Elevated and aerial views of downtown city of Chicago skyline in mid 1950s, including skyscrapers and various buildings. View of the O'Leary house landmark from which the Great Fire of Chicago is believed to have originated. Views of still images showing damaged buildings due to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Aerial view of the buildings. The buildings damaged by the fire. View of 1950s fire fighters demonstrating use of old manual pumper cart for fighting fires. The house of Mrs. O' Leary is set on fire to make space for a new boulevard being built in the area . Smoke rises from the building. Cars drive past on the street in front of the house while it is on fire with smoke pouring from windows.
A female Air Force service member walks up to a IBM Card Sorter with a stack of punch cards. She loads the card sorting machine and presses the start button. Early computing punch cards fall into various slots. She transcribes information from these cards and hands forms to officer at a desk. Sergeant sitting at desk, talks to an Airman. View of U.S. Capitol building and Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Tourists look at Lincoln statue in LIncoln Memorial. View of National Mall and reflecting pool. Man takes picture of woman with Washington Monument in the background. View of the Jefferson Memorial, and then across the river in Arlington Virginia, a view of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Airman stands in front of church. Close up views of 1953 license plates on cars from various states including California, Wyoming, Iowa, Texas, Tennessee, and the Canal Zone. View of various embassy buildings in Washington DC. View of the White House. Large crowd of visitors walk down the North entrance drive in front of the White House. U.S. military servicemen riding in a bus. Bus stops at drop off area in front of Mount Vernon, home of George Washington, in Alexandria, Virginia. Sign board reads "Mount Vernon Home of George Washington." Service members touring on grounds of Mount Vernon, and exterior views of front of main house at Mount Vernon, with service members seated on chair on porch, and looking out at the scenic Potomac River from the porch. View of information center building at Bolling Air Force Base, and a woman inside giving information on sight-seeing to service members. Military service members standing outside the entrance at the base of the Washington Monument. Wide view of Supreme Court building. Another sign board reads "National Zoological Park" in front of the National Zoo. Tourists view a giraffe inside the Washington Zoo. 1950s car drives through shallow water cascading over road in Rock Creek Parkway area. Elevated view of a parade in Washington DC as military units pass in review.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council, in Lake Success, New York, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Warren Austin, displays a Soviet-made weapon captured in Korea. Soviet representative, Jacob Malik, walks out of the meeting. Warren passes the weapon around to other Security Council delegates. Britain's Ambassador,Sir Gladwyn Jebb, examines it closely and it is then passed over the chair vacated by Malik, to the representative of Norway. (It appears to be a Soviet SVT-40 or SKS semi-automatic rifle.) Shift to animated map showing UN forces completely occupying South korea, to the 38th parallel. Crew members board a U.S. Air Force C-47 aircraft named,"The Speaker." Closeup of one crew member, a Korean, wearing a hat labeled,"Voice of UN." The aircraft takes off. Inside the plane's cabin, a Korean delivers a message that is being broadcast to any North Korean soldiers on the ground. Views of the huge loudspeakers mounted in the rear cabin of the aircraft. Stacks of pamphlets are seen in the aircraft, that encourage enemy combatants to surrender and include safe conduct passes. Crew members are seen throwing these from the airplane. UN soldiers pose with a large sign reading,"You Are Crossing The 38th Parallel, courtesy of the 3rd ROK Div." Troops of that division are seen proceeding North, along a road. ROK troops crowded aboard an M8 Armored Car. Another sign reads,"You Are Now Crossing The 38th Parallel, Courtesy of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, 'Garry Owen.'" American soldiers walking along the road; others riding on an M-24 (Chaffee) tank; and some riding on a DUKW, are greeted by local Korean people who line the side of a road. An M4 Sherman tank, named "Old Faithful," passes the camera, crowded with UN troops. Back to the animated map, showing advance of UN forces, with ROK troops reaching the Yalu River, by October 27th, 1950. UN infantry are seen climbing through rugged mountainous forested areas.
Bus pulls up to a stop in Miami Beach. Various views of American men, women and children wearing different kinds of clothes. A man wearing hat, lady in a coat and many other people in different outfits. A group of girls groom themselves in front of a mirror. Shots of people taking pictures with cameras, including a man wearing an umbrella hat. Men at a construction site wearing hard hats, a billboard in the background with the word "Virginian". Clip shows women, girls, and men and fashions and hairstyles of late 1950s.
A film titled 'The family' shows husband and wife and family members in America in the early 1950s. A woman hanging clothes outside rural or small town house. Boy looks out of window when called by mother. Interiors of the house. Wife talks with husband while having tea at breakfast table. They are joined by an older woman (grandmother), the boy and a girl. Family talking and having breakfast. Girl shows newspaper to father. Man leaves to go to work. Women in homemaker or housewife roles of the time doing their routine household work in house and helped by the boy in the family.
Vintage suburban American family and fashions in 1950s. Man by the fireplace in a room. His wife seated, wearing a white top and dark colored skirt. Man's sister chats. Woman wearing new dress lights up a cigarette. Husband shows a new jacket whose lining matches the wearer's tie. Mother plays with his baby. Family in the United States relaxes.
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