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Eleven Presidents Speak: Every President From Cleveland To Eisenhower: Actual Voices From Their Famous Speeches

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Eleven Presidents Speak: Every President From Cleveland To Eisenhower: Actual Voices From Their Famous Speeches --- 1956

Copyright 1956 by General Electric. "Not For Sale - A Columbia Transcription Production" This release was not sold, according to the label, and appears to have been a complimentary promotional item used to sell Hotpoint's "Hi-Vi" television range around 1956. Much of the material was sourced, again according to the label, from a Heritage 12" long-playing album entitled "If I'm Elected" (H-1201), although some of the recordings of FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower are credited to Tony Schwartz of Legend Recordings, Inc. Charles Collingwood's linking narration provides a background for clips taken from recordings, some on early acetate discs and even wax cylinders, of Presidents going as far back as Grover Cleveland (in his second campaign for the White House of 1891). Cleveland's voice is followed by that of William McKinley, who was President until his assassination in 1901. The label appears to have listed the Presidents out of order (see photo for Side A), as it places Taft before Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, who was President from McKinley's assassination until 1908, was succeeded by William Howard Taft, who was President from 1909-1912, after which he became the only American President to also hold the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The order has been corrected for the track listing. The sleeve notes are by author Irving Stone, perhaps best known for his book "The Origin", although he is credited on the sleeve as author of "Men to Match My Mountains", published by Doubleday & Co., New York.