The Tragic Story of JFK Impersonator Vaughn Meader and The First Family Album

This is one of the saddest stories in the history of Presidential impressions. At the end of 1962, comedian Vaughn Meader was flying high off the success of the smash hit comedy album The First Family.

Produced by former radio DJ Bob Booker, The First Family Album provided a comic look at the adventures of the Kennedy clan and their New Frontiersman in the 1960s White House. And then, in November 1963, tragedy struck - not only for the young President and his family, but to the career of Vaughn Meader. Special thanks to Bob Booker for taking the time to talk to us over the phone.

All the President's Farts

We all know that President Trump isn’t exactly the pinnacle of politeness. He’s rude, pushy and has the tendancy to interrupt people. A lot. 

But would he stoop so low as to float an air biscuit in the middle of a phone call? 

On January 2, Trump held a conference call with the Georgia Secretary of State and other officials about alleged irregulariets in the November elections. On the call, the president pressured the officials into coming up with election numbers that would flip the result of Georgia’s vote count and give Trump a victory and Georgias votes in the electoral college.

Ok, sure - that’s bad enough - but did the president make it worse by cutting the cheese?

Have a listen for youself. Will Fartgate prove to be the final undoing of Trump?

1972 Election Special

Although Nixon barely squeaked into office in 1968, the election of 1972 wasn't quite the same. Some people might use the term "blowout" - especially when Nixon won every state except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Ouch. But that doesn't mean Nixon turned into a sore winner.

On the contrary, in this video he and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger exchange some choice words about the concession speech of Nixon's opponent in 1972, Senator George McGovern. Also - be sure to keep your eyes open by the cameo from a certain candidate in the 2020 election.

The Time That LBJ Picked Up His Dog by the Ears - The Real Story

It was a picture that sent shockwaves around the United States when it was first splashed across the front page of newspapers from coast to coast on the morning of April 28, 1964. Before Watergate, there was Beaglegate - the time that President Johnson picked up his 10 month old beagle pups by the ears to "hear them yelp".

But was this an act of animal cruelty? Or simply a proud doggy dad showing off? Using unearthed presidential documents, never before seen photos and - of course - plenty of LBJ phone calls - This is the President is here to dive into the real story on the day that LBJ picked up his dog by the ears.

Did President Jimmy Carter Really See a UFO?

It was a crisp fall night way back when in October 1969 in South Georgia. Future President Jimmy Carter, then a district Governor of the Lion’s Club, was about to give a speech to a group of local businessmen when he saw a strange shape approaching out of the sky to the west. It didn’t look like any type of plane that Carter had seen before, and it was too bright to be a star.

So what was it? Carter had no choice but to believe - he was having his first UFO encounter.

Rather than forgetting about his sighting, the - then Georgia Governor - did what any responsible citizen would do - he reported the sighting to the authorities.

Want to read his whole report for yourself? The truth is in here!

What followed on that chilly October night in 1969 would change his life and - quite possibly - the future of the United States of America forever.

Worst Pandemic President - Trump or Wilson?

So let’s say that you had a president in charge of the United States. And let’s say you were also in the middle of a global pandemic. And this certain president wasn’t doing a whole lot to help. Want to take a guess about the year? Well, if you just said 2020 - you’re right. Partially.

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In today’s episode of This is the President, we take a look at some of the similarities - and differences - between how two presidents - Donald Trump and Woodrow Wilson - dealt with pandemics during their presidency.

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Top 5 JFK Phone Calls

Man oh man, who doesn’t love a good Top 5 list? Everyone else does it, so we here at This is the President thought it was time we jumped on the bandwagon as well.

After a carefully hand-selected team of This is the President interns spent weeks combing through the JFK archives, these are the top 5 JFK phone calls that they emerged with. And good for them, because if they weren’t digging up some JFK gold, they weren’t coming back at all. We kid. We love our TITP interns.

Anyhooo, since the tile of the post and episode pretty much says it all, we’ll keep the introductions to a minimum. You might have heard a couple of these calls before - especially any Silly Bastard fans out there - but there are also a couple of new tidbits. I found…I mean, the TITP Intern Team found, the call about JFK and the American Supersonic Transport pretty fascinating. I had always wondered that to myself - where the hell was the good old USA version of the Concorde?

So as you’ll hear in the episode, we tried something a little different - releasing the podcast AND a video. There are a few extra easter eggs in the video, so be sure to give it a watch. And - hey - if you’re over by our YouTube channel - why not subscribe? Why do you hate us?

This episode also brought to you in part by our pals over at Stitcher Premium. Use the code PRESIDENT to get a FREE month of Stitcher Premium on us! That’s right your very own FREE Abe Lincoln from us at This is the President.

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President Trump Prays the Constitution Away

“God, please look over and protect P:resident Trump!”

Never thought you’d ever hear those words did you? How about if you heard them uttered in the White House - before a cabinet meeting. But, of course, when President Trump is on the scene, disruption is the name of the game and - separation of Church and State be damned - he’s going to pray in the White House.

Now how much of this whole born again evangelican business Trump really believes in - and how much of it is a show to get more votes - is something that His Orange Highness will ever know. But, just in case you needed reminding that there’s some prayer meetings going on in the White House, This is the President is here to explain it all to you.

Along with Trump’s new found sense of Christianity (remember this is the guy who was stealing money from his own charities and grabbing the ladies by the pussy), we briefly touch on Trump’s connections with Pastor Kenneth Copeland, a member of Trump’s semi-secret evangelical advisory council who - no joke - claims that he personally talks to god and that Jesus Christ himself has blessed the Untied States of America.

We know we don’t have to say it, but we will anyway - we promise that this episode is 100% Corona virus free!

This episode also brought to you in part by our pals over at Stitcher Premium. Use the code PRESIDENT to get a FREE month of Stitcher Premium on us! That’s right your very own FREE Abe Lincoln from us at This is the President.

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The Last Impeachment Special

Our long national nightmare is over…or maybe it’s just begun. In either case, we decided to go ahead and do another episode about this impeachment circus.

In Episode 71 of This is the President, Scott and Harmon take a brief jog down memory lane about some of the impeachment trial tidbits. You’ll also be able to experience in real time when Scott and Harmon get the news about the impeachment trial results and Harmon continues with another of his political impressions.

But - as you know - here at This is the President, we’re more than just rehashing the news. We’ve still got an eye to the past. In this case, the not too distant past - April 30, 2018, to be exact. On that date, Trump appeared at a political fundraising dinner held by his (non-affiliated) friends at the America F1rst (get it - there’s a “1” in there instead of an “i”) Action SuperPAC. Now, you might have heard portions of this tape before, where Trump was ranting about the Ukrainian ambassador or being compared to the Messiah.

Sure, that’s interesting, but the recording is actually over an hour long. We did you a favor and listened to the whole thing. You’re welcome. We decided to edit out the boring parts about golf and the aluminum bodied Ford F150 truck, and get right to the juicy bits - where President Trump and his audience reminisce about the 2016 election and look forward to the 2020 one.

Listen in to see what Trump really thought about Bernie - and what 2018 Trump thought was going to happen in 2020.

This episode also brought to you in part by our pals over at Stitcher Premium. Use the code PRESIDENT to get a FREE month of Stitcher Premium on us! That’s right your very own FREE Abe Lincoln from us at This is the President.

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Yet Another Impeachment Special Featuring Really Drunk President Nixon

Ok, remember in our other episodes where we talked about a drunk President Nixon? This time we really mean it.

We’re 99% sure he’s sloshed in this episode.

“So what,” you say. “What does this have to do with what’s going on today?”

Fair enough, but the reason that the president was getting loaded, my dear listener, is because he was under investigation about a little thing called Watergate. We thought it would be the perfect pairing to start of with the beginning of President Trump’s impeachment trial in the good old US of A.

The date was April 30, 1973. Nixon had just broadcast a nationwide address declaring that he had fired two of his most trusted advisors and was getting to the bottom of all this Watergate hoo-haw. After the speech, Nixon sat waiting for the calls of well wishers. Which didn’t really happen, because he had told the White House switchboard not to put any calls through. Or did he tell them to put calls through? Even the President himself didn’t know.

In today’s call, President Nixon recieves praise from none other than Hobart D. Lewis, the Chief Executive of Reader’s Digest and dammit Nixon’s “god bless America” added to the end of the speech was just ok by him. During their conversation, Nixon also takes some time to wax emotional about the Watergate break in and what happened - or, more precisely, what didn’t happen there.

Was the president drunk? You make the call!

Also in the episode, Harmon and Scott make their Trump impeachment trial predictions (HINT: He’ll get away with it) and Harmon returns with his Congressional impressions.

This episode also brought to you in part by our pals over at Stitcher Premium. Use the code PRESIDENT to get a FREE month of Stitcher Premium on us! That’s right your very own FREE Abe Lincoln from us at This is the President.

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The Mother of Impeachment Specials featuring Million Dollar Nixon

In the immortal words of David Byrne - “Well, how did we get here?”

This week, in a historic vote, the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump. But guess everyone already knew that, huh? Still, we wouldn’t let the moment go by without putting our very own This is the President spin on the moment. Tune in to hear Scott and Harmon discuss the House vote, listen in to Harmon do his latest impressions of House Republicans AND - stop the presses - Harmon reads the personal email he got from President Trump just a few hours after the vote.

And let’s not forget the Presidential tapes! As you might have guessed from the title of the episode, our special guest this week is none other than President Richard M. Nixon, who, himself was nearly impeached as well. Nearly, because he saw the writing on the wall and got out of office while the getting was good - complete with his presidential pension in tact. And today’s tape is just one of the many reasons why Nixon knew it was time to go.

In this tape, from March 21, 1973, you can listen in as the president discusses paying off blackmail with White House Counsel John Dean. No quid pro quo here!

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest episode on the The History of Don Rickles, the Irishman and the Mob.

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Impeachment Special 3 - Clinton and Trump

And the hits keep on comin’!

It’s almost like we can’t keep up with the Impeachment Circus that President Trump has brought to the stage in Washington, DC.

And that’s ok - because, as you know by now, here at This is the President, we’re all about looking to the past - never forward. Well, maybe forward, just a little bit. Or backward. It gets a little confusing in this episode.

We start out simply enough, with a little bit of a visit to the videotaped deposition by President William Jefferson Clinton way back in 1999. Diiizzzammm. That was 20 years ago!

But we don’t just stop there. Oh no.

It just so happens we stumbled upon a very interesting interview from that very same year from a failed business and bankrupt casino owner by the name of Donald J. Trump.

And what does Mr. Trump have to say to the (then) sitting President Clinton? Well, let’s just say that he has a few choice words of lawyerly advice for the cigar lovin’ former Arkansas governor.

But don’t just take our word for it - tune in!

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest episode on the History of the Oldest Jokes in the World!

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Bush, Biden & Crack

Ahhh, the 80s. The days of neon, Rambo movies, big suspenders, bigger hair and back when you could buy good old fashioned crack across the street from the White House.

So, President George HW Bush would have you believe back in September of 1989. That was when the Prez held up a big back of crack - “as innocent as candy” - in front of a nationally televised audience to announce his version of the War on Drugs.

But what they never mentioned at the time was that the dealer behind the sale was an 18 year old high school student (African-American, of course) who had to be lured to Layfayette Park, across the street from the White House, in order to make the sale.

Now, we’ve covered this Bush Crack speech before here on TITP, but I discovered a new twist. I’ve usually only watched the first part of the speech. So, one day while nosing around, I played this video and let it keep running. That’s when I noticed that the Democratic response to the President’s speech was none other than one of our current candidates for the 2020 election, Senator Smokin’ Joe Biden. And - it turns out - Senator Biden has a bit of personal familiarity with crack.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest multi-part episode all on Dolemite!

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JFK Terminates the CIA

Something sneaky is going on in sneakytown. At least that’s what Arnold Schwarzenegger’s future father-in-law and head of the Peace Corps, Sargent Shriver, informs President Kennedy in this episode’s phone call from April 2, 1963.

JFK established the Peace Corps as one of his highlights of his New Frontier program. The idea was that young and idealistic Americans would travel around the world, helping out upcoming economies and cultures with good old fashioned American knowhow and - at the same time - spreading a little of those wholesome American vibes at the height of the Cold War.

Only problem? Certain other US government agencies - some of which may or may not have had to do something to do with the President’s death - were trying to use the Peace Corps for nerfarious purposes.

What does JFK have to say about this? Tune in to find out!

ALSO ON THE SHOW We analyze some of the meaning in Trump’s letter to the President of Turkey, Harmon reviews the new Joker movie and also introduces a new nickname for his penis.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest multi-part episode all on Dolemite!

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Impeachment Special 2 - More Drunk Nixon

Man oh man, things just aren’t looking good for the President, are they? Impeachment is looming, his trusted legal advisors are deserting or getting fired in droves, and all he’s left with is the support of his trusted base.

Trump 2019? Sure. But also, Nixon circa April1973.

We’ve already briefly touched on these tapes in our First Impeachment Special, but these phones calls are the gift that keeps on giving, so we wanted to make a return visit.

The background: On April 30, 1973, in light of the looming Watergate investigation, Nixon fires two chief aides, Haldeman and Erlichman. He then goes on national television to plead his case and tells the American people that he’ll get to the bottom of this Watergate business. Afterwards, Nixon fields phone calls from a number of supporters, congradulating him for his performance.

Nixon decides to celebrate the occasion by - what it sounds like - having a drink. Well, more than one drink. In fact, towards the end of night in this series of calls, he’s slurring his words and - as you’ll hear in this tape - noisily chewing the ice in his glass.

At least that’s our take on this. What do you think?

ALSO ON THE SHOW Harmon disloses what object in the Smithsonian almost brought a tear to his eye and we review more Trump products in our segment Trump in the Amazon!

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness.

So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

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Impeachment Special

April 30, 1973 was a busy day for President Nixon. First he had to fight off a looming impeachment by broadcasting a heartfelt speech to the “real” people who supported him. Then he had to take phone calls from well wishers. A lot of phone calls.

Oh yea, and let’s not forget to mention the scotch. Plenty of scotch. As a matter of fact, there’s going to be so much scotch in this episode, you’re almost going to be able to taste it.

In today’s call, we’ll hear President Nixon talking to future President George H W Bush, so this is like our version of a presidential two-fer Tuesday.

ALSO ON THE SHOW Harmon discusses some of the discoveries he made on his recent trip to Washington, DC and we continue with the battle of the robot voices.

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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JFK Insults the Women and the US National Hockey Team

Oh man - JFK has been dead for a while now but he keeps bringing the hits - as least presidentially phone call wise!

The date is March 13, 1963. After reading about the devastating loss of the US Hockey Team to that most neutral of countries, Sweden, JFK picks up the phone and dials his good friend David L. Hackett, who is in charge of all things sporty for the president.

JFK goes off about the loss of the hockey team in a most politically incorrect and - let’s face it , “unwoke” - way as possible.

But you didn’t come to hear us write about this - why don’t you have a listen for yourself?

ALSO ON THE SHOW Scott and Harmon talk about the current impeachment hearings going on in Washington, how the current president is “draining the swamp”, and Harmon does his worst robot voice impression yet.

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Racist Reagan and Nixon

We’re always happy when presidential tapes get a bit of play in the news. Unfortunately, it seems that whenever a new presidential tape is discovered, the president in question doesn’t always have the nicest things to say.

Which is exactly what happened just a few days ago when a recorded phone conversation between President Nixon and then Governor of California Ronald Reagan was released by the National Archives.

And it wasn’t too pretty.

The story got quite a lot of play in the national news media so, of course, we here at TITP felt like we had to cover it. We’ve tried to give you a little bit more background of the call and play more than just “those” sound bites that you’ve already heard a thousand times.

And - if by some chance, you haven’t heard the clip yet - get ready for a doozy. Sure, we might not be hitting the heights of the president talking to an Aquanaut on helium gas, but - as far as racist presidential phone calls go - this one is right there at the top.

ALSO ON THE SHOW - Harmon and Scott discuss the current “least racist president ever” and they both come to an agreement that watching the Democratic debates is a waste of time .

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

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Presidential Classical Gas

Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t think we’re overstating that today we’ll be presenting you with one of he greatest presidential phone calls of all time.

And believe, me, we’ve listened to a lot of them. Sure - even as we point out here on the show - they can’t all be winners. When you’re dealing with United States presidents and found audio, you never know what you’re going to get.

But we think you’ll be pleasantly suprised by todays call - and it might even merit a relisten or two. Even more interesting, the phone call in this episode is the polar opposite from our last episode. While last week we tuned into President Nixon calling the astronauts on the moon, this week we have President Johnson calling aquanaut Scott Carpenter at the bottom of the ocean, some two hundred feet down!

The date? September 26, 1965. The occassion? Aquanaut Carpenter had just broken a record for being submerged the longest with the Navy’s underwater experimental laboratory, Sealab II.

The thing is, though, the aquanauts in Sealab II were breathing a very special mixture of air to help with conditioning themselves to the underwater conditions and dives. Their atmosphere was composed of a large part of the gas Helium. And if you’ve ever sucked up a balloon to make yourself talk funny, I think you can see where this is going….

So grab a balloon, take a deep breath and hit that play button!

ALSO ON THE SHOW - Harmon and Scott talk about the latest goings on in DC, the demise of the Comedy Central show from 2000, “That’s My Bush” and our feature “Harmon’s Impressions” makes its triumphal return.

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

Don’t believe us? Just check out the video below!

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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President Nixon Calls the Moon

Fifty years ago today was a glorious day for all mankind.

Sure, we put some guys on the moon. That was kinda cool. But for listeners of This is the President, it’s an even more special day. Because once man had landed on the moon and walked on the surface, what was the next step?

A phone call from the president, of course! Which, naturally, leads us to the most long distance presidential telephone call in history.

It all happened on July 20, 1969, a few minutes before 12AM Eastern Daylight Time. Nixon was introduced to the astronauts by CAPCOM (Capsule Commander - like the NASA terms?) Bruce McCandless II. The call was short and, in all honesty, not the most exciting call we’ve ever had on the show but for the sake of history and completeness, we feel like it had to be done.

As we mention in the podcast, there was a “contingency plan” prepared in case the astronauts never made it back from the moon. First they would call the astronaut’s wives, then NASA would shut off all the communications to the trapped astronauts and then the president would read a speech written by White House staffer William Safire that you can hear in the video below.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the longest distance presidential telephone call you will ever hear.

ALSO ON THE SHOW - Harmon and Scott discuss some of the latest diatribes from the current president, Harmon revisits his Trump impression and a plane tries to land on Harmon’s balcony.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

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