A large number of passengers aboard the ocean liner SS Manhattan (later USS Wakefield) in the United States. Scene from January 10,1938 as the USS Manhattan returns from her Europe trip. A large number of passengers aboard the ship. U.S. Ambassador to Nazi Germany, William E. Dodd, is interviewed by media persons about his Europe trip. He declares that living in Europe at the time is discouraging and there is crisis in Europe as German Nazism and Fascism are gaining ground everywhere. In next shot, from 1939, the ship is underway and arriving at New York Harbor on September 30, 1939, carrying 1837 persons, its largest passenger count ever. The passengers include many Americans from overseas fleeing war-torn Europe early in World War 2. A sign on the ship: 'Manhattan United States Lines'. The passengers in mass numbers at a harbor. The Statue of Liberty in the background.
Goosestepping German troops parade. A group of German Panzer I Ausf. A tanks armed with twin 7.92 mm machine guns, are seen crossing a field. A squadron of German airplanes flies overhead in formation. Spectators watch as Austrian Army troops assemble and drill in Vienna, Austria Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg speaking before the Austrian Federal Diet on 24 February , 1938. He rejects Hitler's plans for Austria, saying: "…Austria will go thus far and no further." Closeups of some Austrian citizens. German troops entering Austria, during the "Anschluss" on 12 March 1938. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at Heston Aerodrome in London, England, departing on 29 September, 1938, to meet with Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany. His aircraft taking off. View of anti-aircraft gun set up in London, with Big Ben and Parliament building in background. Workmen with shovels breaking ground for defenses in London. A woman wearing a gas mask, carries a baby in England. Prime Minister Chamberlain speaking at Heston airport upon his return from Munich, on 16 September. 1938. Views of broken shop windows in Berlin, Germany, following the "Kristallnacht" violent anti-Jewish actions by Nazi Brown shirts on November 9 and 10, 1938. Jewish refugee men, women, and children gather around a fire and outdoor kitchen in an encampment on a field. They warm themselves by the fire. Two women pump water from a well in the field. Closeups of some of the people, including a small child. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a table with members of his cabinet,
The background of World War II. United States citizens state isolationist and anti-war views. They give their views regarding the beginning of war in Europe, and their desire for the United States to stay out of the war. Board reads 'No foreign Entanglements'. View of idle and closed factories during the Great Depression. Ground level, track level view of a railroad train approaching. Elevated view of homeless and unemployed hobo men riding on top of a train car. President Franklin Roosevelt signs Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 assuring a minimum wage and maximum work week. View of factory workers arriving at a large factory or production plant for a work shift. Newspaper headlines read 'Social Security Laws Go into Effect'. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers seen hanging telephone lines, digging ditches, and building roads. Aerial view of new highways and clover leaf overpasses.
Film opens showing German Army forces entering an Austrian city (possibly Vienna) in the so-called Anschluss of 1938. Crowds lining the sidewalks are welcoming. Some render the Nazi salute. Scene shifts to King Zog, of Albania reviewing a contingent of his troops marching across a field. He salutes them. Next, an Italian Navy destroyer is seen entering a port in Albania, during the Italian invasion of 1939. Italian troops disembarking from a ship in Albania. Closeup of Italian soldiers in formation on the dock. Italian armored cars moving along an Albanian street. Spectators watch quietly from sidewalks. Italian armor and trucks raising dust on a rural road. Italian troops in open trucks moving along a city street. Closeups of them. Italian troops and trucks moving along a rural road through farm country. Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag (meeting in the Kroll Opera House) about the invasion of Poland in 1939. View of silhouetted arms and hands raised up in front of camera position in Nazi salute to Hitler during the speech.
Liquid Rocket motor design drawings of various pioneers in the field, from the American Rocket Society, including: Constantin Paul van Lent (aka Constantin Tselentis,aka Constantin Lent, aka Dr. Constantin Paul van Lent) 1936; Alfred Africano, 1937; Reed,1937; Wild,1938; H.F. Pierce and Nathan Carver, 1938. Slates refer to the post World War I period through about 1938, as the beginnings of rocket flight, and the immediate subsequent period as the second phase of achievement that could lead to high altitude and long range rocket missiles and even manned spaceships. Slate suggests that future of rocketry is limited only by our imagination. Next are imaginary, science fiction scenes like a science fiction movie, showing a major city, in Germany, as a rocket ship travels away from it, and eventually showing Europe, and the earth from outer space, as the rocket travels into the blackness, beyond. Slate comments about eternal longings related to human flight.
Documentary tilted 'History of Aviation' depicts benefits to mankind brought by discovery of aviation. A group of travelers on horses and bullock carts, in hot and dusty deserts travels from California to New York. A railroad train runs on railroad between California and New York. Howard Hughes' Lockheed 14 Super Electra Special, Model 14-N2 ( NX18973) seen in aerial views over Manhattan Island, New York City, with New York City skyline and skyscrapers visible. (scene filmed on July 14, 1938). Animated map shows ship sail towards Europe. Brief, distant view of a tall mast traditional sailing ship at sea with full sails deployed. A more modern passenger cruise ship or ocean liner with four large stacks underway in the ocean towards Europe. Howard Hughes airplane takes off in New York, bound for Paris, France.