Monday, December 04, 2006
Teddy speaks ... in his own voice.
A couple weeks ago the folks over at NRO were discussing whether Newt's voice would be a disadvantage in running for President. They quoted historians to the effect that Teddy Roosevelt had a "squeaky voice" and was nevertheless elected.
Since Polistra is a fan of both Newt and TR, she decided to settle the question.
Oddly, recordings of TR are not easily available online; at least not directly via Google. So the invaluable OtrCat comes to the rescue.
Here is a brief sample of Teddy Roosevelt speaking. Apparently this was first recorded on an Edison cylinder then transcribed later to disk, and finally to digital form. Doesn't sound squeaky at all! A low tenor, pretty much the same range as Newt's voice. It does sound strange to modern ears because TR was using the sing-song intonation common to all American political speeches in that era. This 'music' was still common in the '40s; it didn't fully disappear until Reagan brought the style of radio announcers into political speech in the '50s.
Listen! ¶ 3:01 PM
A couple weeks ago the folks over at NRO were discussing whether Newt's voice would be a disadvantage in running for President. They quoted historians to the effect that Teddy Roosevelt had a "squeaky voice" and was nevertheless elected.
Since Polistra is a fan of both Newt and TR, she decided to settle the question.
Oddly, recordings of TR are not easily available online; at least not directly via Google. So the invaluable OtrCat comes to the rescue.
Here is a brief sample of Teddy Roosevelt speaking. Apparently this was first recorded on an Edison cylinder then transcribed later to disk, and finally to digital form. Doesn't sound squeaky at all! A low tenor, pretty much the same range as Newt's voice. It does sound strange to modern ears because TR was using the sing-song intonation common to all American political speeches in that era. This 'music' was still common in the '40s; it didn't fully disappear until Reagan brought the style of radio announcers into political speech in the '50s.
Listen! ¶ 3:01 PM
