This is a special cassette issued by the General Services Administration National Archives and Records Service. Its main purposes appear to be to show the importance of audio recordings is understanding history and the types of materials available at the National Archives. The packaging of the cassette was rather simple:
Although the cassette is recorded on both sides, the sides are identical in their content. The material was written and co-narrated by Frank Burke. Elsie Freivogel was also a co-narrator. Joseph Fernandez acted as the sound engineer for the project and Les Waffen offered technical assistance.
Jimmy Stewart’s sound clip is the fourth to be heard. Others heard on the recording include The Glenn Miller Orchestra, the sound of an atomic bomb exploding, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., President Theodore Roosevelt, Al Smith, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Mary McLeod Bethune, Albert Einstein, Los Angeles Negro Chorus, Marian Anderson, Will Rogers, Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Pete Seeger, Marine Corps Band, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, Carl Sandberg, Douglas MacArthur, Adolph Hitler, President John F. Kennedy and Kate Smith.
The Stewart clip is introduced by Elsie Freivogel. It consists of a part of his opening speech from the December 15, 1941, radio broadcast, We Hold These Truths.
If you would like to hear the entire cassette, here it is.
