Science News has up clips of the first sound recordings made of presidential candidates. In 1908, William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft recorded their voices onto wax cylinders that were then be sold for a small price ($8 in modern money). When you listen to Taft’s clip- entitled “Rights and Progress of the Negro”- remember that for 1908 the subject was progressive and not as condescending as it sounds now. 
William Jennings Bryan’s clip is about bank failures. History repeats itself… itself… itself…
(h/t Slashdot)