Made for schools in 1960, this black & white educational film presents two newsreels of historic events. The first one is about the 1944 Battle of Saipan during WW2, and then shows Saipan in the present era. The second is about the New Deal era NRA (National Recovery Administration).
Opening titles: Almanac Newsreel – June 15, 1944 American Troops Land on Saipan (:06-:21). Island of Saipan. Aerial shot of the island. Newsreel visits it after the war. Children play on Saipan. Fourth Marine Division on a cemetery sign. A plan flies over it. Sailors on a ship pray. Saipan is getting bombed during the second world war. Boat transports bring Marines to the shores of Saipan. Tanks on the dusty fields, troops going up hill. Gun cannons fire round after round. Town is demolished. Airstrip is wrecked and planes are bombed out. Japanese civilians are rounded up. Troops carry them the injured to tanks (:22-3:02). Children in front of a wire fence that houses refugees. Happy fighting men of the USA. U.S. troops look at maps. American Flag flies (3:03-3:23). End credits (3:24-3:33).
Opening titles: Almanac Newsreel – June 16, 1933 – NRA Comes into Existence (3:46-4:02). NRA Member sign (National Recovery Association). Aerial shot of oil wells. Women work in a factory. Steel workers. Steel being made. Factory exterior. A steel worrier gives his thoughts on the NRA. A man in the tire business is anti-NRA. A housewife gives her thoughts on the NRA and then shows us her large family (4:03-5:43). A parade is given for the NRA in NYC. Ticker tape parade. Cars and people go by in the procession. Aerial shot of the parade. American Flag flies as the parade is massive, the crowd is gigantic. NRA Member sign (5:44-7:02). End Credits (7:03-7:12).
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate “cut throat competition” by bringing industry, labor, and government together to create codes of “fair practices” and set prices. The NRA was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and allowed industries to get together and write “codes of fair competition.” The codes intended both to reduce “destructive competition” and help workers to set minimum wages and maximum weekly hours, as well as minimum prices at which products could be sold. The NRA also had a two-year renewal charter and was set to expire in June 1935 if not renewed.
The NRA, symbolized by the Blue Eagle, was popular with workers. Businesses that supported the NRA put the symbol in their shop windows and on their packages, though they did not always go along with the regulations entailed. Though membership to the NRA was voluntary, businesses that did not display the eagle were very often boycotted, making it seem mandatory for survival to many.
In 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared that the NRA law was unconstitutional, ruling that it infringed the separation of powers under the United States Constitution. The NRA quickly stopped operations, but many of its labor provisions reappeared in the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), passed later the same year. The long-term result was a surge in the growth and power of unions, which became a core of the New Deal Coalition that dominated national politics for the next three decades.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
