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American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election

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American Leaders Speak, 1918-1920, contains fifty-nine sound recordings of speeches by American leaders. The speeches focus on issues and events surrounding World War I and the presidential election of 1920. Recordings include the seldom heard voices of Calvin Coolidge, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Samuel Gompers, and others.

From War to Normalcy: An Introduction to the American Leaders Speak Collection

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Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present
Votes for Women, 1848-1921
Words and Deeds in American History

Read More About It! - A bibliography

To search the collection by speaker, go to the Speakers Index.

For help with search words, go to the American Leaders Speak Subject Index and the Synonym List.

For help with search strategies, see Finding Items in American Memory.

You can read and search text of the speeches in this collection without special viewers. However, to listen to the recordings, you may need a special player. For help with audio players, go to American Memory Viewer Information.

Chronological Thinking

The war and election speeches do not present a significant temporal sequence. However, students can use the speeches to distinguish past events from contemporary ones, construct time lines, and place events in proper temporal order.

For example, several speakers refer to the conduct of Germany as a major factor forcing the United States into the war. Students can study the speeches and other sources to identify and construct a time line of German actions that led to America's entry into the war.

James Hamilton Lewis Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 49.6 sec.; 534 KB) (RealAudio format; sec.; bytes)

Search on Germany, Prussia, Kaiser, enemy. For example, search on Prussia for speeches such as: "Call of America" by Senator James Hamilton Lewis, which includes the text; Now sirs, true to the course of history, these United States must meet the assault from without. It comes from Prussia. Prussia -- whose people were ever received in friendship by our people, and whose children were made our children. Yet in return for our generosity, Prussian military masses, defiant to the peace loving people of Germany, and unmindful of the friendship of America, cruelly assails the United States, drowning her commerce and murdering her citizens.

Historical Comprehension

The recordings offer opportunities for students to develop and improve historical comprehension skills. To modern day students, the message of the speakers may seem vague. Students can use other sources to help illuminate the meaning of each speech.

General Pershing

1) Students can read and listen to General Pershing's speech "From the Battlefields of France." The content may seem mild to students -- a typical 'support our soldiers' kind of speech. Yet, in 1918, this speech had a sensational impact on the American people. Using other sources, students can look for evidence of the effect "From the Battlefields of France" had on the American public and the war effort. Search on Pershing.

Historical Analysis and Interpretation

Approximately two-thirds of the speakers are partisan politicians. The remaining speakers represent business, the clergy, intellectuals, labor, and the military. While all the figures support U.S. involvement in World War One, they do so for a variety of reasons and justifications. This variety allows students to study the perspectives, objectivity, and persuasiveness of the speakers.

1) Teachers can print out the texts of a several speeches. Before copying and distributing them to students, teachers can remove the names the titles from the speeches. Using the texts alone, students can answer the following questions;

• What is the speech about?
• What is the speaker's point of view about the topic covered?
• Which political party or interest group does the speaker represent?
• Does the speaker make a convincing argument? Why or why not?

When students have answered these questions, teachers can reveal the identity of the speaker and the title of the speech. Then, students can use outside resources to research the speaker and the topic in order to defend or revise their answers to the questions.

2) Because the speakers are well-known, students can use the speeches as a spring board for biographical research. Students might use the Dictionary of American Biography, the New Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, or other sources to create a life history profile of one or more speakers.

3) Using the speeches, students can examine the use of hyperbole and rhetoric as persuasive speaking styles. For example,

a) The use of hyperbole in the World War One speeches can help students distinguish between historical fact and historical interpretation. Some speeches characterize Germany as a monster, a beast, and a threat to God. Some of the speeches are less pejorative, defending American strategic and commercial interests, defending U.S. allies, and promoting an end to the war in the interest of world peace. By studying the different approaches used in war speeches, students can compare historical views on the causes and effects of World War One.

b) The rhetoric of the speeches can help students study elections and politics. In 1920, membership in the League of Nations was a major election issue. A spectrum of views on the League controversy can be found in recordings that range from Franklin Roosevelt's strong defense of League membership to Lodge's denunciation of it.

c) The recordings provide evidence that the League was not the sole issue of the 1920 election. Students can find speeches in which the Democrats are attacked for high taxes, for government regulation, for inefficiency, and for corruption. Students also can find speeches that attack Republicans for endangering national security, trying to fool workers into believing wages depended on a high tariff, failing to reduce taxes, and trying to make the American war effort into a partisan issue. Using this material and other sources, students can discuss reasons for the Republican victory in 1920.

Historical Research Capabilities

These collections provide support for research on causes of U.S. entry into World War One and the nature of partisan debate and electioneering in 1920. For example,

1) Using other sources, students can research points of view not represented in the Nation's Forum Sound recordings. For example, students might study critics of World War One or critics of society such as Eugene Debs. Students might look for evidence of the opinions of Labor leaders (other than Gompers), or of intellectuals such as Dos Passos or W.E.B. Du Bois. Students can use the recordings to answer, "Why do you think these opinions were not included in the Nation's Forum Recordings?"

2) Students can conduct historical research using this collection and other American Memory collections. For example, students can;

Search across all American Memory collections on income tax. Students will find that income taxes have been an American political issue since the Confederation government of 1785.

Using cross collection searches and other resources, students can gain a sense of the evolution of political issues in American history over time.

Historical Issue Analysis and Decision Making

1) Students can research American postwar elections throughout history. Students can make comparisons between the 1920 Nation's Forum recordings and other American postwar elections. Students might answer questions such as,

• What recurring themes or issues do you find in American postwar elections?
• How have the issues of American postwar elections changed over time?

Students can compare the effects of war and peacemaking on political power in this country.

2) Students can use other sources to study the League of Nations as a political issue. Students can write a retrospective analysis of the wisdom of U.S. decisions about the League. Within the collection, students can find a rich sense of nationalism, particularly in the speeches of Harding and Lodge. Fear of internationalism appears as well, both in sober speeches opposed to U.S. involvement in world conflicts and in vitriolic arguments against Bolsheviks.

Persuasive Speaking

The speeches can be used to study persuasive speaking techniques including alliteration, imagery, exaggeration, metaphor, repetition, and rhythm. As part of their study, some students can practice delivering the speeches aloud. Others can use the speeches as models, and then write and deliver their own speeches based on the persuasive techniques studied.

Context Clues

The speakers assumed their audience knew of current events. Seventy-five years after the fact, students may need background information to aid their understanding. Teachers can work with students to set the stage for World War One and the election of 1920. Students can study the speeches and practice using context to decode passages of text, even when some of the vocabulary words and historical references are unfamiliar. Teachers can model the exploration of two or three documents, moving from an easy to understand speech to a more difficult one.

Creative Writing

1. Students can imagine that they live in the early 1900s, and listen to the speeches as if they were hearing about present day events. Students can write a journal of their impressions of America's role in the War and the 1920 election as they listen to the recordings.

2. Students can write "Letters to the Editor" to express their views on topics of the time such as the high cost of living during the war, the danger posed by sympathizers to Germany, or the need to end America's isolationist policies and join the League of Nations. Based on the recordings, students can write mock interviews with the speakers such as Lodge, Harding, Coolidge and Wilson.

Speaking and Listening Skills

Using the collection, students can hone their speaking and listening skills. Students can prepare and deliver their own debates, speeches, and interviews on issues presented in the recordings. Students can improve listening skills by listening to recordings, then scoring the speakers on persuasiveness and clarity. To test their retention and comprehension of the speaker's topic, students can write a mock news article about the speech after listening to it.

Themes

Significant themes can be highlighted by the real lives of the people recorded in this collection. The theme of "taking risks for ideals" can be found in Wilson's speeches and life story. "Individual responsibility to society" is a frequent theme in the speeches as soldiers are asked to go to the front, and citizens are asked to sacrifice on behalf of the war effort. Students can search the collection for common themes, and then prepare their own recorded speech or story that illuminates that theme.