Brief views of ordinary American people and their music and reading activities, including: Scenes of many different radios in all locations, and hands on dials of radios, including console radios, portable radios in many rooms of the house, car radios, and hand-carried (vintage boom box) radio. A jukebox and a bobby soxer (bobby socks fashion), dancing; Crowd dancing to a swing band at a jazz night club; Older people doing country dances; Xavier Cugat conducting his orchestra; Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony being played in the Hollywood Bowl; African American jazz musician playing trumpet; a school marching band; newspaper being printed on a printing press; a news stand filled with papers and magazines; numerous city newspapers; a library filled with books; a Dick Tracy comic strip.
Scenes of American life, with narrator describing values of American people. American people gather outside a church. Signs outside many different places of worship in the United States. Americans voting in an election; patronizing a food market and a drug store; bathtub gin being made during prohibition; countless of bottles of liquor; Congress repealing prohibition; stock market ticker tape machine falling to floor; Derrick moving bucket of concrete for construction; outlines of future highways; modern apartment buildings; people emerging from subway station; pedestrians filling city streets; Americans worshiping inside various churches; An American town; Cars on a crowded road; a crowded beach. Sequence closes with, newer, brief images of fallen soldiers in Pacific theater of World War II.
Americans in bed listen to radio announcing beginning of World War 2 in Europe. French troops deploying to Maginot Line fortresses and firing their heavy guns. German heavy artillery firing. A rail gun firing. Pollsters gather American opinions about the war.Congress convenes in Special session. President Roosevelt requests changes in Neutrality Act. Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota argues against and Senator Elbert D. Thomas (Utah) argues for changes in neutrality. Pollsters seek American's opinions. U.S. Congress ends arms embargo. The ship SS American Farmer (United States Lines) underway in the ocean. Animated map of Asia and views of Japanese forces bombarding China. Chinese civilians fleeing bombardment. Japanese soldiers executing two Chinese men. Dead Chinese civilians. American housewife being asked opinion about Chinese-Japanese conflict. Japanese ships load U.S. scrap iron, as some Americans protest. Dean Acheson, Assistant Secretary of State explaining U.S. law and decision to stop all exports to Japan in Summer 1941.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing Congress on January 6, 1941, asking for authority to supply war materiel to Britain and allies. Animated map showing streams of war materiel going to china and to European allies. Views of transport ships, Douglas A-20 Havoc aircraft with British roundel on them. A U.S. light tank M2; a large artillery barrel; and sacks of goods, being loaded on a ship. View of U.S. Capitol. Lend Lease Act passed. Animated map shows German forces overrunning Yugoslavia and Greece, and attacking Soviet Union. German troops in small boats crossing river to invade. German tanks and artillery operating on the Eastern front. Civilian men and women digging fortifications. Lend lease war materiel being unloaded in Britain, and at Red Sea port for British in Africa.Trucks carrying supplies over the Burma road to China. Lend lease supplies piled up in Murmansk, Russia, and Iran. "Hammer and Sickle 'em" chalked on a shipment.Stevedores rolling large tires.Hitler speaking. Head of Statue of Liberty. Animated illustrations about effects of Axis victory. U.S. Forces entering Greenland and Iceland, with consent of their governments.
Preface to U.S. in World War 2. German U-boat on surface. Crew climbing down into submarine and at duty stations while submerged. Torpedo trails bubbles underwater. Ship hit and explodes. Newspaper headlines report torpedoing of American ships: SS Robin Moor, SS Lehigh, SS Sessa, SS Steelfarer, and SS Montana, by German U-boats. Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson calls on U.S. Navy to secure sea lanes. Wendell Wilkie agrees. U.S. Congress repeals Neutrality Act, November 17, 1941. Deck guns being placed on U.S. Merchantmen. Japanese warships docked and troops entering Indochina, as local people watch.Japanese troops by Dong Dang, near Chinese border. Situation described by animated illustrations.Japanese Special Envoy, Saburo Kurusu, is dispatched to Washington. Pan American Boeing 314 flying boat taking off. Japanese Naval Task Force of warships underway. Kurusu arriving in San Francisco, on November 14, 1941. He steps from the aircraft and makes statement to reporters. Japanese Ambassador, Kichisaburo Nomura, and Special Envoy Kurusu escorted into the White House by Secretary of State Cordell Hull, on November 17, 1941. Japanese troops in China bombarding Chinese city with artillery. November 26, 1941, View of Executive Office Building with statue of Victory atop U.S. Army First Division Monument. Secretary Hull announcing proposal to Japan.The Japanese representatives leaving the White House. Japanese aircraft carriers steaming toward Pearl Harbor. Japanese flight crews getting briefed on December 7,1941. Nakajima B5N (Kate) torpedo bombers taking off and in formation. Secretary Hull at his desk. The aloha tower and aerial view of Honolulu. Sailors at outdoor Sunday service, and relaxing at Pearl Harbor. Vehicle entering Hickam Field. Japanese airplanes bombing Pearl Harbor. Explosions on U.S. warships. USS Arizona (BB-39) suffers direct hit and explosion, as filmed from the deck of U.S. Navy Hospital Ship, USS Solace (AH-5). Shots of pilots and point of view from pilots inside Japanese bomber and attack aircraft, through a mix of dramatized segments from Japanese propaganda films about the Pearl Harbor attack, and real footage from the Pearl Harbor attack. View from Japanese planes bombing and strafing Ford Island. U.S. sailors firing antiaircraft and machine guns down Japanese planes. Secretary Hull describes memorandum from Japanese.
United States President Franklin Roosevelt passes away. A large crowd gathers to attend the funeral. Officer carries the dog of the President. President Roosevelt's body is placed on a special train at Warm Springs, Georgia. People gather all along the way to pay tribute to President Roosevelt in World War II. The train is met at Washington DC by Vice President Truman and Henry Wallace. Cars parked on the street. People gather in large numbers to attend the funeral. The body is carried by caisson to the White House. War planes in formation. Soldiers march in honor of the President. Vehicles passing on the street. People weeping. Funeral ceremonies are held in the rose garden at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt (4097 Albany Post Rd, Hyde Park, NY 12538, United States) in Hyde Park, New York. People bowing and soldiers saluting in front of the casket. Eleanor Roosevelt standing near the casket.
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