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

Motion Picture MP2002-352

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

Administrative Information

Footage
180 feet
Running Time
5 minutes 10 seconds
Film Gauge
35mm
Sound
sound
Color
Black & White
Produced by
Screen Gems in association with Ben Gradus
Restrictions
Unrestricted
Description

Harry S. Truman comments on his marriage to Bess. He discusses his years in the Senate and describes his premonition that he would someday inherit the presidency from Mr. Roosevelt, who was very ill at that time. 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 comments on his marriage. "She had the prettiest blue eyes and golden hair, and still has," he says of Bess. Bess was five years old, he six, when they met at Sunday School. They went all through school together and "have been together ever since." Mr. Truman comments that it’s a great satisfaction to a person when he is happily married and has a happy family.
0:51   Mr. Truman discusses his years in the Senate, how he at first worried because it's such an important job. He enjoyed being a senator and says it's the finest place in the world to serve. He liked it better than any job he ever had. Tells his story about the Senate whip, J. Hamilton Lewis, who told him, "you’ll wonder how you got here for about six months, after that you’ll wonder how the rest of us got here.”
2:08   Harry S. Truman states it was obvious that President Roosevelt was a very sick man. He felt he would eventually inherit the presidency. "I had a strange feeling Mr. Roosevelt knew it too."
2:50   Mr. Truman details the convention where he and Wallace were candidates for vice- president and the landslide vote for Truman.
3:30   Mr. Truman says that when he became president, he was most concerned about the burden that would fall on his family. He describes discussing this with his family.
4:00   Harry S. Truman again states how ill the president was on his return from Yalta. He says he was in Sam Rayburn's office when he received a request to come to the White House. He did not allow himself any other thought than that he was to be meeting the President.