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

Motion Picture MP2002-256

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

Administrative Information

Footage
220 feet
Running Time
6 minutes 50 seconds
Film Gauge
35mm
Sound
sound
Color
Black & White
Produced by
Screen Gems in association with Ben Gradus
Restrictions
Unrestricted
Description

Harry S. Truman interview by Merle Miller includes discussion about Mr. Truman's reading interests. Sound only.

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

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Reel 1

0:00   Unidentified voice: "Wildtrack 1,106, President Truman."
    This recording is an interview by Merle Miller and Harry S. Truman.
0:19   Interviewer asks about Harry S. Truman’s mother’s interest in books, how this influenced Mr. Truman.
1:07   Mr. Truman replies how he and his mother saved money to buy books. They discuss "Great Men and Famous Women," which is in Mr. Truman’s office at the Truman Library. They were a series which were purchased and bound together, like a Magazine. There were four volumes: "Soldiers and Sailors," "Statesmen and Sages," "Workmen and Heroes," and "Artists and Authors."
3:20   When asked what he had read of Shakespeare, Mr. Truman replies he read all of Shakespeare. The plays he would recommend to others to read are "Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Caesar."
4:08   Mr. Truman is asked what he recommended for Judge Al Ridge to read. He recommended "Plutarch’s Lives" and "as much Shakespeare as he would be interested in." Al Ridge was a member of Battery D, who later became a federal judge.
5:00   Mr. Truman discusses reading four or five newspapers a day. The slants are revealed on the front pages, and newspapers need to be read carefully. The Independence Examiner has better foreign policy coverage than the Kansas City Star. The Kansas City Times comes in the morning. He talks about how to read a newspaper; one should Read the 4th, 5th, and later pages, and the editorial page.