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

Motion Picture MP2002-263

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

Administrative Information

Footage
170 feet
Running Time
5 minutes 57 seconds
Film Gauge
35mm
Sound
sound
Color
Black & White
Produced by
Screen Gems in association with Ben Gradus
Restrictions
Unrestricted
Description

Harry S. Truman discusses various topics beginning with his love of walking (the best exercise), his high school, his meeting Bess Wallace in Sunday school and his happiness with her. He describes his early jobs at the Clinton Drugstore, as a timekeeper for the Santa Fe Railroad, and as a bank clerk. He discusses the National Guard and becoming Captain of Battery D. Sound only.

Date(s)
ca.
1961 - 1963

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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   Harry S. Truman speaks about various topics, segments spliced together. He talks about the best exercise being walking, and discusses how John Quincy Adams liked to swim in the Potomac River. One time a "gal" who wanted an interview with President Adams, took his clothes while he was swimming.
0:50   Mr. Truman translates the Latin motto of his high school "youth, the hope of the world." He talks a little about the school, which burned down, along with his school records.
1:27   Mr. Truman discusses meeting Bess Wallace in Sunday School, being with her all through high school, graduating in 1901, and going through life together. He expresses his happiness with her; they are now in their 70s, "if you can beat that, I’ll pay for it."
2:41   Mr. Truman refers to people not wanting to go to saloons to buy their drinks openly, and describes working in Clinton Drugstore.
3:04   Mr. Truman discusses work as timekeeper for the Santa Fe Railroad, as they laid a track from Eton to Sheffield, and as clerk at the National Bank of Commerce in Kansas City, and at National Union Bank. He mentions William Woods, the head of the National Bank of Commerce, who founded William Woods College in Missouri. Mr. Truman decided to go back to farming.
4:10   Mr. Truman discusses his early interest in the military. He wanted an appointment to West Point, but they "wouldn’t let me in because I couldn’t see." He discusses joining the National Guard, forming the 129th Field Artillery at the time of World War I, becoming a First Lieutenant in Battery F, and becoming Captain of Battery D in France.