Carol Briggs

SLM 521

July 4, 2009

Elective #11:

World War I and the League of Nations

Audio Files

In this assignment students will listen to two sound files, and then answer the questions below.

1.) This first sound file is a song that was recorded in 1917, during World War I, by Arthur Fields. It was issued on Edison Records.

This sound file is provided to us by the cylinder archive (www.cylinder.de), which is a creative commons website.

Please click on this link to listen to the song: Goodbye Broadway, Hello France

2.) The second sound file is a speech given by Democratic presidential candidate James M. Cox in 1920. At this time, World War I was over and the candidates were grappling over America's entry into the League of Nations.

This sound file is provided to us by the Library of Congress.

Please click on this link to listen to the speech: League of Nations Speech

Questions:

1. Listen carefully to the song "Goodbye Broadway, Hello France." What is the tone of this song? What is the composer trying to convey to us? How would you describe this song? Is it sad? Patriotic? Peppy? Does the song seem to convey confidence or do the lyrics seem unsure?

2. Listen carefully to James Cox's speech about the League of Nations. What is his point of view about the League of Nations? What does Gov. Cox have to say about World War I? What is point of view about the war? How does his perspective about the war contribute to his perspective about the League of Nations?

3. How would you compare or contrast "Goodbye Broadway, Hello France" with James Cox's speech? Is a different point of view about World War I conveyed in the two sound files? If you think there is a difference of perspectives, what is different about the perspectives? If you think they are the same perspective about the war, what do they say that is the same to you? Have a point of view, but make sure that you back it up with examples from the sound files.