Primary Sources: The 1920s: Politics & Government

"The 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 project originated with St. Louis attorney Guy Golterman (1879-1967), an active supporter of the opera and other performing arts. With the endorsement of the Department of State's Committee on Public Information -- a governmental propaganda ministry -- the Nation's Forum sought speakers, and the Columbia Graphophone Company pressed and distributed the recordings under the Nation's Forum label."

Site provided by Iowa State University. Access speeches by women in politics on a variety of topics.

This digital facsimile of Foreign Relations of the United States is a project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago Libraries. This is a nearly complete run from 1861-1960 with missing volumes being added as they can be acquired and processed. The FRUS series, including post-1960 volumes, is available online on the State Department's Office of the Historian's website.

"Sanford credits his early interest in politics to the 1928 presidential campaign. Although Al Smith was a Democrat, he did not carry North Carolina, largely because of his anti-prohibition stance and Catholic background." - Documenting the American South

"In this article from Atlantic Monthly of April 1927, lawyer Charles Marshall argued that loyalty to the Catholic Church conflicted with loyalty to the United States. Atlantic Monthly editor Ellery Sedgwick had solicited the Marshall letter, although he was himself a Smith supporter. He thought that the religious debate was inevitable, and he tried to place it on an intellectual plane. Although the article revealed anti-Catholic biases, Marshall’s views were less strident than those of many contemporaries. " History Matters at GMU

"Religion figured prominently in the 1928 presidential election when Alfred E. Smith, the Democratic governor of New York, became the first Catholic to run as the candidate of a major political party. Smith, who ran against the Republican Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, tried to downplay the subject of his religion. In his speech accepting the presidential nomination, Smith sought to reassure voters that he would not favor Catholics, “Wets” (supporters of Prohibition), or Easterners if elected president. While his words may have reassured some, his obvious New York accent reinforced the worries—and prejudices—of others." - History Matters at GMU