The Presidents: Truman to Ford
1945-1977
As one can probably tell from the title, the documentary
is about the presidencies from Truman to Ford.
Truman was not well known when he became vice-president,
and was not too popular when he became president after Roosevelt’s death.
Nonetheless, this Democrat was the president of the United States. Many people
admired his willingness to act against the wishes of the people to do what he
believed was best. Truman’s first decision was to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.
Many people respected him for doing so. Truman dealt with the struggle to fend
off communism. He created the policy of containment. Truman also made steps to
end racial segregation. He left office unpopular but in hindsight, many people
appreciated him.
Dwight Eisenhower was an American military hero. He did
not like how the U.S. handled the Korean War, so he decided to run for
president as a Republican. The narrator called the slogan “We like Ike” as an
American sentiment. Eisenhower started getting the U.S. involved in the Vietnam
conflict. He sent money to South Vietnam. Eisenhower won reelection with ease.
He got a heart attack that made him seem weak. When the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik into space, many Americans thought America was losing out to the Soviet
Union. Eisenhower, at the end of his presidency, lost some of his “grand-father
figure.”
John F. Kennedy was a Democrat the youngest man ever
elected president. His generation was the youth of America. Everyone loved
Kennedy. He suffered from many illnesses. Kennedy had an open-door policy. His
failure with the Bay of Pigs changed him as a president. His audacity led him
to challenging the nation, saying that the U.S. would land a man on the moon by
the end of the decade. Kennedy’s biggest decision came during the Cuban Missile
Crisis. He ordered a naval blockade of Cuba, which turned out to be a good
decision. Tragically Kennedy was murdered not even one three years into his
presidency. Despite his shortened term, he is still a famous president.
Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn into office and
promised to fulfill Kennedy’s presidency. LBJ had an ego problem, and often
overreacted. He had an “in-your-face” style. It was arguably a gesture of
dominance. Johnson’s Great Society created many new laws. This included the
Civil Rights Act. In domestic policies, many people respect him. But he lost
lots of it because of how he escalated the war in Vietnam. He did try to reach
peace with Vietnam at the end of his presidency, but it was too little too
late. Under fire, Johnson decided not to run for reelection.
Richard Nixon did a lot of scheming to become president.
Nixon, a Republican, pretended that he had a plan to end the war, but in
reality, he was only trying to escalate it. He used his presidency to go after
enemies and gain celebrity status. While Nixon lied and lied, Watergate started
heating up. The House passed an article of impeachment, and resigned
immediately. He was a good strategist but will always be seen as a criminal.
Gerald Ford, Nixon’s Republican vice-president, took over
president for Nixon. He was an inexperienced president. He tried to aid South
Vietnam, but Congress did not allow it. Ford will always be associated with
Nixon, which resulted in him not getting reelected.
What stood out to me in this documentary were the
cinematic aspects. There was some great B-roll footage, and I always felt
engaged. They had interviews and never had the narrator speak over black and
rarely even pictures. There was sometimes music over interviews, which made them a little more lively.
There were no dramatic aspects present in the film. All
the viewer sees are B-rolls and interviews.
The literary aspects were also impressive in the
documentary. The plot was very well organized, in that the director used
the obvious
organization given: the presidents in chronological order. This saved me
potential confusion because I knew that until the next president was
introduced,
the film was still describing the same one. The story was told in the
third-person, and in a very unbiased way. At times I was bothered by how
they
were a little too acknowledging of a president’s positives. The
documentaries
recap of Nixon, for example, included it saying something like, “He was a
very
strategic man.” From the events the film described, he lied a trillion
times,
he escalated the Vietnam War when he said he’d end it, and he resigned
after being found a criminal. I don’t know how he deserves a positive
concluding statement.
A voice over narration was used. We never saw the
narrator, but he played a huge part in the documentary.
The documentary used the Ken Burns effect, but not like
I’d ever seen it before. They zoomed all around a wide image focusing on each
individual piece. I have to say, it was pretty cool.
I would recommend this documentary if one wants pure
facts. For me, I liked the truths of it, but if it had been a little biased I
probably would have preferred it. Whether or not it took a Liberal
or Conservative stance, I would have still been able to see a viewpoint. From this video,
all I got were facts, given in a very enticing manner.
