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.
USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes operating at Florennes/Juzaine Airfield (A-78), Belgium, during World War 2. Identifiable units include the 411th Fighter Squadron (U9); the 373rd Fighter Group; the 387th Fighter Squadron (B4) and 388th Fighter Squadron (C4) of the 365th Fighter Group. A number of P-47s, (mostly bubble canopy D models) seen taxiing. (The second one's tail number looks like 42-26571, but that aircraft was downed in October 1944. So it is probably 26579.) Crew chiefs ride the wings of most P-47s to guide the pilots during low speed taxi when they would otherwise have to zig-zag to see ahead. Destroyed building silhouetted against the sky.Two flights of four P-38s circle overhead and peel off for landing.View through breached wall of a jeep towing a bomb cart past a parked P-47. Airmen walking across the field. Clear view of 388th Fighter Squadron P-47 taxiing. Another P-47 taxiing past a small damaged building
Internees at a concentration camp in Buchenwald, Germany. Jean Blume, leader of socialist national movement against occupation in Belgium, shares his experiences of the days spent as a prisoner at Breendonk concentration camp in Belgium. He expresses joy at being liberated by American Army from Buchenwald concentration camp. (Note: Jean Blume was a Resistance Leader during the Nazi occupation in World War 2. The Gestapo arrested him on January 19, 1943 and he was imprisoned in Breendonk. In May 1944, he and many others, were sent to Buchenwald. They were released on April 11, 1945.)
Liberation of Paris August 22, 1944. Tricolor flying from Arc de Triomphe. Crowds celebrate. Young people dance in street. Tanks firing guns. Bombs dropping on Germany. American tanks firing in Cologne, Germany. Spires of Cologne Cathedral loom above destruction and rubble in streets of Cologne. German civilian refugees on the streets. Germans in front of air raid shelters. Animated map showing Soviet advance from East.Formation of Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft. Soviet tanks in farm field. Silhouetted German soldiers surrendering. Wounded and dead German soldiers. Destroyed German military equipment. A long line of surrendered German soldiers. Allied forces driving into Germany beyond the Rhine River. Suffering German civilians and refugees including men, women, and children in desperate circumstances after the devastation of war. German refugees walking on roads, including babies in carriages or prams.
Japanese international activities during 1931-1945. Opening scene shows Japanese troops embarking on ships bound for an invasion of Manchuria, in 1931. Officers walking on the dock, amongst the departing troops. Scenes of explosions and destruction. Views of Shanghai during Japanese attacks in 1937. Destroyed buildings. Civilian dead lying in the streets. Japanese soldiers racing along a street in a three wheeled motorcycle vehicle. Change of scene shows Japanese diplomat Yosuke Matsuoka addressing a League of Nations meeting in 1933, after that body adopted a report blaming Japan for events in Manchuria. He objects to that action and then leads his delegation in walking out of the meeting. View of Japanese delegates in top hats and bowler hats exiting the building. Scene shifts to Japanese forces firing artillery and machine guns in Manchuria.They wave large Japanese flag victoriously after a battle. The next scene shows Italian forces occupying Ethiopia and raising the flag of the Kingdom of Italy, as Italian troops salute, presenting arms of rifles with fixed bayonets. Axis leaders celebrate the 1940 Tripartite Pact between German, Italy and Japan. The festivities take place in a hall displaying the three nation's flags on the walls. A large number of persons attend including Japan's Prime Minister, General Hideki Tojo, seen with two celebrants. Scene reverts to China with Chinese civilian people trying to escape from invading Japanese forces. The refugees carry their belongings as they flee. Occasional shell burst is seen among advancing Japanese troops as Chinese soldiers put up resistance. Chinese soldiers firing artillery. In the U.S., Japanese envoys KichisaburÅ Nomura and SaburÅ Kurusu are seen walking together into a building and entering a room inside. Next, are views of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, with huge plumes of smoke obscuring the bombed U.S. battleships in the harbor. U.S. battleships in line formation in the Pacific during World War 2. Aerial view of U.S. warships moving in parallel. British ships augmenting the U.S. warships. Naval guns firing. U.S. amphibious assaults on Japanese held islands in the Pacific. Prisoners of the Japanese who suffered in the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur mingling with former prisoners and internees upon his return to Manila in 1944. Aerial views of Iwo Jima. Naval bombardment and amphibious assault of Iwo Jima. Numerous fallen Japanese soldiers. The iconic American flag raising by U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima. View of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. during the campaign on Okinawa, where he was killed in action. A Soldier being carried on a stretcher. Another throwing a hand grenade. U.S. soldier firing at a Japanese defender who falls out of his bunker. Large numbers of Japanese prisoners of war assembled in a field. Japanese Kamikaze attacking U.S. warships off Okinawa. The sky filled with antiaircraft flak clouds. View of 40mm Bofors antiaircraft cannon firing and a Japanese plane falling and exploding on impact in the ocean.
CRITICALPAST.COM: About Us | Contact Us | FAQs - How to Order | License Agreement | My Account | My Lightboxes | Shopping Cart | Advanced Search | Featured Collections | Website Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy ©2026 CriticalPast LLC.
License Agreement |
Terms & Conditions |
Privacy Policy
©2026 CriticalPast LLC.