The Presidential Sound: From Orotund to Instructional Speech, 1892–1912

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, the sound of presidential address changed from an orotund style to an instructional style. The orotund style had featured the careful pronunciation of consonants, elongated vowels, trilled r's and repeated declamations. The instructional style, on the other hand, mimicked the conversational lectures of the professor. The shift from orotund to instructional was activated by the arrival of millions of foreign language–speaking immigrants, the increasing power of the working class, and concerns over the effects of sedentary employment on the men who had formerly dominated politics. These pressures culminated in a questioning of the manliness of the orotund style. Theodore Roosevelt, whose manliness had been questioned in the 1880s, responded by writing volumes about manliness and adopting the instructional style in his presidential oratory at the turn of the twentieth century.