Representative of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) shakes hands with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. during committee hearings in Washington DC. Howard Hughes arrives at Washington, DC in a executive version of Douglas B-23 Dragon aircraft (Registration Number: NC 49811). He speaks to reporters as photographers take his pictures. He gets into a 1947 Packard car, displaying District of Columbia license plates, and an image of a flying boat on its door, and leaves the airport.
Reporters Len 0' Connor and Art Barriault interview the First Director of Peace Corps, Robert Sargent Shriver. On being asked whether the Peace Corps run into opposition with the government he clarifies that Peace Corps go to countries where the government invites them. Shriver reveals that the demand for Peace Corp volunteers has been on an increase. He also talks about the Peace Corps in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Chile, Venezuela and other American Republics. He states how the Peace Corps volunteers in Columbia lived in a simple manner but they still managed to keep their morale high.
Major sports events of the year 1958. Boats underway at sea during America's cup, a yachting event that resumes after 21 years. President Eisenhower looks at the boats through a pair of binoculars. Columbia team representing United States beats British challenger Sceptre in four races off New Port, Rhode Island.
Excerpt from film entitled "Power Behind the Nation." It opens showing glimpse of two men on a park bench, discussing a newspaper article, followed by views of men at work in a radio broadcasting studio. Next is shown a Western theme film set being constructed for a motion picture, at a Hollywood film studio back lot. Closeup of Director and crew filming a western movie with an actor on horseback as he rides up to a wooden building on the film set displaying a Dance Hall sign. Next, a director and film crew are seen working on an elaborate set with a chorus of women in white gowns. Scene shifts to film makers watching a finished movie production dealing with colonial era America (ostensibly an educational film). Another film is seen being made at a set resembling a European town. Next, views of American farms are shown with various crops under cultivation, including fruit orchards. Farm machinery is seen in use, including tractors, harvesters, and combines. Grain is shown being harvested and processed in the field, and cotton being picked. Closeup of cotton bolls on the plants. Men are shown collecting sap from sugar maple trees in the northeast U.S. for making maple syrup. In the U.S. Northwest, a flock of sheep is seen grazing in a field. A herd of cattle are shown in the Southwest, U.S. A field of grain is shown and then a section of crops irrigated by small ditches. Then a large man-made irrigation canal is seen. View of a ramshackle building and yard in a desert. Women harvesting vegetables from irrigated plants. Apples being sorted by machine. A pair of steam locomotives pulling a railroad train and a diesel locomotive pulling freight cars, all ostensibly carrying fresh produce to market. Several shots of railroad freight trains in different settings. A truck moving along a country road. A tugboat working beside a large ocean-going cargo ship on a river in the U.S. More shots of ships and inland canals. A ship passing under the Golden Gate Bridge in California. An aircraft under construction. Passengers deplaning from a Continental Airlines DC-3 passenger airplane parked on a ramp. A prototype U.S. Navy Lockheed XR6O-1 Constitution aircraft taking off. (Only two R6V aircraft were made, Bureau Numbers 85163 and 85164.) A Sikorsky helicopter in flight. Closeup of Captain in cockpit of a TWA Boeing Stratoliner airplane as it taxis out of parking place. Industrial buildings close to a river with water flowing below a dam. The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington.
A public service announcement (PSA) depicts industrial development in the United States and urges the purchase of savings bonds to preserve American heritage and way of life. Water flows through the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia river between Oregon and Washington for hydroelectric production of electricity. A power house for power transmission. Views of transmission towers and electricity is supplied to houses and industries. A glass tumbler factory. Robot machines using electricity in operation to make drinking glasses. A line of finished articles and items being made in factories using new materials like plastics. A man mixes a color in an industrial mixer. A scene with lightning flashing. A worker moves a large breaker handle in a power transmission facility. Neon lights of Times Square, New York City, at night, with many lit sign boards using electricity. Exterior view of U.S. Capitol on a clear day. View of traffic and pedestrians in front of New York Public Library. View of exterior of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City. A boy with a dog on a long driveway in front of a nice house. Farmers harvesting crops, a mechanic operating a large wrench, a professor in front of a chalk board in a class room, overhead view of a surgical operation underway by doctors, a business man at work in an office typing a paper. Hands of a banker spinning large wheel to open a bank vault. Scenes of busy traffic on streets of New York City. View of Empire State building skyscraper panning from ground to top of building. Welders working at a job site. Women shoppers or office workers in 1940s fashions walking on sidewalks of a city with a double decker bus in background. View of streets of a small town. A line of people to buy U.S. Saving Bonds. View of United States Savings bonds of various denominations being placed on a table. Overhead view of women office workers filing items in a business office. View of a skyscraper in New York City. Wide view of Manhattan New York City skyline from water. A view of Mount Rushmore. Two women serve food and drink to young children seated in chairs. View of Bill of Rights document. Statue of Abraham Lincoln inside Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. View of a U.S. flag being raised on a flag pole and fluttering in breeze.
The U.S. military officers and crowd gathered on the banks of the Potomac River near Columbia Island Marina in Arlington across from Washington DC. Soldiers enter water wearing water shoes that allow them to walk on water and aim with their rifles. Officers watch. Women wearing bathing suits walk on water wearing the water shoes.