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| 00:00 | | The educational film begins with the main titles: “The Truman Years, from a series on Presidential Administrations.” |
| 00:59 | | The narrator gives context for the year 1945. As the male voice describes events leading up to the end of World War II, the screen shows animated maps and combat footage showing different branches of the military. |
| 01:29 | | The next segment begins with a newspaper headline about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945. Scenes from his funeral are followed by discussion of Harry S. Truman’s rise to the office of vice-president. |
| 02:02 | | The film deals with the end of World War II: first the Germans’ surrender at Rheims and V-E Day, Potsdam Conference, followed by the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. The footage includes A-bomb tests, Enola Gay flight, devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, V-J Day and a brief segment of President Truman’s April 16, 1945 address to Congress, saying “we will face the problems of peace with the same courage that we faced and mastered the problems of war.” |
| 04:13 | | “Domestic Affairs” The narrator briefly discusses the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission, various strikes include a railroad workers strike, the unification of the armed forces under the Department of Defense, and the Taft-Hartley veto and its subsequent overturn. |
| 06:38 | | Footage from the 1948 Democratic Convention leads into a segment on the 1948 election with President Truman and his opponent, Thomas Dewey. The film shows both candidates campaigning and discusses Truman’s upset victory. |
| 08:00 | | The next segment discusses second term domestic issues like housing (creation of the Housing and Finance Agency) and school shortages. Serious discussion of Communist subversive activities is presented with headlines and trial footage. This is followed by President Truman’s appointment of Herbert Hoover to oversee a reorganization of the Executive Branch. |
| 09:28 | | “World Affairs” The film details the formation of the United Nations, the Nuremberg Trials, and the Truman Doctrine, illustrated with footage from Greece and Turkey. The Marshall Plan is discussed. |
| 11:30 | | Segments deal with the creation of the state of Israel, Truman laying the cornerstone at the United Nations building in New York, and the Berlin Airlift. |
| 13:13 | | More international segments discuss the rise of Communist China, a brief mention of Joseph McCarthy and the creation of a Loyalty Board, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the continued status of East and West Germany, and the Russian development of an atomic bomb and subsequent fears of an atomic war. |
| 15:43 | | The Korean War is summed up in brief from the beginning to the eventual stalemate. A segment deals with President Truman replacing General MacArthur.
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| 17:31 | | Dwight Eisenhower is elected as President Truman’s replacement. President Truman is shown leaving Washington by train after attending President Eisenhower’s inauguration. |
| 18:07 | | The final segment deals with the creation of the Harry S. Truman Library. |
| 18:54 | | End titles: “Teaching Film Custodians gratefully acknowledges its indebtedness for film sequences to 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, 20th Century-Fox Movietone News, Paramount News, Metro Goldwyn Mayer.” |
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