Major events around the world in the year 1961, causing international tensions and crisis after crisis. A large crowd runs on roads during riots in Cairo caused by death of African anti-colonial leader Patrice Lumumba. Fidel Castro strengthens his regime in Cuba. Castro addresses a large crowd of his supporters. Warfare splits newly formed nation of Congo. Katanga President Moïse Tshombe waves hands towards crowd of his supporters. Soldiers fire rifles and advance cautiously in grasslands of Laos and South Vietnam during Vietnam War. War between brothers in Algeria. Soldiers fight on streets of a town.
Christmas time advertisement for U.S. Savings Bonds. Interior of a house decorated for Christmas, with Christmas tree and toy train running on a table. Actress Donna Reed walks to the table, stops the train and holds up a December 1958 U.S. Savings Bond. She speaks about the Savings Bond, places it on a toy train car, and starts the train. As the train moves along the track, it passes signs reflecting successive passing time increments: Dec 1961 (three years), Dec 1964 (3 more years), and Aug 1968 (3 more years and 8 months). By staying on track to maturity, the bond is worth much more. Donna Reed notes this and suggests Savings Bonds as a Christmas gift. She closes by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. (Note: The original maturity period for a Series E Bond was 10 years. But the U.S. Government reduced it to 9 years and 8 months, in 1952. That revised maturity period is reflected in this advertisement.) (Additional note: The trains are by Lionel, and include "The General" locomotive, a New York Central boxcar, a Lionel flatcar, and Lionel Lines caboose.)
Mostly reenactment footage showing how post-civil war Industrialization leads to a market surplus in United States giving a boost to commerce. (Film made in 1961) Development of communication system, system of sending mails by horsemen. Telegraph poles and cables set up. Construction of Transcontinental railroad tracks to develop a vast transport network. Sketches of men laying telegraph cable across Atlantic to set up link between east and west. Expansion of petroleum industry: Dramatization of an oil well "gusher" as it gushes oil upward and excited well workers celebrate. Following scene is of actual oil wells gushing and a field of oil wells and derricks in place.
Documentary titled the "'Rehearsal of War." Film begins showing shells bursting in hills as a soldier runs for cover in foreground. Next, a Republican Soldier helps a wounded comrade walking along a road. More views of combat in Spain. View of the State, War, and Navy Building in Washington, DC. Sign over a doorway reading: "Chief of Staff." Inside, General Malin Craig, in civilian clothes, flanked by two officials, examines a report entitled, "Analysis of the "Brihuega Campaign." The document also reads: "Guadalajara Front." and is dated 3/27/1937. A document (Classified "Confidential") is shown that discusses the capabilities of the French 20mm Moteur canon firing 300-400 shots per minute with explosive shells.Glimpse of an Army officer's hand marking a map in a book. On his table is a book entitled,"Two World's in Conflict, We or They." Flags of Germany and Italy are seen. Closeup of Benito Mussolini in arms-crossed pose. Italian crowd cheering. View of Adolf Hitler standing with Marshal Hermann Goering, German Army Chief of Staff, Werner von Fritsch, and Rudolf Hess (just barely seen). Animated map of Europe shows Germany and Italy with desired expansion of both. Mussolini walks with military officers past a large Italian trimotor transport aircraft. A field filled with Italian light tanks armed with one small gun each. Each is crewed by one man. A parade of German Sd.Kfz.7 halftrack transporters filled with troops and each pulling an 88mm Flak gun on a Sonderanhänger 201 trailer. Brief view of formation of high wing monoplanes with fixed landing gears, flying overhead. German troops in realistic field exercise of infantry and Panzer I Ausf. A tanks. Closeup of tank with troops. Flame throwing tanks firing in a desert area. Adolf Hitler addressing an audience, finishes with a half-hearted Nazi salute. U.S. Military officers discuss Axis blitzkrieg tactics charting reports from the Spanish campaign on maps. View of Saint Jean de Luz, France, where U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Claude Bowers, is seen on the telephone at the Miramar Hotel where he has taken temporary refuge. Final scenes show a 4-stacker U.S. Navy warship patrolling in Spanish waters and the Captain and officers inside aboard ship reviewing maps and positions.
American volunteers return to New York from action in the Spanish Civil War in Spain. American volunteers, who fought with Loyalist troops in Spain against General Francisco Franco's nationalist insurgents, aboard SS Paris. They all pose. Large crowds gather in streets to welcome them as they arrive. The Americans march along the streets of the city in a reception parade. They hold banners. A banner reads as 'American Youth welcomes veterans of Lincoln Brigade'.
A man dresses during Annual Parade in South Vietnam. This celebration is in honor of the Trung Sisters. Girls in parade in different uniforms. The dignitaries on chairs. A sign on the Hospital building. Injured girls on beds in the hospital after being attacked by Vietcong forces during the 1961 parade. Viet Cong guerrillas held captive. Illustrated map and a route on map from North to South Vietnam used by Viet Cong. (Vietnam War period).