Opening scene shows U.S. President Ronald Reagan holding a little girl, and then standing with officials and Secret Service agents, as he prepares to enter a car. Closeup of him smiling. Closeup of President Reagan signing his autograph for spectators in a crowd. Next, Reagan and his wife Nancy are seen on November 4, 1980 waving to supporters at the Century Plaza Hotel, celebrating his election victory as the 40th U.S. President. The President elect says a few words of thanks to them. Views of the crowd cheering. Adopted son, Michael Reagan holds his son Cameron as he and his wife, Colleen Reagan, join Ronald and Nancy Reagan on the stage, followed by daughter Patricia Reagan and son Ron Reagan. The crowd cheers the President elect and his family. At this point the film begins showing images about Ronald Regan's life, starting with baby pictures; his parents; Tampico, Illinois, where he was born; Dixon, where he is seen in a school picture and with boyhood friends. A photograph of "Dutch" Reagan President of his High School Class. Reagan in photo with other members of the Eureka College football team, in Eureka, Illinois. The seal of the college. Pictures of Reagan with college classmates and teammates. Reagan posing in bathing suit when he was swimming team coach. Young Reagan, after graduation, as a sports announcer, sitting at a microphone labeled: "WHO" in Davenport, Iowa. The broadcasting tower of that radio station. A Track and field event taking place. Reagan posing with a pipe in his mouth, at the WHO radio station in Des Moines, Iowa. A baseball game in progress before a full stadium of spectators. In 1937, a Chicago baseball team is seen boarding a ship to a Spring training camp in California. (Narrator states Reagan accompanied them.) Aerial view of buildings at the First National Studios (home of Warner Brothers) in Hollywood. Ronald and Nancy Reagan, circa 1952, being applauded at a gathering when he was President of the Screen Actors Guild. Views of Reagan in U.S. Army uniform. A U.S. Army C-47 aircraft taking off from a field under attack, with fires burning and smoke rising (possibly during Japanese December 7, 1941 attack on installations in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii). U.S. Airmen standing on a ramp next to a Douglas C-47B-1-DL transport aircraft (tail number: 43-16145). What appears to be a ViP version of a B-50 aircraft parked on a ramp with an honor guard at the stairway. Ronald Reagan, in uniform, signing up for active duty. Later, Captain Reagan, U.S. Army Air Forces, is seen with other uniformed men at a gathering in Warner Brothers studios. The entrance of Paramount Pictures studios in Hollywood. A large group of studio employees walking between buildings. Reagan speaking, as President, of the Screen Actors Guild, at an outdoor gathering. Actor Robert Young and film industry executives stand nearby. Reagan, as Chairman of the Motion Picture Industry Council, addresses a dinner gathering of that organization. He is also seen testifying before he House Committee on Un-American activities Committee (HUAC) on October 23, 1947.
Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India dies in New Delhi, India. Flashback scene from 1947 as thousands of people assemble and listen to Nehru speak from the Red Fort as India achieves Independence. View of Nehru talking with U.S. President John F Kennedy while walking in a garden in the early 1960s. Indian national flag lowered to mourn for his death. A large crowd gathered to witness his funeral according to Hindu rituals. A woman joins hands towards the dead body of Nehru and weeps.
Postwar (after World War II) agriculture activities in the United States. Farming equipment in operation on farms. Canned food in a store. Flashback scenes to the Great Depression during the 1930s: A man carries a banner which reads 'Unemployed Will Take Any Job'. Unemployed men lying on a bench. A sign on a gate : 'No Men Wanted'. Shabby housing tenements and shacks of poverty victims falling apart in a rural farm area. Forward again to the post war 1940s: Smoke comes out off chimneys of a factory. American workers busy at a auto assembly line finishing new cars (appears to be 1946 or 1947 Chevrolet cars). Factory workers line up at a pay window to receive pay checks. An industrialist works in his office. Crowds of American citizens on busy city streets with pedestrians and automobiles, and shoppers looking in store windows, including store windows showing elaborate Christmas displays. A cooperative farm plan to produce what the industrial and consumer markets demand. A man milks a cow with an automatic milking machine. A woman using electricity on a farm to power a new open top clothes washing machine. Farm machines are used.
Opening illustrated slate shows reduction of Amercan Armed forces personnel from more than 12 million in 1945 to only a little over 1 and a half million in 1947. U.S. Navy submarines are seen docked in storage. Men work spraying protective coatings over guns on Navy ships as they are placed in storage in the "Mothball Fleet." A lone sailor is seen on the deck of a ship with vast number of mothballed Navy destroyers in the background. A B-24 Liberator bomber being dismantled and a B-17 parked with engines removed, seen through stack of propellers in foreground. Airman sets a demolition charge. Views of several bomber aircraft being blown up as junk. Stacks of junked and scrapped American war materiel rusting. View inside a mill where molten metal is being processed (ostensibly recycled from junked war materiel). Narrator speaks of beating guns into plow shares. Several views of molten metal being poured into and from ladles. Views inside post-war factories returning to peace-time production, where industrial heavy equipment, railroad wheels, kitchen appliances, home appliances, rubber tires, and new 1946 Ford automobiles are assembled (looking exactly like the 1942 models).
Baseball's Cincinnati Reds at spring training in Tampa, Florida, March 1950. Players warm up with calisthenics. Trees and light stands in background. Players examine baseball with dark stripe on it. Shots of pitchers warming up include sidearm thrower Ewell Blackwell (with collar), famous for almost throwing back-to-back no-hitters in 1947. Batter Johnny Wyrostek (#22) takes swings in batting cage.
Activities of the United States secret service agents in Washington D.C., United States. Visit of French President Auriol, in 1947. Secret Service mingle and occupy vehicles at edge of gathering. Motorcade leaving White House with Secret Service agents riding on outsides of cars. In crowd secret servicemen are on an alert for the protection of the President or foreign head of State. They operate on a two way radio and keep a record about the route and timings when the motorcade will approach the crowd. During public gathering secret service agents stay close to U.S. President Harry S Truman. They watch individuals and maintain vigilance for unusual movements, or activities. Phalanx of agents escorts President's motorcade through the streets.
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