American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War IThe Nation's Forum recordings were made between 1918 and 1920 in an effort to preserve the voices of prominent Americans; in most cases, they are the only surviving recordings of a speaker. The recordings fall into two distinct series. The 1918 series was devoted mostly to World War I topics and was apparently distributed only to political organizations and other groups. The notable exception is the recording of General John Pershing (with Ambassador James Gerard speaking on the reverse side), which was sold commercially. All of the recordings from the 1918 series were pressed on ten-inch discs. The 1919-1920 series was devoted mostly to postwar issues and the 1920 presidential election. Recordings in this series were released at a rate of two per month, one Republican and one Democrat. The recordings were pressed on twelve inch discs and sold for two dollars each. With two exceptions, the reverse side of the records in both series consisted of patriotic music, usually a march. These selections are not duplicated here.