The Four Minute Men were a group of volunteers authorized by United States President Woodrow Wilson to give four-minute speeches on topics given to them by the Committee on Public Information (CPI). In 1917–1918, over 750,000 speeches were given in 5,200 communities by over 75,000 accomplished orators, reaching about 400 million listeners. The topics dealt with the American war effort in the First World War and were presented during the four minutes between reels changing in movie theaters across the country. Also, the speeches were made to be four minutes so that they could be given at town meetings, restaurants, and other places that had an audience.