Cool clips

Being a print person myself, I claim no fascination with podcasts of important events. Even less for unimportant. The NARA Presidential Libraries archivists are providing an opportunity for you to listen to "cool clips"-- podcasts of events, trivial and policy, in our Presidents' lives. Here's the description as it appeared in the Society of American Archivists October newsletter:

"Presidential Libraries Launch Podcast
Using technology to bring its unique holdings to the public, the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives and Records Administration announced August 2 its podcast series, “Presidential Archives Uncovered.” It features audio clips from the libraries' collection, ranging from serious policy discussions between the President and his advisors to conversations among Presidential family members. In one of the audio clips President and Mrs. Nixon discuss the pandas' arrival at the National Zoo in 1972, following the President's historic trip to the People's Republic of China earlier that year. A new clip will be added each month. Audio is free and available on the Presidential Libraries' podcast website and at iTunes: Presidential Library Podcasts."

I'm not sure why we need the panda discussion or the one where Lady Bird calls Lyndon on August 4, 1964 (Gulf of Tonkin crisis and discovery of the bodies of civil rights workers). And I could do without little synthesizer ta-da at the beginning. Also, voice overs by women need to be selected more carefully for tone, volume and diction. I had to increase the sound for her introduction, then set it back for the content. I didn't expect a Barbara Jordon (who spoke with the voice of God), but . . . she sounds as timid and tentative as the gal who let Sandy Berger steal documents from the NARA. New information on the Berger thefts here.