When the Whitehouse wooed the Welsh

It was a battle for the White house where thousands of Welsh speakers played a key role.

While today George.W.bush, and John Kerry target ethnic groups such as Hispanics, almost 150 years ago their counterparts focussed on Welsh emegres.

Abraham Lincoln canvassed settlers from Wales in 1860, with up to 100,000 election pamphlets printed in Welsh.

Lincoln won a narrow victory over the Democratsand the rest- as they say- was history.

In the 1860s obviously there were enough Welsh speakers living in the U.S.A. to target them.

Copies of the Welsh language pamphlets aimed at the 100,000 plus community of imigrants who had crossed the Atlantic to work in the mines and other industries are held in the U.S Library of Congress.