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  4. Screen Gems Collection (outtakes from the television series "Decision: The Conflicts of Harry S. Truman")

Motion Picture MP2002-149

Screen Gems Collection (outtakes from the television series "Decision: The Conflicts of Harry S. Truman")

Administrative Information

Footage
215 feet
Running Time
6 minutes 10 seconds
Film Gauge
35mm
Tape Format
Betacam SP
VHS
Sound
sound
Color
Black & White
Produced by
Screen Gems in association with Ben Gradus
Restrictions
Unrestricted
Description

Harry S. Truman speaks about the 1948 election and describes the whistlestop campaign, mentioning several towns. Film with sound. NOTE: Mr. Truman uses a racial slur in this video

Date(s)
ca.
1961 - 1963

SD-quality copies of already digitized motion pictures are available for $20, and HD-quality copies of already digitized motion pictures are $50. Copies of motion pictures not already digitized will incur additional costs.

This item does not circulate but reproductions may be purchased.

To request a copy of this item, please contact truman.reference@nara.gov​​​​​​​

Please note that this video belongs to a different video collection than the items available to be borrowed by teachers, from our Education Department.

Moving Image Type
Screen Gems

Shot List

  • Reel 1
     
0:00   Harry S. Truman seated at a desk, speaking about the 1948 election. He mentions thecontroversy over the subject of integration and civil rights (uses racial epithet); Mr. Truman had to prove he could accomplish being elected. He describes the whistlestop campaign, mentioning several towns, that the stops would go on to 11:00 p.m. He went to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Boston, and met Joseph P. Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy began to cuss President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Mr. Truman told him to stop or he would throw him out the window. Robert Hannegan intervened, telling Mr. Truman he wanted to get a donation out of Joseph Kennedy. He never held it against his son [John F. Kennedy], but Mr. Truman was as fond of Franklin D. Roosevelt as he was of any man.
3:08   Mr. Truman describes, in detail, the night of the election, how he went to the Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs, Missouri; he imitates H. V. Kaltenborn (radio commentator) a little. He mentions telling Jim Rowley, head of the Secret Service, that it was time to go back to Kansas City, it looked like he'd been elected.
4:35   Mr. Truman describes how the newspaper men were hung over from being out celebrating Tom Dewey's victory. He summoned them to show them Mr. Dewey's telegram congratulating him, and says you never saw such faces.
5:34   After he returned to Washington, D. C. on the train, Admiral William Leahy was on the back of the train. A southern Senator, who had been up in New York to celebrate with Dewey, said he had to see the President right away. Admiral Leahy looked down his glasses and said "Senator, I don't think you'll ever make it." He never did.