Reel

Focus on the 60s. U.S.-Soviet relations at the height of the Cold War, the presidential election of 1960, the rise & assumption of office of John F. Kennedy, the U-2 spy plane incident, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis & Blockade, the erection of the Berlin Wall, the proliferation of the U.S. military-industrial complex, etc.

DO NOT USE Opening Credits.

Excellent COLOR montage of (Caucasian) white suburban life in America: panning TLS crowded parking lot; TLS car pulling into Mobil gas station; MS gas station attendant bringing oil dipstick to man in car for his approval; TLS teenage girls riding bicycles along quiet suburban tract; LS/TLSs suburbia; TLS two women walking along sidewalk in commercial district.

(B&W) LS Big Ben and House of Parliament in London, England; TLS royal carriage riding along street; h/a TLS Queen ELIZABETH II (wearing crown & jewels, attendant pulling train) & Prince PHILIP (Duke of Edinburgh) arriving at Westminster Abbey; MS Queen Elizabeth II reading statement from throne. MS Congo soldiers accompanying young intellectual, one soldier running up behind him & slapping the back of his head; MS van carrying soldiers passing cam. Est shot United Nations building; LS General Assembly, delegates milling about. High angle TLS Soviet Premier NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV & Soviet delegates (appears to include Andrei Gromyko & Vyacheslav Molotov) pounding fists on table during speech by Dag Hammarskjold at U.N. 1960. MS Nikita Khrushchev speaking at meeting, waving fist in air. U-2 spy plane incident, 1960: l/a TLS U-2 / TR-1 spy plane flying over cam; still of U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers; MS/CUs Khrushchev viewing pieces of wreckage; MS U.S. President DWIGHT EISENHOWER addresses the press regarding the U-2 incident. Big Four Meeting in Paris, 1960: TLS Eisenhower walking red carpet; TLS Khrushchev walking red carpet; MS Ike speaking-- "The hopes of humanity call on the four of us to purge our minds of the prejudice & our hearts of rancor. Far too much is at stake to indulge in profitless bickering." TLSs Ike alighitng plane, being greeted at airport by supporters including RICHARD NIXON.

1960 Republican National Convention: triptych of Eisenhower, Nixon & Abraham Lincoln hanging from rafters; "We Want Nixon" sign; man announcing nomination of Nixon as GOP candidate; delegates with "Nixon for President" banner; Vice-President Richard M. Nixon w/ running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. 1960 Democratic National Convention: U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy walking through crowd; convention floor, delegates with JFK placards; Kennedy smiling from podium w/ Rose and Eunice Kennedy; JFK at podium with Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey, Stuart Symington and Adlai Stevenson. Candidates on campaign trail, Pat Nixon and Jacqueline Kennedy in tow. Nixon & Kennedy shaking hands after national TV debate in Chicago, WBBM-TV studio; TV screen, flickering images of JFK & Nixon debating. Woman voting, placing ballot in box. Pierre Salinger at print-out machine. Scrolling ticker, night: "Kennedy Takes Lead." Nixon delivering concession speech, Pat at his side. JFK walking through crowd at campaign HQ; Patricia, Eunice & Jean Kennedy listening to speech; JFK speech after winning election: "To all Americans I want to say the next four years are going to be difficult & challenging years for us all. The election may have been a close one but I think there is general agreement that a supreme national effort will be needed in the years ahead to move this country safely through the 1960s."

Kennedy Inauguration, January 20, 1961: Rear view MS group viewing Capitol Dome; MS President DWIGHT EISENHOWER & JOHN F. KENNEDY, both wearing top hats; panning h/a LS crowd gathered at steps of U.S. Capitol; MSs John F. Kennedy delivering Inaugural Address: "Let the word go forth from this time & place, to friend & foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans... And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." MS/CUs President Kennedy meeting with advisors in Oval Office.

MS Cuban Premier FIDEL CASTRO delivering an impassioned speech, animatedly waving arm. CU debris of rocket shot by anti-Castro Cubans during Bay of Pigs. MSs anti-Castro Cubans cleaning M1 Garand rifles at camp; TLS anti-Castro Cuban soldiers running through drill. MS U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations ADLAI STEVENSON speaking to Security Council: "These charges are totally false & I deny them categorically. The United States has committed no aggression against Cuba & no offensive has been launched from Florida or any other part of the U.S." Rear view MS President Kennedy walking along outdoor corrdior at White House with what appears to be Dwight Eisenhower. TLS/MSs crowd gathered at airport to welcome cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin upon return from space, 1961; MCU Journal-American newspaper "Reds Orbit Man, Bring Him Back Alive"; MSs Soviet Premier NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV greeting YURI GAGARIN.

TLS/MSs U.S. President JOHN F. KENNEDY & First Lady JACQUELINE KENNEDY alighting Air Force One in France, being welcomed by President of France CHARLES DE GAULLE; TLSs motorcade with cavalry guard; MSs JFK, Jackie Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle and wife YVONNE DE GAULLE enering building; TLS JFK speaking: "I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself to this audience: I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris & I enjoyed it."

Construction of the Berlin Wall, Aug 1961: MSs East German soldiers constructing Berlin Wall-- unfurling barbed wire, installing posts, using jackhammer; MS West Berlin mayor WILLIE BRANDT inspecting line of division; MS East German soldiers standing guard over paltry line of barbed wire; MS soldiers pushing West German civilians from fence; MSs border guards on patrol. CU woman crying during escape attempt; TLS/MSs East German civilians crossing the border for freedom, running through barbed wire, leaping from windows. TLSs U.S. tanks & armored personnel carriers rolling along the Autobahn. TLSs President JOHN F. KENNEDY speaking at Berlin, June 26, 1963, intercut with nice shots of enthusiastic crowd: "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizen of Berlin. Therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich Bin Ein Berliner."

MS U.S. sailors in peacoats standing on windy deck of carrier; TLS Marine One helicopter landing on deck; CU sailor blowing whistle; MS President JOHN F. KENNEDY (JFK) wearing suit, sunglasses, walking on deck, passing sailors & marines; audio excerpt of President Eisenhower speech warning of the rise of the military-industrial complex; panning TLS F-100 Super Sabre taking off from naval carrier. Panning MS black car flying diplomatic U.S. flag from front quarter panel; MS President Kennedy wearing sunglasses, arriving at rocket test site, rocket scientist WERNER VON BRAUN in tow; nice CU JFK & Werner von Braun looking up rocket. Cuban Missile Crisis: MS two USAF airmen loading film into camera of spyplane; air to air shots of B-47 Stratojet bomber in flight; MS airman manning camera; still of Cuban missile site (buildup); MS President Kennedy delivering national address: "I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt & eliminate this clandestine, reckless & provocative threat to world peace & to stabilize relations. I call upon him to abandon this course of world domination." LSs U.S. naval vessels creating blockade around Cuba; aerials of Soviet cargo ships hauling missiles from Cuba.

LS United Nations Building, bay in FG, skyscrapers in BG. MS President JOHN F. KENNEDY (JFK) speaking to UN General Assembly about world nuclear threat (excerpt of "nuclear sword of Damacles" speech). MSs President Kennedy speaking at American University commencement ceremony, 1963: "I now declare that the U.S. does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. This generation of Americans has already had enough of war & hate & oppression." Nuclear Test Ban treaty being signed in Moscow & Washington, 1963: MS/CUs Foreign Minister ANDREI GROMYKO signing document; MS Premier NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV applauding with Chinese diplomats; CU President Kennedy: "If this treaty fails it will not be our doing. And even if it fails we shall not forget that we have made this clear & honorable national commitment to the cause of man's survival. For under this treaty we can & must still keep our vigilant defense of freedom."