1908 Presidential Campaign Audio & Images

[MordEth]

I saw this on Slashdot earlier, and figured I'd quote it for your enjoyment:

“Science News has up a feature on the first use of sound recording in a presidential campaign. In 1908, for the first time, presidential candidates recorded their voices on wax cylinders. Their voices could be brought into the home for 35 cents, equivalent to about $8 now. In that pre-radio era, this was the only way, short of hearing a speech at a whistle stop, that you could hear the candidates. The story includes audio recordings from the 1908 candidates, William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft. Bryan's speech, on bank failures, seems sadly prescient now. Taft's, on the progress of the Negro, sounds condescending to modern ears but was progressive at the time. There are great images from the campaign; lots of fun.”

In case you missed the link, click here.

[imfrom1900]

I saw the slideshow, and it was really interesting! I especially loved the artwork.

I also heard the speech by Taft about "The Rights and Progress of the Negro", and when I tried to find out what was so patronizing and condescending about it, I was shocked. I had heard the recording before, but when I had heard it, I wasn't looking out for the negative parts of it. Upon taking a critical listen to it, I also had the impression that Taft had this air of superiority over blacks, and that, in spite of his presumed kindness, he thought of blacks as being merely animals. It's also fascinating how people back then thought it really was sincere. It's a real window into the past.

I would suggest that you listen to that recording, and it will really blow your mind. Anyone who will listen critically to the recording will really see those elements of superiority and subtle racism that were a part of that era.

[Big Six]

John,

Oh I don't know. From the perspective of 1908 I think Taft's speech was amazingly progressive. Most of us today can't realize or admit, I think, that Negros in the United States after the Civil War were immediately freed, given all the rights and privileges they were denied for all their lives but you can't give an instant education. When Reconstruction ended in 1877 much progress was halted and actually rolled back in the South for many, many years. 1908 was less then fifty years after the war, people who were born into slavery were still alive, the colored population of the U.S. was to put it bluntly stifled and held down at that time. Also you can't expect major social progress of any kind in a generation. Well meaning people like Taft would almost by necessity look upon the Negro as a poor lost child in need of guidance and in a way weren't they at that time? I don't think the Negro race had a real shot at equality until the nineteen-sixties in this country.

It was a fantastic recording. Thanks for posting it MordEth. I have heard the Bryan cylinder many times but this is the first time I'd heard the Taft recording.

Regards,
J.

[imfrom1900]

I think you are absolutely right, John. I saw in the description of the recording that it was "Patronizing and condescending by today's standards". After reading the description, I took a bit more of a critical listen to the recording, trying to look at it from today's viewpoint.

Also, I didn't mean to imply that the recording was "racist". I just was observing that we've come such a long way in racial sensitivities that it's a bit hard for us to look at it from the perspective of 1908. I guess that if you are listening to something critically, you are looking at it from different angles, which, I admit, I failed to do.

Thanks, Mordeth, for giving us an opportunity to have such an intellectual conversation.

[MordEth]

You’re welcome; since John started this board, I’ve been finding a lot more things of historical interest, and I will continue to try to post them as I come across them.

He’s done a good bit recently in fostering my interest in history (mostly I spend way too much time around computers and technology), and anything that sparks some interest or a discussion is a good thing in my book, although I wish I had more to contribute.

— MordEth