‘Presidents’: Great Speeches, All in 1 Lump : THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES: “The Library of Congress Presents Historic Presidential Speeches”; Rhino Word Beat ****

This imposing, six-disc survey of speeches by the real presidents of the United States (not the current rock group with the similar name, thank you) has been resting comfortably on the shelf for a while, unopened because it appeared to be simply a passive reference work. It’s packaged so much like a pop box set that my guess was it followed a “greatest hits” format, complete with scores of famous sound bites.

As such, it would come in handy if you wanted to listen to passages that have gone from the political arena and into our pop lexicon--from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” to John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

But the set’s approach, it turns out, is more thoughtful and, ultimately, more satisfying. It’s a look at what is described in the liner notes as “the exercise of power through language.”

Billed as the first comprehensive collection of recordings of presidential addresses, the box consists of 23 key speeches compiled by the Library of Congress’ Samuel Brylawski and Cooper C. Graham, who tried, where possible, to follow the recommendations of the presidents themselves in choosing which speeches to include.

The material ranges chronologically from the first of 13 recordings that William Howard Taft made in 1908 for the Victor Talking Machine Co. (the topic was unlawful trusts) to President Clinton’s 1993 remarks to a church convocation in Memphis (the theme: the nation’s moral fiber).

In between, the speeches range from a Roosevelt radio “Fireside Chat” in 1933 and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address in 1961 to Kennedy’s commencement address at American University in 1961 and Richard Nixon’s 1969 address to the nation on the Vietnam War.

The set runs nearly six hours, so it’s not the type of thing you are likely to listen to in a single sitting. But it is a valuable document. Listeners will be struck by the differences in speaking styles, articulateness and, of course, ideology.

However, the lasting impression is that of the power of the office to define the country’s goals and to mobilize citizens in support of them. And we hear how each man, however effectively or wisely, tried to utilize that power.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).