Home Research Museum Events Education Gift Store Kids Page Donations

Motion Picture MP2005-13.

European-African Trip of Subcommittee of Mead Committee, Part 3 of 4.

[Administrative Information | Shot List ]


ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Date: May 11-June 9, 1945.
Formats: 16 mm.; Copied onto Betacam SP and VHS.
Sound: No.
Color: No.
Running Time: 8:35 min.
Footage: 309 ft.
Produced by: U.S. Navy.
Copyright Restrictions: Public domain.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Shot List ]


SHOT LIST

    Reel 1
00:00Senator James M. Mead was a successive chairman of what was originally known as the Truman Committee, established the U.S. Senate in 1941 as the Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, meant to investigate "excessive profits, fraud, corruption, waste, extravagance, mismanagement, incompetence, and inefficiency in expenditures, connected with the prosecution of the national defense program for World War II."
As the film starts, footage reveals damage to a waterfront in Italy.
01:35Committee personnel sit in jeeps parked along street in front of numerous “No Parking” signs before pulling away from the curb in a line.
01:43Wharf and waterfront footage continues.
02:21Aerial shots of a city.
02:33Scenes begin depicting signs from around Paris in both French and English. The first is a building with two signs: In English, “Our Army is judged by your appearance and conduct.” In French, “Le ville de liege salue ave joie le retour des prisonniers de deportes” (loosely translated: the city joyfully greets the return of prisoners).
02:51Close-up on a sign: “Curfew 24:00 Hrs. Enforced.”
02:55Close-up on sign: “Don’t let your outfit say ‘See you in the funny papers!’ You are a U.S. Soldier in uniform. Act accordingly.”
02:57Focus on a French landmark, the “Chambre des Deputes.” The camera pans down to show Sen. James M. Tunnell of Delaware and Sen. Homer Ferguson of Michigan standing in front of the building’s iron fence. Additional scenes of Tunnel and Ferguson in front of the building follow.
03:37Shots of a Paris bridge with people posing for photographs, followed by a focus on bicyclists.
03:52Footage of French returnees. Close-up on a sign for the “Centre Departmental de le Seine,” which gives instructions to “Parisiens” and “Rapatries” in French.
04:21Scenes begin of traveling along the Aachen Autobahn, including point-of-view shots from a moving vehicle and devastation along the roadsides. At one point, Sen. Hugh B. Mitchell of Washington stands next to a road sign.
05:09Close-up on the part of the road sign directing drivers towards “Cologne, Elsdorf, Morschenich, Merzenich, Gulzheim, Buir.”
05:13Roadside footage continues, which includes more signs. One sign shows an illustration of military police officer under the wheels of a military jeep. Text reads, “I do too like M.P.s. I just came around the corner and there you were right in the middle of the road.” This sign is followed by another look at the above-mentioned “funny papers” sign.
06:00There is a scene on a street. A sign over a place of business reads, “Charlemagne.”
06:11Scenes from a border crossing. A sign reads, “Frontier Control Post, Stop! Unauthorized persons not allowed to enter Germany.” Another sign simply reads, “CIC Border Control.”
06:32Shots of trolley alongside cars on a road, devastated neighborhoods and children pushing a cart.
07:10Footage begins of a visit to where German prisoners are held. Committee personnel leave a headquarters building and drive to what appears to be a prison laundry. German prisoners are shown washing uniforms and repairing shoes.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Shot List ]



The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum is one of thirteen Presidential Libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration.

500 W. US Hwy. 24. Independence MO 64050
truman.library@nara.gov
;
Phone: 816-268-8200 or 1-800-833-1225;
Fax: 816-268-8295.