In Charleston, West Virginia workers from the WPA (Work Progress Administration) are seen building the new Southside Bridge over the Kanawha River, in 1936. Sign of 'Railroad Crossing'. Rail crossing improved with the addition of a new overpass. Cars passing by mouth of the tunnel. A train pulled by a large steam locomotive emerges from the tunnel, moving by.
Framed photographs of Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson on a wall. A song writer writes a song on behalf of the National Recovery Administration (NRA). He falls asleep while writing the song. As he "dreams" actors portraying Washington, Lincoln and Wilson appear in his room asking him why he wants to write such a song and they're reassuring him that Franklin D Roosevelt is the right way. When he starts singing his new song, he finds himself alone, but he knows that Franklin Delano Roosevelt will lead the USA back on the road to prosperity. He sings "The Road is Open Again". Film is a National Recovery Administration and New Deal propaganda piece during the Great Depression.
James Braddock punches a punching bag. Joe Louis practices for the championship match against Braddock. Max Schmeling arrives at Boxing Commission in New York. He enters building while crowd cheers. Schmeling stripped to waist stands on weighing scale. Tickets for boxing bout sold at counters. Men buy tickets. Overhead sign reads 'Advance Sale Reserved Seats'. Names of Braddock and Schmeling on tickets (the bout did not occur). Man eats banana in empty stands of a stadium. Traffic on road outside Comiskey Park in Chicago before Louis versus Braddock boxing match. Crowd lined up. Joe Louis during a boxing bout . Crowd of fans in Harlem cheering and celebrating on receiving news that Joe Louis, also known as the "Brown Bomber," had defeated Braddock as the first African American to regain the title since Jack Johnson. From a June 1962 newsreel depicting events 25 years earlier.
New records completed at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France. Two U.S. Air Force helicopters land at the Le Bourget airport in Paris. The captains make the first non stop transatlantic flight aboard the helicopters. Men greet and welcome the captains for setting a new record. Captains and crew pose with the helicopter. In final scene, a Douglas DC 8-61, the world's largest jet airplane, lands at the airport after its first flight. Passengers get off the DC-8 aircraft.
German civilian Matthias Gierens, a 37 year old railroad worker, is hanged in Rheinbach Germany for the August 15, 1944 murder of a downed American flyer, who was later identified as U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lieutenant Lester E. Reuss, from Forsythe, Montana. Reuss was the navigator on U.S. Army B-17 bomber #42-31183 which was downed by German aircraft after it attacked the Airdrome at Wiesbaden, Germany. Gierens and three other German civilian men, Peter Kohn, Peter Back, and Matthias Krein, were convicted on June 2, 1945 in Ahrweiler, Germany, for the murder of the American airman after his parachute landing near Priest, Germany. The trial was the first Allied trial in Germany of civilians charged with a war crime. Military police are seen escorting Gierens toward the gallows in a prison yard in Rheinbach. A German Catholic priest performs the rites. U.S military officer reads charges as Gierens is readied for execution (the officer is possibly Lt. Col J.V. Roddy, of San Francisco, who was in charge of the hanging). Trap door opens and Gierens is hung. The U.S. Army executioners were Master Sgt. John C. Woods, a former Texas State executioner, and Staff Sgt. Thomas Robinson, of Bronx, New York. Witnesses present included seven U.S. Lieutenant Colonels and one British officer, a number of Military Police, news correspondents, and photographers.
United States delegates to the United Nations Security Conference meet with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Washington DC, United States. Seen are: Congressman Sol Bloom, of New York; Virginia Gildersleve, Dean of Barnard College; Senator Tom Connolly, of Texas; Edward Stettinius,Jr., Secretary of State,Commander Harold Stassen, USN, former Governor of Minnesota; In San Fransisco : Senator Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg, of Michigan; and Congressman Charles Eaton of New Jersey. View of Golden Gate Bridge and street scenes of San Francisco. Views of San Francisco hotels. The San Francisco Civic Center. Hotel buildings. Veterans War Memorial building. In Washington DC, U.S. delegation meets to form preliminary plan for their part in the organization of the World Security Council and International Court of Justice. Secretary of the State Edward Reilly Stettinius as Chairman of the U.S. delegation, speaks about their mission. (World War II period)
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.