A homestead on a farm in the U.S. Great Plains. Horse carts break the plains. A woman sweeps stairs. A man and a child stand on the plains near a plow. The homesteaders look towards the sky in hope of rain. An explosion on the land. News headlines: 'England declares war on Germany, Belgium invaded, French win at sea' and 'War news tumbles securities, Stock Exchange Closed, Wheat Prices Soar'. A man drives a tractor with a plow on a plain land and dust cloud rises. The plow breaks the plains. News headlines: 'Wilson proclaims war, Spy ring arrested, German ships seized' and 'War sends wheat soaring, Grain up 13 points, Pit in Pandemonium'. The postwar (WWI) decline of the wheat market results in overproduction and spurs dust bowl conditions: Farm machinery is used to sow the land. Wheat grains are poured into a thresher. A steamer at a sea. Tractors are driven and plows break the plains. A dust storm in the foreground. Overproduction of wheat shown. Farmers celebrate the production of wheat. Tractors driven in the Great Plains.
Famous passengers aboard ocean liner SS Manhattan (later USS Wakefield during World War II) in the United States. Flashbacks show the USS Manhattan being christened by Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt on 5th December 1931. It is seen being launched from New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden New Jersey. View of maiden voyage on 10th August 1932, with passengers boarding the ship. It leaves a port for her first trip to Ireland, England, Germany and France. Couples dance aboard the deck of the SS Manhattan. Passengers including Babe Ruth, Jimmy Walker, Glenn Cunningham, and aviator Douglas Corrigan ("Wrong Way Corrigan") seen aboard the ship.
A large number of passengers aboard the ocean liner SS Manhattan (later USS Wakefield) in the United States. Scene from January 10,1938 as the USS Manhattan returns from her Europe trip. A large number of passengers aboard the ship. U.S. Ambassador to Nazi Germany, William E. Dodd, is interviewed by media persons about his Europe trip. He declares that living in Europe at the time is discouraging and there is crisis in Europe as German Nazism and Fascism are gaining ground everywhere. In next shot, from 1939, the ship is underway and arriving at New York Harbor on September 30, 1939, carrying 1837 persons, its largest passenger count ever. The passengers include many Americans from overseas fleeing war-torn Europe early in World War 2. A sign on the ship: 'Manhattan United States Lines'. The passengers in mass numbers at a harbor. The Statue of Liberty in the background.
Activities of the U.S. Army Military Police (MPs) throughout the world. An MP checks credentials of American driver in a 1955 Oldsmobile, at a Base checkpoint in Germany. An MP wearing patch of Army Support Command-Europe on his shoulder, obtains directions from a local Policeman in Europe. U.S. Army trucks move through a checkpoint manned by MP, in Pointe de Grasse, France. MPs of the 728th Battalion, in Korea. They are seated in a jeep, with a Korean counterpart in the back seat. The U.S. MPs wear patches of 7th Logistical Command on their uniform sleeves. Military Police units and jeeps pass in review at a parade in Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Contrasts innocent play of children in America with military play and training in Axis countries during World War 2. View of children playing games and on jungle gym in United States. Scene changes to Germany, with German boys climbing over and around artillery pieces under watchful eye of a uniformed German official. Next shows children in Japan staging military training and a charge across a mock battlefield. Next scene shows boys in Italy in uniform engaged in a mock battle charge and putting on gas masks between advances. Also seen during the clip: The Japanese flag is raised, as well as the Nazi flag and an Italian flag. Slogan of the Japanese Army: ' To die for Emperor is to live forever'. Back in the United States, a woman collects funds to help Japanese children affected by an earthquake. Children pass by the collection bin and place money in the jar.
The rise of totalitarianism and Axis powers in the 1930s and its lead up to the Pacific Theater of World War II. “Duce” of Italian Fascism Benito Mussolini making a speech. A superimposed animated cartoon radio antenna emits the word “Lies”. Adolf Hitler making a passionate speech to German troops. A Nazi parade in Germany. Growth of German military budget is shown with an animated diagram. Gathering of troops, army vehicles, artillery, motorcars, tanks, airplanes, and ships of the Axis nations. News headlines about the military budget. Japanese soldiers holding bayonets. Animated map shows the Japanese plan for the invasion of Manchuria. Damaged railroads during a dramatized depiction of the Mukden Incident. The Japanese flag at a mast. Japanese troops advance in Manchuria. Former Emperor of China Puyi becomes the Emperor of Manchukuo. Flag of Manchukuo. Emperor Puyi shake hands with a Japanese military official. United States Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson denounces the Manchurian action. A sign reads: 'Gotham Limited'. Japanese delegates speak during a national meeting. They leave a League of Nations meeting. Horses plowing a field in Iowa. A double decker bus on a road in London. A waiter serving at an al fresco café in Paris. A hut burns as the Japanese advance through Manchuria. Huge columns of U.S. Army troops marching in formation.
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