Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev enters a room with minister Andrei A. Gromyko in Kremlin, Soviet Union. Minister Gromyko, Lord Alec Douglas-Home of Great Britain and United States Secretary of State, Dean Rusk sign nuclear test ban treaty as Hubert Humphrey and Adlai E. Stevenson look on.
U.S. Under-secretary of State Averell Harriman and Chairman Nikita Khrushchev and Britain's Lord is at the Opening session as the United States, Britain and Russia meet for atom test ban talks. View of the dignitaries discussing.
United States President Woodrow Wilson in Paris, France after World War I. A horse-drawn carriage on the road and crowd lined up on sidewalks. President Wilson, Secretary of State Robert Lansing, General John Pershing, and Peace Commissioner Henry White on horse-drawn carriages leaving. The crowd waving hats and cheering for the visiting Allied leaders.
Film opens showing reenactment of Japanese attack ostensibly against Formosa, in 1894. Japanese troops and artillery are shown. The event is depicted in a critical political cartoon. Next, Japanese Admiral Heihachiro Togo is seen in 1904, standing with other naval officers. Then, Japanese warships are shown, firing barrages of naval gunfire at the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, Manchuria. Huge black clouds arise from burning ships. Scenes of Japanese people celebrating their naval victory. Date shifts to 1910. Cartoon depicts Japanese annexation of Korea. Cartoon illustrates Japanese actions in World War I when, siding with the Allies, Japan acquired the German-held Shandong (Shantung) Peninsula of China, as well as German-held Marianas, Carolines, and Marshalls islands in the Pacific. Japanese representatives are seen participating in Post World War 1 international activities. They signed the so-called Five-Power,Four-Power, and Nine-Power treaties, and participated in the League of Nations. Glimpse of two Japanese officers, followed by cartoon depiction of the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands, that Japan insisted on keeping. Cartoon shows them being fortified. A Japanese military marching band parades down a city street while being cheered by spectators on the sidewalks. Next, Japanese military General, Baron Tanaka Giichi, is seen in uniform with other officers. Cartoon illustrates the so-called Tanaka Memorial document that Baron Tanaka allegedly presented to the Emperor, in 1927, outlining a strategy to conquer the world. Cartoon then illustrates plan of conquest by acquiring Chinese manpower; Manchurian iron and coal; Siberian timber, coal, wheat, and metals; Tin,oil and rubber from Malaysia and the East Indies. The United States is shown as the last conquest. Views of ordinary farm and factory activities in the U.S. Cars parked in the Ford Motor Company factory lot. Japanese officials and legislators meeting in the Diet (Parliament). Japanese theater patrons and a Japanese woman singing with an American-style band, are shown as examples of activities the Japanese Government sought to discourage. A Japanese female ensemble in traditional dress, playing traditional instruments, is shown as more desirable. Western dancing and western hollywood movies are shown and narrator states they were forbidden by the Japanese government. Japanese movie scene depicts ancient martial arts. A musical production on stage displays German Nazi swastika flag , Japanese rising sun, and symbol of Kingdom of Italy, celebrating the axis alliance. Japanese men are shown playing the ancient game of Chu Shogi, instead of playing Western card games. People are shown in a library, where Western books are replaced by more militaristic tomes, such as: "If we fight" by Admiral Shinsaku Hirata, March 15, 1930 (shown on film slate). Slate goes on to quote about attack on Hawaii as the first battle in war of the Pacific. Film cites another approved Japanese publication: "Arguments Against American Policies" by Kawashima Seichiro, Christmas Day, 1924. It discusses distruction of the American fleet and subsequent landing on the U.S. West Coast.
Views of the United States Cruiser, USS Houston (CA-30) underway in calm seas. Closeup of her 8-inch guns in triple turrets. A large group of men march at an outdoor ceremony, intended to enlist a thousand men to make up for those lost in the sinking of the USS Houston during the battle of Battle of Sunda Strait, after the battle of Java Sea, in World War 2 (February 1942). A wooden model representing the lost ship is part of the ceremony. It contains words,"Remember the Houston," on its bow. Scene shifts to the Loew's State theater, at 1014 Main Street. A group of U.S. naval officers, in dress whites, stands on a platform in front of the theater marquee. They administer the oath of allegiance to the crowd of volunteers standing in front them, who all raise their right hands as they take the oath. Film closes with view of a Northhampton-class cruiser firing her guns.
Thousands of citizens march in Mexico City demonstrating for Mexico to declare war against the Axis powers in World War 2. They converge on the main plaza (Zócalo) where President Manuel Ávila Camacho stands on the balcony of the Presidential Palace, with his wife, Doña Soledad Orozco García de Ávila Camacho, and members of his staff. View from a high point overlooking the plaza, showing thousands massed with the Mexico City Cathedral in the background. Narrator states that citizens protest against axis sinking of unarmed mexican ships. Flags of the United States, and allied flags are displayed. Flags are waved in salute for their dead comrades, by Survors of the SS Potrero del Llano, a Mexican ship torpedoed by the German submarine, U-564, on May 13, 1942. Camera pans over the square filled with people and banners. Next, President Camacho is seen asking the Mexican Chamber of Deputies for a declaration of war. People on the streets (some sitting on street lamps) listen to the broadcast over loudspeakers. Mexican Army soldiers seen in helmets. Uniformed troops line a sidewalk. Deputies applaud after unanimously approving the declaration of war.
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