In our second episode and first ever two parter, we listen in to JFK's "silly bastard" phone call from 1963 and hear from the silly bastard himself.

Episode 1 - The Silly Bastard Next to the Bed - Part 1

Yep - this is it. The episode that this podcast was made for - the historic meeting between Elvis and Nixon. You've seen the picture, you might be seeing the movie that opens this week, but this is the real story.

Although there are no actual tapes of the meeting - Nixon didn't install the recording system until after the historic summit was held - there are a couple of tapes where Nixon or one of his aides mention the meeting and that's what we're going to be going into here.

We've also got a couple of eyewitness accounts with Egil Krough and Jerry Schilling, who were both present. 

Episode 5 - Elvis & Nixon

President Nixon welcomes Johnny and June Carter Cash, along with a few members from the band, into the Oval Office and showers them with gifts. He also takes the time to praise Johnny's music and shows off a "cool" painting by his daughter, Julie. 

Controversy erupts when Nixon mentions Glen Campell - what exactly is the President hiding from the public? 

You can download the link below or check it out on iTunes! 

Episode 4 - Johnny Cash and Nixon

Originally thought this episode was lost, but it looks like we've uncovered it.

Another pretty interesting fly-on-the-wall moment. In this phone call, we have President Johnson calling the author John Steinbeck - yes, the Of Mice and Men guy - to get his opinion on one of Johnson's speeches. 

There's some kind of weird thing going on with the podcasts showing up in iTunes. We'll see if maybe this fixes it. 

Episode 3 - Of Mice and Men and John Steinbeck and LBJ

October 10, 1972 - For ten glorious minutes, the Godfather of Soul met with Tricky Dick and, unlike the earlier encounter between Elvis and Nixon, we have this one captured on tape! 

Because this momentous occasion lasted just a few minutes, we didn't want to leave you hanging with a shorter than normal podcast episode, so we've included a special guest at the end of Episode 6. This one is a must for Dallas Cowboys or Washington Redskins fans!

Episode 6 - James Brown, Richard Nixon and Special Guest

Up in this episode we have one of the most infamous of the presidential phone calls, yes, it's LBJ's Bunghole.

You've probably heard or seen it floating around online, but if you haven't, you're in for a treat. If you have heard it, I've thrown in a few historical trivia bits to make it worth another listen.

We've also included another one of our favorites, LBJ talking about drinking and driving. LBJ's bunghole is from an August 9, 1964 phone call, while Drunk LBJ dates from November 8, 1964, just a few days after he was (re)elected as President. 

You can subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes.

Episode 7 - President Johnson's Drunk Bunghole

Yes, you read that right. In this episode of The Is The President, Ronald Reagan gets tough with a kidnapper. 

Way back on October 22, 1983, unemployed pipe fitter Charles Harris (at left), rammed his pickup truck through an unmanned gate at the Augusta golf course where Reagan was playing on the 16th hole, took a number of hostages and demanded to speak to the President. 

Luckily for us, the conversations were recorded. 

So get ready for a trip back to the 80s and check out our latest episode. 

You can also subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-the-president/id1095154912

Episode 8 -Ronald Reagan vs TheKidnapper

On August 18, 1967, President Johnson placed a phone call to Baltimore Mayor Theodore McKeldin asking him to come and help out in the Federal government in Washington. During the call, he also asked the Mayor to help him find a "young, able, negro" to take a place in the government as well.

This short phone call highlights some of the country's thoughts about race at the time and also shows firsthand, the "Johnson Technique" that LBJ would use to grind down his opponents. 

For the first time, I'm joined by special guest Harmon Leon, a comedian here in town for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing, appropriately enough "Harmon Leon's Big Fat Racist Show." 

Episode 9 - The Other N Word

Did you know that President Reagan had a brother?

Neither did I.

But he did and in this episode of This is the President, we get to hear the two siblings talk about the legendary O'Malley brothers and the weather in Dixon, Illinois.

Did we mention the fact that these aren't all winners? 

Joining me on this episode is our guest Harmon Leon, who, in addition to his presidential phone call commentary, provides us with post election updates from the home of Donald J. Trump, New York City. 

But don't let the phone call subject matter scare you off - in this episode you'll get the inside scoop of Ronald Reagan's connection to John Cusack, hear Harmon's legendary Ronald Reagan impression and get in on the ground floor of SNL alum Joe Piscopo's Republican candidacy.

Episode 13 Wear Your Long Johns

We're putting this episode up in honor of World AIDS Day, December 1. So, hopefully you'll see it up on the internets that day. 

Wanted to keep this one short and sweet, because there's not really much to laugh at here. What we've done is taken the three press conferences that we featured in our documentary, When AIDS Was Funny, for Vanity Fair and simply strung them all together for your listening pleasure (or displeasure). 

The press conferences in the episode start on October 15, 1982 - which was the first time that AIDS was mentioned during a press conferences, to June 13, 1983 and finally end up on December 11, 1984. What's interesting is that, in the first press conference, you can hear the Deputy Press Secretary, Larry Speakes, saying to himself (or an aide) "A I D S? I don't have anything on that" to the last press conference when he's more or less prepared on the subject. 

The reporter doing the questioning is Lester Kinsolving (that's him up there with The Gipper). Lester wasn't the biggest fan of "alternative livestyles" so he does have his own agenda by asking these questions. Be that as it may, the guy did have a pretty impressive track record before this, including marching with MLK in Selma and being the first reporter to cover Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.

This is the President

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