Views of The Great Atlantic Hurricane lashing at northeast United States areas (after having already hit the North Carolina Outer Banks), and views of the aftermath and early cleanup following the storm. Regions shown include Atlantic City, Long Island (where it came ashore as a category 3 hurricane on September 15, 1944), New York City suburbs, and parts of New England. High surf flooding boardwalks and coastal cities. Trees bent over and snapped in high winds. People walking with difficulty in the high winds. Streets of towns submerged in water. Coastal docks destroyed and large boats scattered high onto shore areas. Trees, poles, and wires downed over roads and homes. Entire homes moved off of their foundations and placed down the street. The "Great Atlantic Hurricane" was the first example of a named hurricane by the Miami Hurricane Warning Office, which later became the National Hurricane Center. The name was meant to reflect the hurricane's size and intensity.
Presidential elections in the United States. Americans voting in various cities. People lined up outside building to vote. Buildings along the sides of the street. Acts and figures pasted on a board. People reading the news. President Roosevelt casting his vote at the Town Hall in Hyde Park, New York. Tabulation of the figure. Crowd at Times Square follow the returns. A board reads: 'National Broadcasting Company Election chart'. Announcements of figures on radio. A woman writing the figure on a board. Announcement of results at the Republican National Headquarters. Governor Dewey conceded defeat and President Roosevelt receives congratulations at Hyde Park.
Excerpt from film about national elections in the United States. Opening scene show a banner stretched across a downtown street, reading: "Vote Democratic, vote for full employment. Below that are pictured two local candidates and Franklin D. Roosevelt (running for an unprecedented 4th term as President). Underneath, the banner reads:"Conners for Congress.Glimpses of other political signs are shown, on telephone poles, buildings,and automobile windows. Citizens discuss the elections in various places: A man and woman in their living room; workers in a machine shop; men in a diner restaurant; a man and woman at home; a farmer and a delivery man; a housewife speaks to another homemaker over a back fence; a dentist and his patient; school boys; and politicians. Representative Clare Booth Luce speaking. New York Governor, Thomas E. Dewey, at a podium. Vice Presidential candidate Harry Truman about to speak. People gathered in local forums and other political campaign activities. President Roosevelt driving along a city street, on a rainy day, in an open car with Secret Service agents riding on the running boards of his car. Crowds jamming the sidewalks in spite of the weather. Other gatherings of people waving American flags and showing support for their politcal parties and candidates. Philip Murray, President of the CIO Labor Union and AFL Head, William Green. Radio broadcast antenna shown denoting importance of radio for political communications. Harry S. Truman (Democrat), Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) and incumbent President Roosevelt are seen delivering speeches in front of numerous microphones. Various views of many men, women, children, and families gathered around radios listening to radio campaign speeches, in various places, including American soldiers at the front (This election is during World War 2) and Nurses in a hospital. President Roosevelt speaking at a political dinner. Views of people at political party conventions. Next, people are seen calmly walking in and out of polling places. Three members of an election board begin counting votes. After checking, one member telephones the results from their precinct to headquarters. Views of recorded votes being reported by telephone. People using tabulating machines to compile the results. Views of spectators in vote posting centers awaiting the results. Final results being brought to news media for dissemination to the nation. People gathered in Times square, New York, where news is posted in moving lights on the Times building marquee. Others gathered around their radios. Marquee Lights on the Times Building announce the reelection of President Roosevelt.
Newspaper boy peddling newspapers with headline "Nip and Tuck Race." View of Times Square in New York City during WW2. Shops in Times Square with barricades to prevent vandalism by crowds. View of Times Building. An Asian man and a White man standing together while checking for election updates from Times Building. Election officials and staff open a machine processing election returns from the small towns from the Eastern United States. Election official opens a Perfection ballot box. Radio announcer with CBS microphone, possibly Bob Trout, broadcasts updates as votes are tabulated. Volunteers tabulate results. Woman's hand seen turning on radio. United States soldiers based in Italy and France listen to radio to hear that current United States President and Democratic party candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt was leading race. Two United States soldiers smiling as they hear the news. WEAF Radio announcer broadcasts election returns from the west coast. An American family listening to the radio in their living room. An American family, with a picture of a serviceman on top of radio, listens to the news that Roosevelt won. Zipper marquee on Times building announcing election returns. Crowds gathering in Times Square New York. Americans celebrated the victory in New York. View of the Times Square at night. American civilians and soldiers celebrate the victory of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fourth term in office.
Preparations for launch of the USS Hancock (CV-19) at Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, on January 24, 1944. . Shipyard riggers removing supports from under the ship's hull. Platform at bow is decorated with bunting. Scene shifts to Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, and the launching of the USS Missouri (BB-63), on January 29, 1944. Crowd gathered around the bow as the Missouri goes down the ways. Another change of scene to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. Here the ways are emptied following the launch of the Light Cruiser, USS Hancock (CL-81) on June 19, 1943. The Hancock can be seen in the water. Tugs attend to the newly launched Cruiser.
A war production worker in a tire manufacturing plant during World War 2 is seen handling a very large rubber tire. Tires are stacked as high as the ceiling in a warehouse. Closeup of countless artillery shells standing side by side with their noses pointing upward. Small arms cartridges spilling from a hopper. Rolls of ammunition being packed into steel boxes by women in a factory. Two army officers watch an M3 Army half track leaving a factory. Lower sections of M7 Priest Howitzer Motor Carriages built on M3 Lee medium tank chassis, are seen leaving the American Locomotive Company factory on a railroad. Their turrets have not yet been installed. One of them is marked as the 50 thousandth manufactured at that facility. M2 medium tanks leaving a factory. M24 Chaffee tanks driving out of a factory in 1944. M10 tank destroyers (3-inch Gun Motor Carriages M10) driving in a parking field. A field full of many M4 Sherman tanks. New jeeps driving out of a factory. A yard filled with parked jeeps. New B-17 bombers being towed out of a Boeing factory. One of them has serial number 44-6519. (Assigned to the 602nd Bomb Squadron, 602nd Bomb Group at Northampstead, Hertfordshire England, It was downed by antiaircraft flak fire over Nienberge, NW of Munster,Germany on 28 October, 1944.) Engines moving on an overhead crane in a factory. Wooden power boats under construction. A huge stack of pipes in an outdoor storage yard. Heavy containers being placed on wooden shipping pallets by fork lifts. Anti-aircraft guns being transported on a railroad train pushed by a steam locomotive. Numerous 105mm covered howitzers lined up with barrels crossing one another. Rows of parked Sherman tanks. Column of parked army field ambulances. A yard filled with parked army vehicles. Crane at work in an industrial plant yard filled with pipes and building materials. Petroleum workers rotating valves on oil pipelines. Men placing fueling pipes into open railroad tank cars. A rail yard fulled with tank cars. Another rail yard with numerous tracks full of freight cars and steam locomotives. A crane moving 55 gallon drums in a petroleum storage yard.