what surprised you the most about director frank capra? >> capra's politics were very complicated. they were impossible to track through his entertainment movies. everybody sort of sees him because of the popularity of films like "mr. smith goes to washington" as a great populace, a man of the people. he was actually a conservative republican who boasted that he never voted for fdr in any of his four presidential elections and he thought he was being overtaxed by the government and he really disliked unions. so his politics were kind of all over the place. at one point he was really infatuated with mussolini. doing this book made me realize war crystallized his politics in to patriotism. it was the time in his life when i think capra was actually the clearest about what he felt about america and when his patriotism really overrode any political leanings he might have. >> mark harris, with that background, we thank you. now written by theodor geisel, directed by frank capra here's a 14-minute training film titled "your job in germany." ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the problem now is future peace. that

featured by author mark harris is george stevens and john ford, john houston, william wyler and frank capra thanks for having me. >> you've been watching a special presentation of our reel america series. join us every sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern for more archival films by government industry, and educational institutions. watch as these films take you on a journey through the 20th century. that's reel america every sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern here on american history tv on c-span3. we'd like to tell you about some of our other american history programs. join us every sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern for a special look at the presidency. learn from leading historians about presidents and first ladies, their policies and legacies. and hear directly from our chief executives through historic archival speeches. every sunday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern here on american history tv. we'd like to hear from you. follow us on twitter @c-span history. connect on facebook at facebook.com/cspan history where you can leave comments and check out our upcoming programs at our website, c-span

produced by frank capra the negro soldier is a documentary intended to encourage african-americans to. beginning with with the revolutionary war then showing their work as teachers judges scientists artists, musicians athletes and soldiers. ♪ ♪ >> thank you soldier. my prepared text today was to have been make thy name be remembered in all generations. i think i'm going to depart from my prepared sermon. while i was listening to the sergeant's solo, i kept looking up at our service flag. i was thinking of the men who serve us. i see some of them here this morning. >> private park, first class. >> first class is right. >> i was at the uso the other night and i met somebody i had not seen in a long time. a ticket to yankee stadium to see joe lewis. in one minute and 49 seconds an american fist won a victory. but it wasn't the final victory. no that victory is going to take a little longer and a whole lot more american failures. now those two men that were matched in the ring tonight are matched again. this time in a far greater arena and for much greater stakes. max, a paratrooper in th

produced by frank capra, the negro soldier is a 1944 documentary intended to encourage african-americans to enlist in the u.s. army during world war ii the film traces the history of african-american contributions to society, during war and peace. beginning with the revolutionary war, then showing their work as teachers, judges, scientists, artists, musicians, athletes, and soldiers. in 2011, this 40-minute film was chosen to be preserved in the national film registry of the library of congress and was recently restored by the national archives. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ since jesus came into my heart ♪ >> thank you soldier. my prepared text today was to have been make thy name be remembereded edin all generations. i think i'm going to -- from my prepared sermon. while i was listening to the sergeant's solo, i kept looking up at our service flag. i was thinking of the men who serve us. i see some of them here this morning. private roberts sergeant jackson. lieutenant carter. and. >> private parker. first class. >> first class is right. i was over at the uso the other night and i met somebody i hadn't seen

it was intended to be a document commissioned by frank capra of the successful u.s. effort to free small ancient village with -- told to go to italy in search of a town that could provide images like joyful and grateful villagers emerging from their hiding places with rounds of cheese and loaves of bread and casts of wine to greet the victorious americans. huston got to italy and found the right town but the battle was already over. the town had been retaken. there were no villagers in sight and it was mined german traps. so what he did with the full knowledge and enthusiastic cooperation of the army, was to restage the battle. the battle of san pietro, this film is fake. it's all re-enactments. re-enactments done on that location and with actual u.s. soldiers, but none of it was real. it was very successfully passed off to the american public as predominately actual battle footage. the army put out press releases who say huston and his men were so brave that they actually preceded the army men on the front so that they could turn around and film the soldiers approac

. >> let me follow up on that point because as an immigrant, you also featured frank capra in your bookhis family coming to the u.s. from italy. take us back to the mindset of the late '30s and early '40s and how this might have affected the psyche of directors like william wyler. >> one thing that it's really hard to recapture now is the idea that before the war, the relationship between hollywood and washington, d.c. and in fact between hollywood and much of america was very suspicious. there were many isolationists in america and in fact in congress, and in the government. there were certainly many anti-semites in america, and there was a considerable overlap between isolationism and anti-semitism, although there were certainly isolationists who were not anti-semites and a lot that were. and the way that played out was this suspicion that this kind of grubby, seedy business where there was mob infiltration of the unions, where most of the men who ran these studios were first or second generation immigrants. most of them were jewish. there was a suspicion that's, you know, these peopl

it's like that frank capra movie, "it's a wonderful life." what would it be like without george?ou look at the good things you've done for people. >> why "troubled man? >> if you knew the song, you would say, john, you wrote this about me. >> most of us? likes small things that most men, i think, in our age bracket have experienced. i think this song covers that topic. >> too late came to early for me to face myself. >> i think that's pretty true for everybody. when our life finds trouble, we don't want to deal with that too much. keeping secrets, keeping ourselves at bay, that seems to be pretty common business for the human race. that's just a global statement. >> do you study other songwriters? look at them, figure out what you have to learn from them? >> i'm always learning stuff on people. i hear something and i think -- how'd they do that? at 63 years old, i'm still amazed at the magic that some people can produce and i still love music and i am still in awe. >> they are in awe of you of the same reason. what separates good from great? >> great songwriters have the ability

i'm just saying, you do stuff -- you know it's like the frank capra movie, it's a wonderful life.would it be without george you know? and i think you start looking at your life and the good things that you have done for people and the things that you may have done that hurt people. >> why troubled man? >> why troubled man? i would say that if you knew the song, you would say, john, you wrote this about me. >> rose: most of us, huh? >> yes. it's about small things that most men, i think, in our age bracket, have experienced and felt, and i think this song covers that topic. >> john medical encamp has spent nearly 40 year career figuring out where he fits in the american grain and he has never inhabited traditional folk and blues setting as personally as this his 22nd album. does that ring true to you? has never inhabited traditional folk and blues imbued settings as personally as his 22nd alpum. >> i don't even know what they're talking about. truth is, if you're a songwriter your head just becomes -- when i was a young songwriter john mellencamp was in the way because i would say

produced by frank capra, a documentary intended to encourage african americans to enlist in the army during world war ii. the film traces the history of african-american contributions to society during war and peace. beginning with the revolutionary war and then showing their work as teachers, judges, scientists, artists, musicians, athletes and soldiers. in 2011, this 40-minute was chosen to be preserved in the library of congress and was recently restored by the national archives. >> with pershing in france serving with the 813th pioneer regiment near marseille, the labor battalion and pioneer regiment near verdunne. fighting on the front. 370 seconds on the planes. 371st. and the 369th in the our bond -- arbonne fought on the line of fire one of -- for 191 days. the first american troops to receive it and for action above and beyond the call of duty many received honored medals. when they cleaned up in france the boys came marching home. >> ♪ among them was henry jones. killed four and captured 34 germans for which the nation decorated them for exceptional bravery. there were thos

there was a lot of open discussion in the war department and with people like frank capra saying whythis is good? why isn't the material we're getting as strong as this british material? so the "true glory" in the hands of carol reed a really great director is a good example of how the english really knew what they were doing in this front. >> in setting up our conversation about this film we touched briefly on the concentration camps and what george stevens saw throughout germany. he later put together a film about the nazi concentration camps. what did you learn about that? >> stevens did not go home quickly after the war was done. he lingered in germany, and he was still in uniform and on duty. his task was to prepare two evidentiary films that were to be shown at the nuremberg trials later that year. one was called "the nazi plan," which was intended to demonstrate that, in fact this was a well calculated, systematic effort in a way to prove intent and conspiracy, and the other film "nazi concentration camps" was to document the atrocities that stevens and his men had seen when t