American Presidents Documents

U.S. Presidents have varying backgrounds and political persuasions. Only one was unanimously elected. They can have little or lasting influence. These stories are about individuals with the power to make a difference at home and abroad.

Page 9, the last page, of President Johnson's speech - "Pattern for Peace in Southeast Asia" - which he gave to promote U.S. involvement in Vietnam. ...

When Bobbie Lou Pendergrass lost her brother, who was an unarmed adviser in Vietnam, she wrote to President Kennedy asking why America was in Vietnam ...

Image of the signature page of the Bobbie Lou Pendergrass Letter (handwritten) to President Kennedy February 18, 1963. Click on the image for an expa...

This digitized letter, from the FBI, is a request for examination of certain artifacts important to the investigation of President Lincoln's assassina...

This image depicts LBJ's daily diary for March 31, 1968 - the day he announced to the American people that he would not seek, and would not accept, th...

Mary Todd Lincoln wrote a letter to her husband, the President, advising him to replace General McClellan. Click on the image to enlarge it.

On the 14th of September, 1963, McGeorge Bundy - a special assistant to President Kennedy - wrote a memo about "World Reaction to Developments in Viet...

Image of a draft copy of President McKinley's speech on March 4, 1901.  Maintained by the U.S. Library of Congress. Click on the image for a bet...

The McNamara-Taylor Report, dated 2 October 1963, was formerly a top-secret, classified document prepared for the President of the United States. ...

This is page 4 of the McNamara-Taylor Report - dated 2 October 1963 - which these two JFK advisers prepared for President Kennedy's review.  The ...

When Robert McNamara and Maxwell Taylor returned from their fact-finding trip to South Vietnam - in the early fall of 1963 - they advised President Ke...

In 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff considered whether America should launch a military invasion of Cuba. This image depicts a top-secret, now-declassi...

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