1940s Newsreel Footage
World War II, postwar life, and events at home and abroad
About This Collection
Explore complete newsreels from 1940 through 1949, with stories ranging from World War II and postwar reconstruction to aviation, politics, sports, fashion, and public life. Each reel groups the events originally presented together, offering both individual story subjects and the context of a period newsreel.
Complete Newsreels
Newsreel: 1940 Year In Review - HeadlinesPD NR 022The Devastating Power Of The German Blitzkrieg. Also includes british rally to save the troops at dunkirk and france surrenders to the axis powers.
Newsreel: 1940 Year In Review - SportsPD NR 023Racehorse 'Seabiscuit' Wins The Santa Anita Handicap. Also includes golfer byron nelson has another thrilling p.g.a. victory and racecar driver willbur shaw wins the indianapolis 500.
Newsreel: 1940 - January 29PD NR 377Seized By Nazis U.S. Freighter Is Set Free And Sails For Home. Also includes successful test of boeing 307 stratoliner passenger plane and president franklin d. roosevelt gets a birthday cake.
Newsreel: 1940 - February 12PD NR 396Roosevelt addresses the American Youth Congress as the Winter War continues in Finland. Other stories cover British air patrols and leaflet missions, Albany tornado damage, Joe Louis and Arturo Godoy, NYU basketball, the Lipton Cup yacht race, and Seabiscuit’s return to Santa Anita.
Newsreel: 1940 - February 26PD NR 397Finland. Also includes on the war front and england.
Newsreel: 1940 - March 8PD NR 406President Roosevelt Sends Peace Mission To Europe. Also includes first couples arrive for romance on honeymoon island and pro baseball new york yankees in spring training.
Newsreel: 1940 - March 13PD NR 061The War In Finland Is Over. Also includes b-17 'flying fortress' squadron flying in formation and local boys build working wood-burning automobile.
Newsreel: 1940 - July 15PD NR 3861940 Democratic National Convention. Also includes history of smokejumpers and missoula montana.
Newsreel: 1941 Year In Review - HeadlinesPD NR 036Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt Wins Unprecedented Third Term. Also includes treachery in the pacific japan attacks pearl harbor and rudolph hess flies to england to broker peace deal.
Newsreel: 1941 - April 17PD NR 281The Battle Of Britain. Also includes son of president, jimmy roosevelt weds nurse and head of new york stock exchange drafted into army.
Newsreel: 1941 - May 1PD NR 071Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt Buys First WWII Defense Bond. Also includes wwii raf recruits set sail for war and wwii draftees play time teaches teamwork.
Newsreel: 1941 - May 20PD NR 062New York City Hosts Massive Patriotic Rally. Also includes battleship uss washington is commissioned and sabotage in lumber fire slated for war effort.
Newsreel: 1941 - July 23PD NR 473WWII North Africa Libya Frontlines. Also includes john d. rockefeller urges support for uso and first cut on famed vargas diamond.
Newsreel: 1941 - December 15PD NR 072WWII New York City Air Raid Practice. Also includes live reindeer at rockefeller center for wwii christmas and wwii army cadet pilots graduate and get their wings.
Newsreel: 1942 - February 2PD NR 105Allied Convoy Against Enemy Air Attacks Near Malta. Also includes merchant ship survives japanese submarine attack and soccer match at wembley stadium: england vs. scotland.
Newsreel: 1942 - February 4PD NR 355UnderSecretary Sumner Welles Receives Honorary Degree. Also includes soldiers stage "girlie" version of "swing fever" and fashion show goes to the birds.
Newsreel: 1942 - March 2PD NR 095WWII German U-Boat Attack Off New Jersey Coast. Also includes wwii british raf attack enemy ground and shipping targets and hollywood academy awards continues during wwii.
Newsreel: 1942 - March 24PD NR 348Volunteers To Gather Scrap Metal For War Effort.
Newsreel: 1942 - June 29PD NR 223FBI Arrest 8 Nazi Spies As Hunt Continues For Confederates. Also includes aircraft carrier lexington on fire and fliers decorated for doolittle's raid on japan.
Newsreel: 1942 - July 13PD NR 094Convoy Off East Coast Repels Axis Sub Attack. Also includes japanese bomb port moresby new guinea and american forces victorious at midway island.
Newsreel: 1943 - January 28PD NR 331Arabs Celebrate Feast Of The Lamb. Also includes navy uses blimps in rescue role and hospital proclaimed dutch soil for baby princess in exile.
Newsreel: 1944 - April 10PD NR 063America Observes Wartime Easter Holiday. Also includes wwii enemy japanese cruiser bombed by us aircraft and stunning girls pose the latest swimsuit fashions.
Newsreel: 1944 - April 13PD NR 243Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey Clarifies The WWII Draft. Also includes pontoon helicopter ready for sea rescue and barbara reynolds as regimental sweetheart.
Newsreel: 1944 - April 20PD NR 282Capt. Dominic S. Gentile Receives WWII DFC. Also includes 30 defendants prosecuted for wwii sedition and bachant triplets and zarief quadruplets.
Newsreel: 1944 - June 12PD NR 096First Pictures Of The D-Day Invasion Of France.
Newsreel: 1944 - August 28PD NR 234Allied Armies Make Progress In Western France. Also includes total victory means full-time war production and tin is in when it comes to texas fashion.
Newsreel: 1944 - August 31PD NR 235End Is Near For Nazis In France. Also includes the future of helicopters is shown and air cadets take part in mass calisthenics.
Newsreel: 1944 - September 28PD NR 236Seizure Of Eindhoven. Also includes allied forces enter germany and from lyons to orleans.
Newsreel: 1944 - October 5PD NR 237The Modern Air Assault Debuts At Nijmegen. Also includes america's first jet-powered plane and navy demonstrates rescue at sea for downed pilots.
Newsreel: 1944 - November 2PD NR 067Gen. George S. Patton 3rd Army Battles At Siegfried Line. Also includes us marines capture the palau island chain and us re-opens embassy in a free france.
Newsreel: 1944 - November 23PD NR 238Victory In Antwerp Harbor. Also includes japanese fleet given fatal blow in philippine sea and pres. franklin d. roosevelt returns to white house.
Newsreel: 1945 - March 5PD NR 098WWII Invasion Of Iwo Jima. Also includes university of manitoba teaches women homemaking skills.
Newsreel: 1945 - April 12PD NR 073President Franklin D. Roosevelt Is Dead, Nation Mourns.
Newsreel: 1945 - April 26PD NR 218Nazi Atrocities Against Mankind. Also includes conference to draft charter for formation of u.n.
Newsreel: 1945 - May 17PD NR 099German Submarine Threat Ends. Also includes massive cache of stolen nazi loot found and b-29 superfortress bombers pound japan.
Newsreel: 1945 - June 14PD NR 398Government Asks That Citizens Stay Home During Vacation. Also includes victorious g.i.'s tour hitler's eagle's nest at berchesgaden and novel way to disperse airport fog problems.
Newsreel: 1945 - June 25PD NR 246President Harry S. Truman Takes A Brief Vacation. Also includes abilene ks welcomes home general dwight d. eisenhower and wwii kamikaze planes attack us naval forces.
Newsreel: 1945 - July 16PD NR 097Destroyers Survive Japanese WWII Kamikaze Attacks. Also includes post-wwii jeep made for civilians and a look at the british jet fighter gloster meteor.
Newsreel: 1945 - August 9PD NR 291Atomic Bomb And Russia Declares War. Also includes japan is doomed and major richard bong dies testing new jet plane.
Newsreel: 1945 - August 16PD NR 064WWII Is Over. Also includes japan surrenders and government ends gas rationing.
Newsreel: 1945 - August 23PD NR 259Admiral Halsey Celebrates News Of Japanese Surrender. Also includes us navy begins to discharge elgible servicemen and us industry begins conversion to peacetime manufacturing.
Newsreel: 1945 - September 17PD NR 359American Troops Enter Tokyo Japan. Also includes nazi war criminal joseph meisinger surrenders and bomb out remains of mitsubishi aircraft factory.
Newsreel: 1945 - October 15PD NR 224Aircraft Carrier USS Oriskany Launched. Also includes secret training maps guide bombers over wwii japan and pres. harry s. truman presents wwii medal of honor.
Newsreel: 1945 - November 1PD NR 264General Tomoyuki Yamashita Tried For War Crimes. Also includes u.s. plants convert back to peacetime production and president harry s. truman warns against wage deflation.
Newsreel: 1945 - November 19PD NR 130Surplus Military Aircraft Scrapped. Also includes aircraft carriers in new york and clothing design is now a college course.
Newsreel: 1945 - November 21PD NR 255Yamashita War Crimes Trial Draws To A Close. Also includes young wwii vets join american legion and b-29 superfortress sets new air record.
Newsreel: 1945 - December 13PD NR 128Admiral William F. Halsey Retires In Ceremony. Also includes convicted war criminal general anton dostler executed and wwii japan nuclear program equipment is destroyed.
Newsreel: 1946 - January 10PD NR 332Coast Guard Wonder, Sinbad The Dog Is Honored. Also includes fire levels post exchange in yokohama and golfer byron nelson takes los angeles open.
Newsreel: 1946 - January 31PD NR 268United Nations Debates Atom Bomb Control For World. Also includes cio labor union re-unites with afl and wwii vet strikes it rich with wildcat oil well.
Newsreel: 1946 - April 4PD NR 065Hilo Hawaii Leveled By Giant Tidal Wave. Also includes japanese volcano ontake erupts and first cargo of silk arrives from post-wwii japan.
Newsreel: 1946 - April 30PD NR 068Allied Nations The Big Four To Discuss Post-WWII Peace. Also includes the northrop xb-35 flying wing is shown to public and president harry s. truman takes a well-deserved vacation.
Newsreel: 1946 - May 6PD NR 368Five Die In Alcatraz Prison Jail House Riot. Also includes unexploded nazi bomb found near buckingham palace and co-ed lifeguards show their swim form.
Newsreel: June 20, 1946PD NR 399Britain disposes of surplus World War II ammunition at sea; other stories cover the Windsor tornado, postwar Japan, Miss Atlantic City, motor sports and a passenger ship.
Newsreel: 1946 - July 11PD NR 363Cardinal Spellman Honors Mother Cabrini. Also includes howard hughes survives plane crash and okefenokee swamp readied for boat tours.
Newsreel: 1946 - July 18PD NR 461British Bombers On Good Will Tour In US. Also includes president harry s. truman honors nisei combat veterans and dirigible admiral c.e. rosendahl retires with full honors.
Newsreel: 1946 - September 17PD NR 327Five Airmen Killed In Yugoslavia Return Home. Also includes robert earl hughes world's heaviest man and amateur golfer ted bishop in golf open.
Newsreel: 1946 - October 14PD NR 393President Harry S. Truman Lifts All Price Controls On Meat. Also includes film stars urge arbitration in hollywood labor union strike.
Newsreel: 1946 - November 22PD NR 339Union Coal Strike Ignore Injunction Threaten Economy. Also includes first pictures of earth from outer space and tangerine queen beauty contest in florida.
Newsreel: 1946 - December 9PD NR 276Famed WWII Leader Winston Churchill Celebrates Birthday. Also includes sgt. llewellyn chilson decorated at white house and pro wrestling free for all in canada.
Newsreel: 1947 - May 15PD NR 069Admiral Richard E. Byrd Antarctic Expedition. Also includes france honors britain winston churchill and president vincent auriol of france in visit to africa.
Newsreel: 1947 - June 5PD NR 074Japanese Balloon Bomb Launch Site Found. Also includes graduation at west point and swim suit fashion show is hard for one miami artist.
Newsreel: 1947 - June 19PD NR 265President Truman Urges Universal Military Training. Also includes pan am 'clipper america' begins world air service and battle of sumo wrestling.
Newsreel: 1947 - November 3PD NR 053Howard Hughes Flies Mammoth Plane 'Spruce Goose'. Also includes college football: michigan vs. illinois and college football: notre dame vs. navy.
Newsreel: 1948 - February 2PD NR 070Gandhi Assassinated, India And World Mourn. Also includes canada welcome european refugees and new indoor mark set for mile.
Newsreel: 1948 - February 11PD NR 131Mardi Gras In New Orleans. Also includes carnival time on the french riviera and tampa florida surrenders to 'pirates'.
Newsreel: 1948 - April 26PD NR 269Dutch Royalty Honors Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Also includes emergency cord cause of fatal train wreck and reconstruction in berlin germany.
Newsreel: 1948 - May 18PD NR 229Jews Defend Their New Zion State. Also includes paris france hosts princess elizabeth and consort and the famous gather for celebrity golf charity event.
Newsreel: 1948 - May 20PD NR 306Jews Fight To Hold Onto New State Of Israel.
Newsreel: 1948 - May 24PD NR 271Dr. Chaim Weizmann President Of Israel. Also includes president harry s. truman visits boys school and new russian envoy arrives in new york city.
Newsreel: 1948 - November 3PD NR 389Greece Honors Its Heroes Of WWII. Also includes palestine 1948 arab-israeli war and president harry s. truman wins 1948 presidential election.
Newsreel: 1949 Year In Review - HeadlinesPD NR 032Inauguration Of President Harry S. Truman For A 2nd Term. Also includes berlin airlift forces russians to lift berlin blockade and world squares off between demomocracy and communism.
Newsreel: 1949 - January 3PD NR 283Special Holiday Show By The Great Bob Hope. Also includes highlights of the bowl games and earthquake rocks maria madre island.
Newsreel: 1949 - January 10PD NR 470Assassinated Premier of Egypt Buried. Also includes tragedy strikes air show in miami fl and jeanne crow crowned queen at press photographers fete.
Newsreel: 1949 - January 20PD NR 295Inauguration Of Harry S. Truman As President.
Newsreel: 1949 - February 24PD NR 307First President Of Israel Inaugurated. Also includes mardi gras in new orleans and in europe its viareggio and irene dunne appeals for help on behalf of the red cross.
Newsreel: 1949 - March 21PD NR 442Home Of Atomic Bomb Opens To The Public. Also includes test of new rocket fuel fizzles and 12th national invitation basketball tournament.
Newsreel: 1949 - June 9PD NR 290Mobs Riot In Tokyo. Also includes graduation day at west point and sammy mason america's top stunt pilot.
Newsreel: 1949 - June 16PD NR 272Adolph Hitler's Luxury Yacht Arrives In New York Harbor. Also includes the kkk gathers in georgia and dewey urges continuence of the marshall aid plan.
Newsreel: 1949 - August 22PD NR 400A Mystery As A Prototype Flying Saucer Is Found In Maryland. Also includes switzerland opens its underground mountain forts and gar wood demonstrates his twin-hulled venturi boat.