how we will ever get out.”

And on the tape about Haggar pants, Johnson describes to Joe Haggar how some of the slacks he received from the company were too tight, and how his knife and wallet fell out when he sat down.

A troubling tape with Kennedy has the president dictating his regrets about the overthrow and murder of the president of South Vietnam.

What is ironic is that Kennedy’s thoughts came on Nov. 4, 1963, less than three weeks before he was murdered in a Dallas motorcade.

Baliles said the labor needed to preserve and make a record of the tapes is laborious. It takes four hours of work to produce one minute of tape.

Thursday’s event was part of the Third Thursday monthly observances at The Lodge at Old Trail.

The Lodge at Old Trail is a senior living community that is set to open in May, said marketing director Kristina Paré.

There will be independent senior and assisted-living units as well as a pub and patio bar, a deli corner café, and a dining room.

The Lodge at Old Trail is the work of David Hilliard, a native of Charlottesville who returned to his home area to create the project.