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

Motion Picture MP2002-259

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

Administrative Information

Footage
250 feet
Running Time
7 minutes 2 seconds
Film Gauge
35mm
Sound
sound
Color
Black & White
Produced by
Screen Gems in association with Ben Gradus
Restrictions
Unrestricted
Description

Harry S. Truman responds to questions by Merle Miller, discussing his family, his pets, his school, and his teachers. He discusses the Truman home and the Jackson County Courthouse. Sound only.

Date(s)
ca.
1961 - 1963

SD-quality copies of already digitized motion pictures are available for $20, and HD-quality copies of already digitized motion pictures are $50. Copies of motion pictures not already digitized will incur additional costs.

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   Unidentified voice says "Wildtrack 1,050."
    This recording consists of Harry S. Truman responding to questions by Merle Miller. In the recording, Mr. Truman sounds tired and does not elaborate much in his stories.
0:15   Mr. Truman confirms that he received a certain percentage of unpleasant letters. "You don’t want to let it worry you." He received many invitations, and gives about one speech a week.
1:25   Mr. Truman discusses his "other grandfather" (other than Solomon Young). He describes Anderson Shipp Truman as a "real man," the same kind as Solomon Young. He owned a big farm in south Jackson County. "I was one of his favorite grandchildren." "I’ll never forget him."
2:22   Mr. Truman says that the family pets were dogs and cats. Each child also had a pony.
2:59   Mr. Truman states that in 1892, when he was in the second grade, he was ill and spent a good deal of time at home in bed. He claims his teachers were "the best in the world."
4:06   Mr. Truman confirms that his teacher, Mrs. Palmer, gave Charlie Ross a kiss when Mr. Ross graduated from high school. Mr. Miller repeats the story that when Harry Truman became President he teased Mrs. Palmer and said "haven’t I earned a kiss now?" Mr. Truman confirms the story but doesn’t elaborate.
4:40   Mr. Truman discusses giving his daughter, Margaret, a piano as a Christmas present because he hoped she would become a pianist.
5:10   Mr. Truman discusses the Truman home, and says Bess’s grandparents moved there in 1867, but it was built before that. He has lived there since 1921. It is built in the "Independence style," he jokes, with "no special plan." He mentions he dislikes the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright ("awful").
6:36   Mr. Truman discusses the building of the Jackson County Courthouse. He was influenced by a building in Pennsylvania that was the first Capitol of the United States.