President Coolidge, Taken on the White House Grounds (1924) More at IMDbPro »

Just discovered on Internet Archive this Lee De Forest Phonofilm of the first time a U.S. president had spoken in a moving picture. The crux of Calvin Coolidge's four minute speech seems to be how the people would benefit more working for themselves than for the government (i.e. paying less taxes). As you can see from the title, he's speaking from the lawns of the White House. He does this, with glasses on, reading from a prepared sheet he's holding. He then starts to leave as the film fades. All I can say is this was a pretty fascinating document to watch of an important figure embarking on a new medium for the first time with no slick production values at his disposal, just him reading off a piece of paper his views of the current condition of the country. For anyone interested in both early sound film and U.S. presidential history, President Coolidge, Taken on the White House Grounds is definitely worth a look.