50th Anniversary of cinema, in 1944, recalls historic footage and movies from the early 1900s. Thomas Edison with Henry Ford together using a motion picture movie camera to create a movie. Mrs Edison displays Kinetoscope. Close-up view of Kinetoscope machine operating. View of vintage film images of lower Broadway in New York City in 1896 with busy traffic on streets of pedestrians, horses, and horse-drawn streetcar. Next scene shows Theodore Roosevelt and the "Rough Riders" (1st United States Volunteer Cavalry) in parade in New York City on return from Cuba after the Spanish-American War in 1898. Next is seen the inauguration parade for President Theodore Roosevelt on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC in 1905. Next series of scenes shows American women in the early 20th century. Women workers punching time clock at an industrial factory in the 1910s or 1920s. Women in dresses emerging from a building perhaps after a work shift circa early 1900s. An early beauty pageant circa 1910 with participants in swim suits. Famous star actress and singer Lillian Russell in a movie scene. Film actor William S Hart appearing in an early movie. Two well dressed women sitting in an early automobile as a man starts it up and drives away. Busy scenes of car and pedestrian traffic, and horse-drawn streetcars on Market street in San Francisco, California circa 1910. Silent movie stars Clara Kimball Young and Sidney Drew together in a movie scene. Famous movie star actress Pearl White in a daring stunt scene, and Ruth Roland performing a stunt leaping from a moving railroad train onto a rope ladder suspended from an airplane, and then riding on a railroad car careening out of control down a mountain side in an early Hollywood movie.
Harry S Truman and other officials work on some documents. Truman's Vice Presidential campaign. People hold boards reading 'Truman for Vice President' during Democratic National Convention of 1944. Vice President Truman with President Franklin D Roosevelt. View of the exterior of the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. Soldiers and horses with Roosevelt's casket during funeral of Franklin D. Roosevelt. A crowd at the Washington Monument. The United States flag at half staff on the White House. Truman addresses the Congress. He talks about cooperation and duty. Nazi German Axis soldiers surrender during World War II in Europe. A large crowd at Broadway celebrates VE Day in New York City. The first atomic bomb mushroom cloud billows into the sky over New Mexico during the Trinity atomic bomb test. Signing of Japanese surrender documents aboard the USS Missouri at the end of World War 2. Japanese official Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs documents, then General Douglas MacArthur signs documents, and presents a pen to General Wainwright standing behind him. An American official takes a seat and goes through some documents. An officer reads documents at a table as soldiers stand by and watch.
Development of aviation in the United States during 1940s. Transport and bomber aircraft under construction in factories staffed by World War II war production workers. P-38 lightning fighters under construction in a factory, in 1944. A train carries raw materials on railroad in arid area. A woman taps rubber trees in tropical area. Formation of C-47 aircraft with individual planes "peeling off" for landing. American C-47 transport aircraft being loaded. Soldiers load a jeep on one. Soldiers load an artillery gun on another. C-47 taxis for takeoff. Flight of 4 twin-engine bombers head-on view. The roof of a building reads 'radio range'. Interior cockpit view of aircraft instrument landing system (ILS) localizer and glide path needles moving toward center. A pilot in cockpit of a plane. A radio navigation transmitting tower. A ship in the ocean with a PBY Catalina flying over it. Flight engineer at his station in multi-engine aircraft. (World War II period).
'The Big Picture' depicts the life of U.S. General Dwight D Eisenhower. Sergeant Stuart Queen of the U.S. Army stands in front of a map. He gives an introduction of Eisenhower. In 1945 Eisenhower returns to his homeland in Denison, Texas. A banner reads 'Welcome IKE'. People gather on the sides of the streets to welcome him. He waves from an open car at the cheering crowds. People at parade carry the U.S. flags during a ceremony. Eisenhower salutes. D Day, June 6, 1944- Barges carrying American troops land on the shore of Normandy. Eisenhower with another military officer. Eisenhower salutes. Streets of the city Abilene. Exterior of the Eisenhower Museum. Two boys enter the museum. Pictures of Eisenhower in his childhood - during infancy, house in which he was born, Eisenhower with a group of children, Eisenhower with his family, with his baseball and football team. View of Eisenhower's bedroom- scripture readings on the walls and books in the shelves. A truck passes the creamery where Eisenhower worked in his spare time. Pictures of Eisenhower leaving home to join the Military Academy at West Point. Cadets marching at the grounds of the military academy. Graduation Certificate of Eisenhower. Eisenhower with his wife Mamie Geneva Doud. Fight in Western Europe during the World War I. Picture of Eisenhower with other cadets. The certificate of the Distinguished Service Medal presented to Eisenhower for his services for training tank crews in Pennsylvania.
Harry S Truman appointed President of the United States. The U.S. Capitol building in view. Trees in the foreground. President talks on the phone. Harry Truman attends the 1944 Democratic convention with his daughter, Margaret Truman. People gather holding boards and placards of Truman in hand. A board reads: 'Truman for Vice President'. Franklin Roosevelt seated in a car during his fourth inauguration parade, on January 20, 1945, with motorcade proceeding on Constitution Avenue in Washington DC, and then driving up to the White House. Past events show President Franklin Roosevelt talking to Vice president Truman. Flag at half staff on the U.S. Capitol following death of President Roosevelt. Truman addressing a joint session of the Congress. General Marshall, Admiral King, Secretary of War Stimson all arriving at the White House to meet with President Truman. Also seen are James Byrnes and Truman receiving Lord Halifax, Anthony Eden, Secretary of State Stettinius in the White House. Truman speaks to joint session of congress on April 16, 1945 and expresses desire to continue the efforts and direction set by Franklin Roosevelt, saying, "With great humility I call upon all Americans to help me keep our nation united in defense of those ideals which have been so eloquently proclaimed by Franklin Roosevelt...." He also states, "So that there can be no possible misunderstanding, both Germany and Japan can be certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that America will continue to fight for Freedom until no vestige of resistance remains. Our demand has been, and it remains, unconditional surrender. We will face the problems of peace with the same courage that we have faced and mastered the problems of war. In the memory of those who have made the supreme sacrifice; in the memory of our fallen president, we shall not fail."
Views of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, June, 1940. The hall is filled with delegates holding signs and placards, many for Senator Robert Taft. Several denounce the New Deal. The Republican presidential nominee, Wendell Wilkie, is seen. (The narrator mentions his untimely death in 1944, at age 52.) Scene shifts to cheering crowds in Times Square, New York and to Hyde Park, New York, where the Roosevelt family and associates stand as well-wishers cheer FDR's unprecedented election to a third term as President of the United States. Seen are Colonel House; President Franklin D. Roosevelt; son, John Roosevelt and his wife, Anne Clark Roosevelt; Ethel Du Pont Roosevelt and her husband, Franklin Roosevelt, Jr.; Sara Roosevelt, the President's mother; and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt.