Senator Vandenberg talks about the U.S. relations with Soviet Russia. Demanding that this nation be firm in its dealings with foreign powers, he says our foreign policy must be one which 'says what it means and means what it says'.
Potsdam conference in Cecilienhof Palace. Marshal Georgi Zhukov and other Russian officers enter the Palace. Prime Minister Churchill and Anthony Eden arrive. Entrance of the Palace flanked by two Russian guards. Flags of US, UK and Russia on the Palace. Interiors of room show Joseph Stalin shaking hands with dignitaries as they enter room and take their places at table. Stalin, Truman and Churchill pose.
Events after World War II. Harvesting in U.S. farms. Closeup view as a tractor plows fields. Men on horseback driving sheep. Woman serves a Thanksgiving turkey dinner to her family gathered at a nice dining room table in the United States. Her children look at the food with smiles. Contrasting scenes show Europeans starving and living in poverty amid post-war ruins. Hungry women and children looking for food. A child in a soup line. Women wait in a line to receive grain that is weighed on a scale (possibly Soviet area). Globe spins. Joseph Stalin and other Soviet officials watch a military parade in Red Square in Russia. Retrospective scenes of the meeting of Russian and U.S. troops at the Elbe River late in World War 2. Communist rally in Paris. A protester holds up a hammer and sickle symbol. A demonstration of protestors in Athens, Greece, around time of Greek Civil War, and another Communist demonstration in Rome, Italy. Map depicts communist control growing over Central and Eastern Europe early in Cold War. High aerial view of Washington DC with a lower altitude airplane flying over the U.S. Capitol. Exterior view of State Department (Old Executive Office Building) in Washington DC. View of Secretary of State James F Byrnes working at his desk. Byrnes speaks of U.S. role in world affairs while at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Scenes from a meeting of the Big Four foreign ministers in 1947. Scenes changes to North Portico of White House. Swearing in ceremony of George C. Marshall as Secretary of State. President Harry S Truman shakes hands with Secretary George Marshall. Night view of London landmark buildings. View of door at No. 10 Downing Street in London. View of brutal winter conditions in Europe in February 1947. Citizens try to dig out a train stuck in snow. Women in line in Britain for a rationed good, still saddled with its own postwar reconstruction. Narrator relates that Britain was unable to continue to provide massive military and economic aid to the Greek regime and appealed to the U.S. to handle the situation. Secretary of State Marshall and President Truman seen talking together in front of a fireplace mantle. Marshall boards aircraft for a visit to Moscow. Truman in a White House meeting, seated at oval table with his advisors and cabinet. Truman addressing joint session of congress unveiling Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947. He asks for funds for Greece and Turkey. Globe highlights USSR. Door sign reads 'Policy Planning Staff - George F Kennan - Director'. Director Kennan seen at his desk. He advocates a long term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. Reconstruction in Europe. Ground level and aerial views of bomb destroyed European cities, and workers cleaning up rubble from bombing in World War 2. Brief scene from the meeting of 16 nations in Paris on July 3, 1947. Scenes from United Nations meeting held in Lake Success New York in September 1947. George Marshall at podium addressing delegates of UN. Russian delegate Andrey Vyshinsky commenting on Marshall Plan. Signing of Marshall Plan agreement by international delegates meeting in Paris in September 1947.
Alternating World War 2 footage and dramatized scenes with actors. German Luftwaffe bombers destroying French cities. Invasion of France by Germany. Burning buildings and debris in French cities during 1940 invasion. Hitler viewing Eiffel Tower while visiting Paris in June 1940 after occupation. German flag atop Eiffel Tower. Allied fighter aircraft shot down, pilot ejects and parachutes to ground as aircraft crashes with explosion. Pilot landing in parachute, gathering and hiding parachute. Actors conversation segment. Footage of sad looking and defeated French soldiers marching in streets of France under occupying German guard, as depressed French citizens look on. French General Philippe Petain at desk delivering speech that calls for collaboration with Germans. Close ups of sad and crying French men, women, and children in streets of France suffering war and occupation. Petain salutes soldiers during a parade after he abolishes representative government. Petain speaks from podium to gathered soldiers. View of French General Charles De Gaulle, in Britain, calling for continued French resistance and speaking to French officers on a warship. Actor dialog segment. Footage of Petain visiting Hitler. They shake hands while photographers record the meeting. Actor segments. Footage of Free French forces training and marching in various cities. Free French soldier receives machine gun training. French officer training in Russia at a Soviet recognition ceremony. French soldiers carry railroad ties and discuss over a map. RAF spitfires in flight. Sign at training camp "French Air Force Squadron. Flexible Gunnery School." Allied naval ships at sea; close views of ship guns. Smoke rises from French ship fleet scuttled at Toulon November 27, 1942. Mobilized French citizens receiving rifle training. Free French Army encampment with French flag raising ceremony. French citizens gather to read posted German notices. Parade celebrating liberation of Paris in World War II. Happy French citizens smile and cheer French, American, and Soviet allies marching in Paris.
Discussions between Germany and the Soviet Union in November 1940, about Russia joining the Axis together with Germany, Italy, and Japan. Diplomatic and military delegation stand at railway station in Berlin, Germany. A railway train arrives. Premier Vyacheslav Molotov of the Soviet Union arrives on the train at the railway station. German Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop, German High Command and Japanese representatives greet Molotov. A band plays as the men come out of the railway station. German soldiers stand in lines and Molotov passes the troops in reivew. Delegation takes Molotov to the Reich Chancellery to meet Adolf Hitler, War Minister Hermann Goering, and other German officers.
A map of Russia. German infantry troops advance along Eastern Front in Soviet Union during World War 2. They are wearing winter coats (likely late 1941). Troops walk on roads. Horse driven carriages, locomotive, trucks and cars in view. German engineers blast factories and other installations to clear a way for advancing troops. Several soldiers carry bicycles. Tanks on unpaved roads. German tanks cross water. Men observe with binoculars. Firing and explosion as Gerrman forces attack Soviet positions.