Industrial scenes in America with a factory with smoke from chimneys, a steel factory in operation, views of the tops of railroad train coal cars filled with coal. Secretary of State George Marshall speaks about providing European countries with material and money (Marshall Plan). He is seen speaking to legislators in Washington DC on November 10, 1947, asking for funds for Austria, Italy, and France "to provide the supplies necessary to permit the people of these countries to continue to eat, to work, and to survive the winter." Truman signs an interim aid bill, S 1774 on December 17, 1947. View of Eiffel Tower in Paris and communists marching and demonstrating in France. Communist demonstrations across Europe. French police monitor communist protestors in France and then disperse a crowd of communists. Narrator notes of similar communist demonstrations in Italy. Winston Churchill arrives for peace conference meeting of the Big Four foreign ministers in London in December 1947. Vyascheslav Molotov attends the conference. George Marshall talks with Molotov. View of the Friendship Train railroad train in the United States approaching on railway tracks during its tour. Also a view of the 1947 special exhibit Freedom Train traveling. Citizens board the Freedom Train at one of its train station stops, to view artifacts and exhibits about American democracy, including a 1823 facsimile of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Exterior view of U.S. Supreme Court building. Statues at the Supreme Court building. The base is inscribed 'The Heritage of the Past is the Seed that Brings Forth the Harvest of the Future'. A group of American boys and girls are seen reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. A larger group of children reciting the pledge of Allegiance (from before the 1950s when "under God" was added) and viewing an American flag fluttering in the wind. View of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and then another view from the top of the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building looking outward.
Events after World War II. Harvesting in U.S. farms. Closeup view as a tractor plows fields. Men on horseback driving sheep. Woman serves a Thanksgiving turkey dinner to her family gathered at a nice dining room table in the United States. Her children look at the food with smiles. Contrasting scenes show Europeans starving and living in poverty amid post-war ruins. Hungry women and children looking for food. A child in a soup line. Women wait in a line to receive grain that is weighed on a scale (possibly Soviet area). Globe spins. Joseph Stalin and other Soviet officials watch a military parade in Red Square in Russia. Retrospective scenes of the meeting of Russian and U.S. troops at the Elbe River late in World War 2. Communist rally in Paris. A protester holds up a hammer and sickle symbol. A demonstration of protestors in Athens, Greece, around time of Greek Civil War, and another Communist demonstration in Rome, Italy. Map depicts communist control growing over Central and Eastern Europe early in Cold War. High aerial view of Washington DC with a lower altitude airplane flying over the U.S. Capitol. Exterior view of State Department (Old Executive Office Building) in Washington DC. View of Secretary of State James F Byrnes working at his desk. Byrnes speaks of U.S. role in world affairs while at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Scenes from a meeting of the Big Four foreign ministers in 1947. Scenes changes to North Portico of White House. Swearing in ceremony of George C. Marshall as Secretary of State. President Harry S Truman shakes hands with Secretary George Marshall. Night view of London landmark buildings. View of door at No. 10 Downing Street in London. View of brutal winter conditions in Europe in February 1947. Citizens try to dig out a train stuck in snow. Women in line in Britain for a rationed good, still saddled with its own postwar reconstruction. Narrator relates that Britain was unable to continue to provide massive military and economic aid to the Greek regime and appealed to the U.S. to handle the situation. Secretary of State Marshall and President Truman seen talking together in front of a fireplace mantle. Marshall boards aircraft for a visit to Moscow. Truman in a White House meeting, seated at oval table with his advisors and cabinet. Truman addressing joint session of congress unveiling Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947. He asks for funds for Greece and Turkey. Globe highlights USSR. Door sign reads 'Policy Planning Staff - George F Kennan - Director'. Director Kennan seen at his desk. He advocates a long term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. Reconstruction in Europe. Ground level and aerial views of bomb destroyed European cities, and workers cleaning up rubble from bombing in World War 2. Brief scene from the meeting of 16 nations in Paris on July 3, 1947. Scenes from United Nations meeting held in Lake Success New York in September 1947. George Marshall at podium addressing delegates of UN. Russian delegate Andrey Vyshinsky commenting on Marshall Plan. Signing of Marshall Plan agreement by international delegates meeting in Paris in September 1947.
A documentary depicts life of people in the post-war ( World War II) economic challenges and hard times in Europe and the United Kingdom. (Before Marshall Plan of 1948). Animated map of Western Europe. Ruins and debris of buildings in cities of Europe damaged during the war.Two women walk past rubble. The damaged buildings. People cross a damaged bridge. A man at work during the construction of a bridge. Men make boats. Smoke comes out from a factory. In the Netherlands, a man in a textile factory works with weaving machinery. Another man paints a machine part. Men at work in the factory. A man and a woman eat food. A French farmer plows a field with the help of two horses. Scene in Norway of boats in a harbor. Norwegian fishermen at a dock. A fisherman untangles a fishing net. People buy food from shops. They walk on a street. People wait in a line for bread ration because of drought of 1947. Loaves of bread on display in store window. A coal processing plant exterior. A small steam locomotive moves on tracks at the factory yard. Close up view of two British coal miners with black soot on faces and bodies as they dig out coal from a mine using a pick axe. Queue of British citizens walk in a line to get coal. A man distributes equal amounts of coal to the British men and women in the queue, who receive a coal ration loaded into a bag. A power plant. A man operates factory controls (controls made in Liverpool), reducing output to lower levels due to power rationing. Different machines at work. View of a large industrial cog wheel slowing to a stop, and a large compressor in a factory slows to a stop. A view of a city. People walk in a street. British men and women enter a food shop in England, with a sign at the doorway indicating that bread is being offered only by ration. A woman feeds hens in a yard. A farmer negotiates with another farmer to sell livestock, but he shakes his head to refuse the offer. People in a city purchase food and other goods in a black market. A woman buying food from a black market seller. She hands him a pile of cash bills in payment. Italian women picking olives beneath olive trees in grove in Italy. A man enters a food shop and speaks to a woman; the shelves in the store are almost empty. A railroad train freight car moves on tracks. A railway freight car factory in Belgium. Men at work in the factory. A man checks a line of completed rail car wheels in the factory. Freight cars lie unused in the factory yard as French customers cannot buy them since the company in Belgium will not accept French Francs in payment. An unemployed Italian man sitting on a wall collects cigarette butts. Weavers in Holland dig in a peet bog as that their weaving jobs are not available.
A car arrives at the White House in Washington DC. President Harry S. Truman greets President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman, during state visit of Mexican President to Washington DC on April 29, 1947. Next scene shows President Truman being presented a Jewish Torah by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, first President of the newly declared State of Israel. Exterior view of south side of White House. Truman with Secretary of State, George Marshall, by the fireplace inside the White House. They discuss world affairs looking at a globe. An animated map shows the increasing Soviet Communist influence in Europe. April 3, 1948, President Truman signs the European Recovery Program (ERP), better know as the Marshall Plan, as members of Congressional leadership look on. Sacks of grain being off loaded at a dock in Italy, as part of Marshall Plan aid. Scene shifts to October 6, 1948 with crowd gathered outside the Democratic Convention at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Convention delegates applaud during President Truman's address. Officials on stage. Truman talks about his sincere desire to promote peace throughout the world. Pictures of Franklin Roosevelt and Alben Barkley on stage. Exterior view of north side of the White House. Truman seated at a table.
Farewell to American soldiers in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy. Over 1600 American soldiers stand ready to leave Italy, ending U.S. troop presence there after World War II. Soldiers salute as the American flag is lowered. The Allied flags on the transport USS Admiral Sims (AP-127). American soldiers on the ship. General James and the United States Ambassador to Italy, James Clement Dunn attend the ceremony. Flag of Italy. American soldiers embark the ship. The last soldier, Sergeant Pave, waves as he boards the ship. General James bids farewell to Ambassador Dunn as he boards the ship. American soldiers stand on the ship deck. Italian soldiers wave goodbye. The ship leaves the port.
Arrival of coal from the U.S. in Genoa, Italy. Ship from the United States arrives at dock. United States flag flutters in wind from the mast. Coal containers in the cargo hold. Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Conte Carlo Sforza thanks United States Ambassador to Italy James Clement Dunn. Crane unloads coal.