Primary Sources: U.S. Presidents

"... the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History brings together for the first time objects that represent the lives and times of the country’s 42 presidents." Some materials from the exhibit may be viewed online.

Created in 1999 by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Contains documents for the study of the U.S. Presidency. The archive contains public papers of Presidents, addresses, speeches, FDR's Fireside Chats, debates, etc. Documents can be browsed or searched. The site also provides links to Presidential Libraries, election data, and an audio/video archive.

Provides access to video and transcripts as well other debate materials.

"An average of 50 cartoons and prints per election, most of which have been scanned from leading illustrated periodicals of the day. This collection of 19 publications ranges from major journals, such as Harper’s Weekly, Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Puck, and Judge, to rare humor and satirical magazines and newspapers, such as The Comic Monthly, Fun, and Southern Punch. Also included are campaign banners and political prints from the Library of Congress collection. The cartoons and prints are accompanied by commentary explaining their historical context and meaning."

A selection of presidential speeches, some include audio/video and/or transcripts.

govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) provides access to the official text of:

Federal Laws
Presidential Documents
Administrative Regulations and Notices

"Correspondence and Other Writings of Seven Major Shapers of the United States:

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. Over 184,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the authoritative Founding Fathers Papers projects."

performed by Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Harry Truman, Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon B Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry S Truman and Presidential Speech Masters (Presidential Speeches, 2012), 1 hour 45 mins

performed by Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower, John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson

performed by Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush and William J Clinton

"View the electoral votes, popular votes, electors, and certificates of past presidential elections."

"The Library of Congress celebrates Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Herb Block (1909–2001) with a look at his remarkable seventy-two-year career (1929–2001). Herblock! includes eighty-two original cartoon drawings, primarily selected from the Library’s extensive Herbert L. Block Collection. These cartoons represent Block’s ability to wield his pen effectively and artfully, using it to condemn corruption and expose injustice, inequality, and immorality on topics including the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and World War II, communism and the Cold War, Senator Joseph McCarthy, race relations, Richard Nixon, the Reagan era, the 2000 election, and more."

"The Library of Congress digital collections include a wide variety of primary source materials documenting presidential inaugurations. This Web guide includes diaries and letters written by presidents and those who witnessed the inaugurations, handwritten drafts of inaugural addresses, broadsides, inaugural tickets and programs, prints, photographs, and sheet music.

A key objective is providing access to many treasures and other important primary source materials held by the Library of Congress. The collection has been organized chronologically by presidential inauguration."

"...contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. " The site is provided by the Museum of the Moving Image

This site is from the Library of Congress. "...the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest and most comprehensive presidential library." The Library started a program to digitize these presidential collections in 1996. This page provides links to selected items that are currently available.

A collection of material about the Presidents of the United States and the history of the presidency.

performed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight David Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon, Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jimmy Carter and Various Artists

The Presidential Oral History Program is systematically and comprehensively debriefing the principal figures in the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton, with plans to do the same for future presidents. We are also conducting special projects on important topics in political history, including a six-year oral history on the life and career of Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

"... the online portal for annotated transcripts of the White House tapes published by the Presidential Recordings Program (PRP). Created by a team of scholars and researchers at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, these transcripts are presented in PRDE 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. (Read more about PRP in “The Presidential Recordings Program,” by Philip Zelikow, Ernest May, and Timothy Naftali)."

"PresidentialRhetoric.com provides news, information, and resources for those interested in the study of the presidency from a rhetorical perspective. Focusing largely on contemporary presidential issues."
The site is provided by Dr. Martin Medhurst
Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and Communication Baylor University and Paul Stob, Assistant Professor Dept. of communication Studies Vanderbilt University.

Primary sources and other resources related to U.S. Presidents.

"...contains material that was compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. It includes volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. As subsequent volumes are published, they will be added online. "

A collection of political cartoons by Clifford K. Berryman.

Sign up for the free version of Spotify to access audiobooks and speeches as well as music.

"The Voices of American Presidents have been captured by audio pioneers since the early days of sound recording. The invention of Edison's phonograph ushered in a new era of "recorded" history, beginning with President Benjamin Harrison in the late nineteenth century to the present day administration. The MSU Vincent Voice Library is working to preserve over 100 years of historical spoken word recordings like those of the U.S. Presidents, and is pleased to share these sound samples from its collection."

Provides access to a variety of materials about Presidents, their wives, and The White House itself. It includes both primary and secondary materials.

The Whitehouse You Tube channel supplies access to various videos.

A collection of presidential speeches, addresses and photos, all for public consumption. To view full read-only, audio, or video of speeches visit http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches