White House Tapes . Presidential Recordings Program

The Dictabelt series of the Kennedy recordings consists mainly of telephone calls, but the collection does include some office conversations and some dictation. In general, the telephone recordings are relatively clear, although degradation over time in the original Dictabelts has led to some difficult passages, especially when the needle track was damaged, leading to needle skips when the Kennedy Library transferred the recordings to DATs. The Kennedy Library has prepared a reasonably thorough finding aid, but the original recordings were stored in no logical order.

Download Sound Files

Users should consult the Kennedy Library's Finding Aids.
There are two numbering systems below. In the first, the recordings have been divided into individual conversations and numbered according to the item numbering system assigned by the Kennedy Library. These item numbers were also used in preparing the Kennedy Library's transcripts. Additionally, at the bottom of the list are the uncut recordings, designated as cassettes A through M, according to the lettering system assigned by the Kennedy Library when releasing these tapes available to the public.

Which Audio Format?

The sound files can be downloaded in two formats: FLAC and MP3. Each has benefits for different uses.

MP3: good sound reproduction, smaller files, universally compatible. Very good for telephone or Dictabelt recordings and for general listening. If in doubt, try the MP3 versions first.

FLAC: excellent sound reproduction, larger files, growing compatibility. Recommended for meeting recordings and transcribing where the highest sound quality is required. In terms of sound quality, FLAC files are identical to WAV or AIFF files.

More detailed information is available here.