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Go directly to the collection, American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election , in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.
The American Leaders Speak collection of fifty-nine sound recordings captures
the voices and opinions of prominent Americans. The recordings contain selections from speeches on World War One and the election of 1920. The recordings were recreated under studio conditions, and are excerpts of the actual speeches. Almost every speaker is passionate, and appeals to the listener's emotions as well as intellect.
- 1) Fifteen of the recordings focus on World War One, and were
recorded in 1918. All express support for the United States' participation in the war,
yet the recordings present a variety of perspectives and reasons for supporting the war.
- a) Some of the speeches reflect American idealism about the war. For example, idealistic views are present in Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo's speech "American Rights" and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise's speech "What Are We Fighting For?" The speech "America's Choice and Opportunity," by Secretary
of War Newton D. Baker, also strikes an idealistic cord.
 Newton D. Baker Listen to the excerpt:  (WAV format; 29.2 sec.; 315 KB)
 (RealAudio format; 29.2 sec.; 29 KB)
| Search on war, idealism for speeches such as:
"America's Choice and Opportunity" by Newton D. Baker, which includes the text;
So that when we entered this war, we entered it in order that
we and our children's children
might fabricate a new and better civilization, under better conditions,
enjoying liberty of person liberty of belief, freedom of speech, and freedom as to our political institutions. We entered this
war to remove from ourselves, our children, and our children's children, the menace which threatens to deny us that right.
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b) The speeches cover well-known reasons for American entry into
the War, including the sinking of the Lusitania, the Rape of Belgium, American security interests, and a desire to make the world safe for democracy.
 Franklin K. Lane Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 27.6 sec.; 298 KB)
(RealAudio format; 27.6 sec.; 28 KB) | Search on Lusitania, Belgium, security,
and democracy. For example, search on Lusitania for the speech:
"The Nation in Arms" by Franklin K. Lane, which includes the text;
We are fighting Germany because she sought to terrorize us and
then to fool us. We could not believe that Germany would do what she said she would do upon
the seas. Yet, we still hear the piteous cries of children coming out, out of the sea where the
Lusitania went down, and Germany has never asked forgiveness of the world. |
c) The war time speeches champion national unity.
 William G. McAdoo Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 19.5 sec.; 211 KB)
(RealAudio format; 19.5 sec.; 20 KB) | Search on unity and national. For example, search on unity for speeches such as:
"American Rights" by Secretary of Treasury William G. McAdoo, which includes the text;
We are by nature a peaceful people, but we are a fighting people
where the rights of America
and of humanity are concerned. It is unfortunate for the German
military despot who
precipitated this war, that he did not realize beforehand that
America has fighting spirit and
national unity. |
d) Loyalty and patriotism are often cited as reasons to support
the war. More extreme and
vitriolic views reflect wartime distrust of German-Americans.
 James W. Gerard Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 25 sec.; 270 KB)
(RealAudio format; 25 sec.; 25 KB) |
Search on war and loyalty,
patriotism, or German-American.
For example, search on loyalty, war for speeches such as:
"Loyalty" by Ambassador to Germany
James W. Gerard, which includes the text;
And if there are any German-Americans here who are so ungrateful
for all the benefits they have
received that they are still for the Kaiser, there is only one
thing to do with them. And that is to
hog-tie them, give them back the wooden shoes and the rags they
landed in, and ship them back
to the Fatherland. |
e) Labor is represented through many speeches, including speeches
that touch on the need for
factories to support the soldiers of World War I. Samuel Gompers'
speech "Labor's Service to
Freedom" deals directly with labor's stake in the war.
 Samuel Gompers Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 35.8 sec.; 386 KB)
(RealAudio format; 35.8 sec.; 36 KB) | Search
on labor and factory. For example, search on labor
for speeches such as:
"Labor's Service to Freedom" by
Samuel Gompers, head of
the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which includes the text;
This war is a people's war -- labor's war. The final outcome will
be determined in the factories,
the mills, the shops, the mines, the farms, the industries, and
the transportation agencies of the
various countries. That group of countries which can most successfully
organize its agencies ofproduction and transportation, and which can furnish the most
adequate and effective agencies
with which to conduct the war, will win. |
f) Many of the speeches refer to war bonds and the necessity for
sacrifice by all Americans in the
great national cause.
 Frank A. Vanderlip Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 27 sec.; 292 KB)
(RealAudio format; 27 sec.; 27 KB) | Search on bonds and sacrifice. For example, search on bonds
for speeches such as:
"One Hundred Million Soldiers"
by Frank A. Vanderlip, which includes the text;
Then mark your service by foregoing unnecessary things and bringing,
buying with the money
you save bonds of the United States, big bonds if you can, baby
bonds in any event. Buying war
saving stamps means equipping the army, means saving the lives
of American soldiers, means
whipping the Huns, and redeeming the world for civilization. |
2) The forty-four recordings about the election of 1920 present
an interesting record of one of the
great elections. In 1919, Woodrow Wilson, the sitting President
and a Democrat, suffered a
stroke after exhausting himself with campaigns on behalf of the
League of Nations. The 1920
election pitted Republicans Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge
against Democrats James Cox
and Franklin Roosevelt. Harding won by a landslide.
a) The election speeches cover a multitude of issues of the day.
 James Cox Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 30.5 sec.; 329 KB)
(RealAudio format; 30.5 sec.; 31KB) | Search on foreign policy, taxes,
child labor, government regulation, and domestic unrest.
For example, search on domestic, unrest
for speeches such as:
"Confidence in Government" by
Democratic presidential
candidate James M. Cox, which includes the text;
There is unrest in the country. Our people have passed through
a trying experience. The
European war, before it engulfed us, aroused every racial throb
in a nation of composite
citizenship. The conflict in which we participated carried anxieties
into every community, and
thousands upon thousands of homes were touched by tragedy. The
inconveniences incident to the
war have been disquieting. |
b) Warren Harding's victory in the 1920 election has been credited,
in part, to his mellow,
alliterative speaking style. Harding campaigned for a "return
to normalcy" following the
hardships of World War I.
 Warren G. Harding Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 27.7 sec.; 299 KB)
(RealAudio format; 27.7 sec.; 28 KB) | Search on Harding for speeches such as:
"Readjustment" by Senator Warren G.
Harding, which includes the text;
America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums,
but normalcy; not revolution,
but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but
serenity; not the dramatic, but the
dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence
in internationality but
sustainment in triumphant nationality. |
c) America's participation in The League of Nations was a hotly
debated election topic. Wilson
campaigned for it, then Cox and Roosevelt took up the banner for
the Democrats. Harding and
the Republicans campaigned against America's participation in
the League, and were strongly
opposed to the international security commitments America would
have to make as part of the
League.
 Homer S. Cummings Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 22.3 sec.; 241 KB)
(RealAudio format; 22.3 sec.; 23KB) | Search on league and League of Nations for speeches such as:
"Achievements of the Democratic Party"
by Homer S.
Cummings, Chairman, Democratic National Committee,
which includes the text:
All who love America and peace and liberty will take a solemn
pride in supporting the President
in his efforts to secure a treaty of peace based upon a stabilizing
league so that war may not
recur and the standards of justice may be applied to all nations
alike. |
Warren G. Harding Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 19.2 sec.; 208 KB)
(RealAudio format; 19.2 sec.; 20 KB) | and "League of Nations" by Senator
Warren G. Harding, which includes the text;
Can any red-blooded American be content now, when we have come
to understand its priceless
value -- to merge our nationality into internationality, merely
because brotherhood and
fraternity and fellowship and peace are soothing and appealing
terms? |
d) The election speeches are full of campaign rhetoric. Some of the speeches
cover Progressive reform
measures and the New Nationalism.
 Robert L. Owen Listen to the excerpt: (WAV format; 23.3 sec.; 251 KB)
(RealAudio format; 23.3 sec.; 24 KB) | Search
on Democrats, Wilson, Cox, Roosevelt; Republicans, Harding, Coolidge; progressive, and nationalism. For example, search on progressive
for speeches such as:
"Democracy's Achievement" by Senator
Robert L. Owen, which includes the text;
It [the Democratic Party] has passed fifty great progressive acts,
such as the Federal Reserve
Act, the Farm Loan Act, the Good Roads Act, the Agricultural Extension
Act, Vocational
Instruction. It has organized the Department of Labor, the Federal
Trade Commission, the Tariff
Commission, and showed itself, by the overwhelming evidence of
concrete acts, the one great,
liberal, progressive, and truly democratic party of the nation. |
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