This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories, the show where America is the star

and the American people, coming to you from is the star and the American people coming to you from

where the West begins in Fort Worth, Texas. Here to tell the story of the most famous presidential

impersonations is Peter Fund, author of Playing Podus, the power of America's acting precedents.

So although there were some presidential impersonations in the 1930s and 1940s, the genre really began in 1962 when JFK was president and an album came out, a record album that was called

the first family. The voice was provided by an unknown at that time, comedian, by the name of

Vaughn Meeter. The question is, was you want your son to be present?

Definitely not.

I think he should finish school first.

And he managed to capture pretty much the charm, the charisma that Kennedy

captivated much of a miracle with. You know, they called the period

Camelot for a good reason because the nation was in love with this young, charming president.

Kennedy's assassination kind of shut down the whole enterprise for a while.

The nation was in shock, and frankly, comedians didn't really know what to do next.

Lyndon Johnson became president.

This was a guy who was far more mockable in terms of his comedic traits than Kennedy was,

but for a year or more, impressionist didn't want to touch it. It was just too insensitive

considering what had happened with Kennedy. But eventually, the comedian started.

There was a guy named David Fry.

A fellow Americans, I come here tonight with a heavy heart.

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