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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Enjoy This is the President? Then have a listen to our other podcast , Comedy History 101.

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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.

Enjoy This is the President? Then have a listen to 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 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.

Enjoy This is the President? Then have a listen to our other podcast , Comedy History 101.

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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.

Enjoy This is the President? Then have a listen to 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!

Don’t cost nothing!