A U.S. Department of Commerce film entitled "Voyage to America." Opening scenes depict ordinary life during rush hour in major city in the United States in 1963. People walking in what appears to be a large railroad station and then riding escalators to lower floors. People stepping from a subway door to a platform and others leaving a crowded train station. An official cutting a ribbon to open some place or event. Young women cheer leading for a political candidate. People attending a concert and others at an outdoor sports event. Crowds filling sidewalks to watch foreign dignitaries in two white cars. Republicans fill the Cow Palace near San Francisco in the 1956 political convention where President Dwight D. Eisenhower is supported for a 2nd term as President. Some "Stick with Ike" banners are seen in the crowd. Scene transitions to views of clouds and beautiful coastal images of America.
James Baldwin speaks in United States. Scenes of strife and struggle during civil rights movement. Policemen beat a African American man. Doctor Kenneth Clark, Professor of Psychology at the City College of New York; Director of Fallen Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Research Director, North Pride Center for Interpretation, sits in a chair during an interview. He speaks on the position of African Americans and America's Promise. Other scenes: Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a small gathering of African Americans. They are standing at the scene of a bombed out or destroyed church. He speaks about what happened there alluding that they know the truth of the racist hate crime. He speaks about remaining strong in striving for freedom for African American citizens. People around him sing and clap. Martin Luther King Jr. looks into a bible. Ebenezer Baptist Church and its interiors are seen, where Martin Luther King Jr. preaches. Exterior view of a Woolworths store where African Americans in protest sit at a segregated lunch counter at Woolworth store and wait to be served, in a non-violent demonstration. People pass through doors. Men moving on a road are stopped by a policeman. He stands with other policemen. The civil rights demonstrators stop and pray together. They are then directed to a waiting police paddy wagon van for arrest. Policeman hits a African American man. African Americans are put in police paddy wagons. Policemen detain African American demonstrators during a march and use dogs in rounding up demonstrators. Fire truck arrives during a protest and firemen spray fire hoses at African American demonstrators on May 7, 1963 in Birmingham Alabama during the Birmingham Campaign or movement. High powered fire hoses spraying water at demonstrators. Police chasing and detaining demonstrators in a crowd during a black civil rights demonstration. Martin Luther King Jr. leaving a courthouse, his wife by his side. He walks down the steps where a reporter asks him, "Dr. King how long do you expect to stay in jail". King replies "I'm under orders to keep walking."
Director of United States Information Agency, Carl Rowan addresses people in United States. He introduces a documentary program about the Civil Rights March in Washington DC known as the March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom, that occurred on August 28, 1963.
During Cold War at a NATO airbase, siren for a Red Alert exercise sounds and flight personnel scramble and run from a building with sign, "Bomber Alert Assembly Area." View of crew jumping into a waiting station wagon and then arriving at airfield. A fighter aircraft is fueled. Two American USAF pilots seen in cockpit and view of a B-52 readying for takeoff. View of B-52 taking off from runway as seen from camera mounted low on aircraft behind front wheel. Front view of a line of approaching and taking off B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft. Narrator indicates that half the bomber planes, approximately 600, are on ground alert at all times. Narrator indicates that others are aloft at all times, fully armed with nuclear bombs in belly and missile on the wings. Side view of a B-52 in flight so armed. Aerial view of refueling operations. View of pilot in cockpit of B-52. View as the B-52 Stratofortress joins with a fuel tanker at 6 miles above the Arctic, and 100 thousand pounds of fuel is transferred at 400 miles per hour. 1963.
Film opens showing logo of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Glimpse of several U.S. warships, ostensibly disarmed after World War II, berthed together. View on deck of one, from under triple guns. Aircraft being destroyed in explosions after the war. A troop transport ship returning American servicemen back home at the end of World War 2. Views of the deck jammed with servicemen waving to loved ones who are waving back to them from a dock. Bernard Baruch giving a speech at the first session of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, at Hunter College, New York In presenting a proposal for International control over the spread and development of nuclear weapons and technology, He begins: "We are here to make a choice between the quick and the dead." (The proposal was rejected by the Soviet Union.) View of the United Nations building in Manhattan, New York City. Delegates at a UN session in the building. Boys and girls in a typical U.S. school class room. Younger children being weighed and measured in school. The teacher smiling and watching as happy children leave the school building at the end of school day. Another view, from across the East River, of the UN building in New York, with other Manhattan skyscrapers and buildings behind it on a sunny day. Flags of the United Nations on display outside the UN building. Views of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC. President Lyndon Johnson addressing a joint session of Congress on November 27, 1963. Behind him are seated President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, Carl Hayden, and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, John William McCormack. A submarine traveling on the surface of the water. An American B-52 Strategic bomber in flight. An American Atlas ICBM descending into a launch silo slowly. View of the missile as it goes down into silo and as silo cover slowly moves into place to cover nuclear missile. A sunset view over ocean water.
Models wear fashionable hats by Parisian designers in the United States. Women wearing different kinds of hats for 1963 Spring collection are shown. Wide brimmed and flowery hats are shown, including the Cartwheel Hat, Cloche Hat, Pillbox Hat. A woman wearing a Pillbox Hat smokes a cigarette. Fashion models wearing bonnets.