The Oval Office
Summer 1940

President Roosevelt with White House Staff

RE: Routine Oval Office Business audio recordings on 35mm motion-picture film (RCA/Kiel machine)

Roosevelt's recordings capture his breezy, stream-of-consciousness Oval Office atmosphere of informality. In the first few weeks of his recording experiment, Roosevelt's machine recorded him tackling random slices of Oval Office business, shifting from one task to another with dizzying speed, interacting with his staff with effervescent charm.