The Bonus Army March, The Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected President of the United States, the repeal of Prohibition, implementation of the New Deal, Adolf Hitler rises to power, winds of war in Europe, Japan invades China, and the Spanish Civil War. Ah yes, the 1930s.
DO NOT USE Opening credits & a montage of still photos.
DO NOT USE Stills of decrepit, ramshackle Depression-era homes. Stills of unemployed white men loitering on streets or standing in soup kitchen line, some more haggard than others. Still of President Herbert Hoover and cabinet in Oval Office.
Bonus Army march on Washington, DC, 1932: TLS/LSs defiant World War I veterans boarding trains in Portland & Seattle, getting harassed by police.
DO NOT USE Stills of the Bonus Army shantytown (tent encampments); stills Bonus Army outside Capitol Building; still of General Douglas MacArthur.
TLSs mounted Army cavalry soldiers; TLS M1921 tanks rolling; TLS/MSs infantry wearing gas masks using tear gas on vets, breaking up the protest, burning tents.
DO NOT USE Still of smoke rising in Washington. Still of Herbert Hoover. Still of FDR campaigning. Still of banks that had failed.
FDR innaugration. Roosevelt in congress. Roosevelt declares the bank holiday. Shop with sign in the window "You don't need money. What have you got? We will take anything." (trade, barter)
Repeal of Prohibition: CU beer being poured into glass; CU beer bottles traveling on conveyor; MSs bartenders pitching steins to happy folks, toasting to their spirits. Political cartoons depicting the dozens of new federal programs (Uncle Sam the NRA member and a host of acronyms). Return to industry montage: TLSs men & women walking to factory; TLS/MSs people working in various manufacturing factories. MS President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking: "Our troubles will not be over tomorrow but we are on our way and we're headed in the right direction."
TLS civilians & Nazi SA brown shirts saluting ADOLF HITLER; MS smiling Nazi SA soldier holding young son in arms in similar brown shirt uniform, both making fascist Nazi salute; TLS SA soldiers marching, saluting; TLS glowering Adolf Hitler saluting passing troops, ERNST ROEHM and HERMANN GOERING at his feet. TLS President Franklin D. Roosevelt & First Lady ELEANOR ROOSEVELT greeting Japanese diplomats at the White House. TLSs Japanese imperial army soldiers standing at attention, maneuvering at a military ceremony. TLSs Nazi SA stormtroopers on military parade in Berlin. MS Italian dictator BENITO MUSSOLINI saluting, watching Italian soldiers march; MS Black Shirts marching; MS soldiers standing at attention, saluting with knives thrust into the air. TLS/MSs students protesting Japanese warmongering in Beijing, China, 1936; MS young Chinese man speaking into megaphone.
Spanish Civil War montage: MS Republican Loyalist soldiers carrying wounded soldier on stretcher; MSs field artillery firing; MS Loyalist rebels running up hill with rifles; MS Franco soldiers firing machine gun (might be a Maxim MG); TLSs Loyalist rebels fighting. TLS President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking at rally: "I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen 200 limping, exhausted men come out of line, the survivors of a regiment of 1000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war." TLS/LSs United States Navy gunships raising, lowering deck guns; aerial destroyers sailing. CU Senator Gerald Nigh (D-ND): "Americans want no more war... No more... Foreign war."
Aerial of the Great Wall of China. TLSs ground explosions. Aerial of smoldering city. MS of MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK (Soong Mei-ling) speaking against Japanese aggression, asking Americans for help. TLS/MSs Chinese refugees fleeing Japanese persecution. MS Japanese soldiers marching in China, one soldier with Rising Sun flag hanging from bayonet affixed to rifle. Sino-Japanes War.
TLS/MSs Nazi army soldiers marching through newly acquired Austria. MSs British Prime Minister NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN meeting with ADOLF HITLER, signing Munich Agreement non-aggression peace treaty, returning home. LS Chancellor Hitler speaking at the Reichstag, listing countries in line for invasion. Europe at War montage: low angle LS numerous prop bombers in flight; LSs artillery, tanks on parade; sideview LS German soldiers goose-stepping on parade; MS soldiers (Hungarian army?) marching with rifles & bayonets pointed forward; LS soldier using flamethrower during maneuvers; great low angle LS biplane trainer fighters & massive prop bombers filling sky. MS several newsreel cameramen & sound engineers at press conference in US; MS two NBC radio announcers sitting at desk; CU of CBS & NBC radio microphones on table; CU President FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: "This nation will remain a neutral nation. But I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well. I have said not once but many times that I have seen war and that I hate war. I say that again and again. I hope the United States will keep out of this war. I believe that it will."