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NBC WHITE PAPER: THE DEATH OF STALIN (TV)
Summary
One in this series of irregularly scheduled documentaries. Part one of this four-part documentary examining communism. Part one analyzes the struggle for power among the Soviet leadership upon the death of Joseph Stalin. Highlights include the following: at the height of his power, in 1952, Stalin (with Georgi Malenkov, Lavrenti P. Beria, and Vyacheslav Molotov) is shown reviewing a parade in Red Square; on Oct. 5, 1952, the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union meets to discuss stricter internal control and tougher foreign policy, with speeches by Molotov, Malenkov, Stalin, and Khrushchev; Stalin at the Bolshoi; anti-Semitic propaganda in Russian papers and purges occur in a dozen cities; on Jan. 13, 1953, prominent doctors are imprisoned and "Pravda" announces the "doctors' plot" charging doctors (some Jewish) with plotting against Soviet leadership; on Feb. 7, 1953, Indian ambassador K.P.S. Menon meets with Stalin, who cryptically discusses the plots against himself; on Feb. 19, Stalin makes his last public appearance; Philippe Ben recounts a story about Beria's reaction to Stalin's pretending to fall dead; on March 4, 1953, "Pravda" announces that Stalin has suffered a brain hemorrhage, and Malenkov, Molotov, and Beria take over the government; on March 5, 1953, Stalin dies and the next morning the news agency TASS announces his death; John Foster Dulles on Stalin's death; Stalin's funeral and burial in Lenin's tomb; Beria makes a bid for power and purges supporters of Malenkov and Molotov; Presidium plots to get rid of Beria; on June 16, 1953, East Berlin revolts against the Communists, and on June 17, Soviet tanks put down the revolt; June 26, all Soviet leaders, except Beria, are present at the Bolshoi's "Swan Lake"; Georges Brutelle, Joseph C. Harsch, and others, on Beria's death; the official report records Beria's trial on Dec. 23, 1953, and execution on Dec. 24; Oct. 1961, at the 22nd Party Congress, an old woman demands Stalin's removal from Lenin's tomb; and a look toward Khrushchev's rise to power. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: January 27, 1963 Sunday 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:38
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T80:0281
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Ballet; Communism - 1952; Communism - 1953; Communist Party - U S S R; U S S R - Economic conditions; U S S R - Foreign relations; U S S R - Politics and government; Berlin, riot - June 1953; Propaganda - U S S R
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1960-1980
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Irving Gitlin … Executive Producer
- Fred Freed … Producer, Writer
- Len Giovannitti … Associate Producer, Director
- Chet Huntley … Narrator
- Philippe Ben
- Lavrenti P. Beria
- Bolshoi Ballet
- Georges Brutelle
- John Foster Dulles
- Joseph C. Harsch
- Nikita S. Khrushchev
- Vladimir Lenin
- Georgi Malenkov
- K.P.S. Menon
- Molotov (Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skriabin)
- Joseph Stalin