Visiting Latin American military officers get hands-on experience with anti-tank gun at Fort Riley Kansas. U.S. Army Soldiers load 37mm anti-tank guns mounted on army jeep. Captain Gonzalo from Cuba, Lt. Nava Rotas from Mexico, Lt. Chavez from Peru take turns to adjust the gun, aim through the gun telescope and give the firing orders. (World War II period).
The U.S. Naval fleet underway in the Pacific before Pearl Harbor. Italian narrator describing names and sizes of various ships including the USS Arizona,USS Oklahoma, USS West Virginia, USS California and USS New Mexico. Footage of the U.S. Pacific fleet ships in heavy seas with water crashing over their bows. Army Air Force biplanes take off from the deck of the USS Langley Aircraft Carrier. Sailors stand by as a biplane aircraft lands on the deck of the USS Langley (CV-1). Biplane aircraft on the deck of the USS Langley. Topic then changes to Air-Raid Defenses in and around Italian naval bases. Italian Sailors roll helium barrage balloon inflation tanks into ships. Sailors direct air into a balloon. Numerous barrage balloons in the sky. Soldiers prepare to release a balloon from a boat and fasten the metal cables. Deck guns in position. Soldiers observe through binoculars, telescopes, other instruments and monitor gauges and radar on a machine. A soldier talks on the radio from amidst sand bag barricades. Soldiers watch as two play a bacci ball game. They run to take their positions as a soldier signals incoming enemy aircraft. Enemy planes attack the Italian base. Explosions near ships in the water. A barrage balloon is hit and bursts into flames. Sailors fire anti aircraft artillery from behind a barricade. Mobile units dash to substitute the destroyed barrage balloon with a new one. Soldiers in a truck hold onto the new balloon and then release it. (World War II period).
Harry S Truman and other officials work on some documents. Truman's Vice Presidential campaign. People hold boards reading 'Truman for Vice President' during Democratic National Convention of 1944. Vice President Truman with President Franklin D Roosevelt. View of the exterior of the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. Soldiers and horses with Roosevelt's casket during funeral of Franklin D. Roosevelt. A crowd at the Washington Monument. The United States flag at half staff on the White House. Truman addresses the Congress. He talks about cooperation and duty. Nazi German Axis soldiers surrender during World War II in Europe. A large crowd at Broadway celebrates VE Day in New York City. The first atomic bomb mushroom cloud billows into the sky over New Mexico during the Trinity atomic bomb test. Signing of Japanese surrender documents aboard the USS Missouri at the end of World War 2. Japanese official Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs documents, then General Douglas MacArthur signs documents, and presents a pen to General Wainwright standing behind him. An American official takes a seat and goes through some documents. An officer reads documents at a table as soldiers stand by and watch.
A car arrives at the White House in Washington DC. President Harry S. Truman greets President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman, during state visit of Mexican President to Washington DC on April 29, 1947. Next scene shows President Truman being presented a Jewish Torah by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, first President of the newly declared State of Israel. Exterior view of south side of White House. Truman with Secretary of State, George Marshall, by the fireplace inside the White House. They discuss world affairs looking at a globe. An animated map shows the increasing Soviet Communist influence in Europe. April 3, 1948, President Truman signs the European Recovery Program (ERP), better know as the Marshall Plan, as members of Congressional leadership look on. Sacks of grain being off loaded at a dock in Italy, as part of Marshall Plan aid. Scene shifts to October 6, 1948 with crowd gathered outside the Democratic Convention at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Convention delegates applaud during President Truman's address. Officials on stage. Truman talks about his sincere desire to promote peace throughout the world. Pictures of Franklin Roosevelt and Alben Barkley on stage. Exterior view of north side of the White House. Truman seated at a table.
Aviator Charles Lindbergh to visit Mexico as a goodwill ambassador. Lindbergh with other officers and men. The men hold a map. Lindbergh points to places on the map. He looks at the route he will be taking on his trip to various cities and countries.
Test at Wendover Army Air Field, New Mexico, of a drone B-17 Flying Fortress converted into a remote-controlled bomb (designated BQ-7 missile). The B-17 drone sits with engines running. Interior of the aircraft shows technicians of the "Weary Willie Project" checking over radio controls. The B-17 drone takes off followed by a B-17 controller (mother ship). The two aircraft in flight. A ground tracking and control crew on the ground, follows the two B-17s in flight. Ten miles from the target, the drone BQ-7 missile is released from the mother ship B-17. Tracking and controlling the BQ-7 missile, using ascania camera. A hand controlled unit as an operator tracks it through the camera. A finger tip control box is used to control the B-17 (BQ-7 missile). It flies towards the target area along slope of a mountain. The target is approximately 30 feet square white area on the side of mountain slope. The BQ-7 missile crashes into the area, a large column of flame and smoke rises. (World War II period).