Motion Picture MP2016-4
Administrative Information
W. Averell Harriman speaks about former President Harry S. Truman's decisive nature and international leadership in this speech given in the auditorium of the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, April 19, 1969. During the Truman administration, Harriman served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Secretary of Commerce, US Coordinator of the Marshall Plan, Special Assistant to the President, and Director of the Mutual Security Agency.
This film is a rough sync version of separate film and sound elements. We attempted to match the film to the sound and were successful in certain portions. Other portions could not be determined. There are interruptions in both the picture and sound. This raw film was recorded by Calvin Productions during the course of creating a Truman Library motion picture for museum visitors, probably MP70-1, "For All the People." See also MP2016-3 for other footage recorded on the same day.
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.
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.
Shot List
Picture shows: Scenes of technicians at the lectern, followed by introduction of Harriman by Elmer Ellis, President of the Truman Library Institute, and Harriman’s remarks, during which the camera, on a high level behind the audience, periodically zooms in to show Harriman at the lectern (with Ellis and Institute Vice President Francis Heller seated behind him), and then pulls back to include the audience below.
Sound includes: Ellis introduces Harriman, who is greeted with applause; Harriman speaks of Chief Justice Earl Warren, quotes from his address at the dedication of the Truman Library in 1957; and discusses Truman’s decisive nature, how well-informed Truman was at their first meeting, Stalin’s ambitions in Europe after World War II and Truman’s role in thwarting them, Truman’s appointment of Harriman as Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1946, and the importance of the Marshall Plan, with occasional interruptions in the recording.