World's Fair (1939)

World's Fair (1939) The 1939 New York exposition, commonly styled The World of Tomorrow, was a major international exposition held in New York City's Flushing Meadows–Corona Park spanning 1939–1940. It showcased technological optimism amid the late Great Depression and rising tensions preceding World War II, attracting designers, inventors, industrial corporations, cultural institutions, and political delegations from around the globe. The fair featured iconic structures, corporate pavilions, national exhibits, and cultural programs that linked figures from Thomas Edison's legacy to modernists influenced by Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Background and Planning

Planners included proponents from New York World's Fair Corporation, civic leaders associated with Robert Moses, and financiers influenced by John D. Rockefeller Jr., J.P. Morgan, and executives from General Motors, Westinghouse, and RCA. Site selection shifted from Midtown Manhattan proposals to the reclaimed Flushing Meadows marshlands, once the site of the 1912 World Series riot and adjacent to LaGuardia Airport. Directors coordinated with architects versed in International Style and Art Deco, consulting curators from Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and engineers linked to Battleship Maine–era shipbuilders and firms like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Financial backing involved banking houses such as Chase National Bank and patrons tied to Rockefeller Foundation, amid debates in the United States Congress and press coverage in The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, and Time (magazine).

Main Exhibits and Pavilions

Corporate showcases included corporate palaces by General Motors (Futurama, designed by Norman Bel Geddes), Westinghouse with electrical displays, and RCA with television demonstrations featuring stars associated with NBC and RCA Victor. Other industrial participants were Ford Motor Company, Eastman Kodak, DuPont, Pan American World Airways, and General Electric. National pavilions represented countries including United Kingdom, France, Germany, Soviet Union, Italy, Belgium, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the Dominion of Canada. Cultural institutions mounted exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, American Museum of Natural History, New York Botanical Garden, and the Brooklyn Museum. Technological demonstrations highlighted work from inventors linked to Nikola Tesla's legacy and laboratories such as Bell Laboratories and universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Prominent displays included a model of Radio City Music Hall-style pageantry, futuristic transport concepts influenced by Henry Ford and Guggenheim Museum patrons, and agricultural exhibits sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Architecture and Design

The fair's skyline was dominated by the avant-garde Trylon and Perisphere, conceived by architects affiliated with Gilmore D. Clarke and designers influenced by Raymond Loewy, drawing on aesthetic currents from Bauhaus émigrés and proponents of Le Corbusier's urbanism. Pavilions combined Art Deco ornamentation and International Style functionalism, with contributions from firms like Walker & Gillette, Harrison & Abramovitz, and sculptors in the circle of Isamu Noguchi. Landscape planning intersected with the work of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and engineers from American Society of Civil Engineers, using exhibits to stage ideas of urban planning linked to Garden City movement discussions. Construction involved contractors who previously built landmarks such as Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, and materials research from corporations like DuPont informed innovations in plastics and lighting. Lighting designers used techniques pioneered in World War I blackout experiments and theatrical design from Martha Graham collaborators.

Cultural Impact and Events

The fair hosted performances by entertainers associated with Radio City Music Hall, Metropolitan Opera stars, jazz figures tied to Duke Ellington, and dance companies comparable to Martha Graham Dance Company. Film screenings involved studios such as RKO Pictures and Warner Bros., while educational programs included lectures from scholars connected to Columbia University, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Political ramifications emerged as delegations from the Third Reich and the Soviet Union presented competing narratives, prompting commentary from editors at Harper's Magazine and speeches reported in The New Yorker. The fair also featured commercial tie-ins with brands like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and culinary introductions reminiscent of McDonald's precursors. Scientific exhibitions showcased research from National Institutes of Health collaborators and Manhattan Project–era scientists working at institutions like University of California, Berkeley.

Attendance, Reception, and Legacy

Attendance totaled millions, with figures reported across media outlets including Associated Press and United Press International, and crowd management coordinated by agencies tied to New York Police Department and transportation planners interacting with Independent Subway System and Long Island Rail Road. Critical reception mixed praise for exhibits from Time (magazine) and criticism from leftist publications such as The Nation and conservative commentators in Life (magazine). The fair's legacy influenced postwar expositions like the Brussels World's Fair (1958), the Expo 67 in Montreal, and urban redevelopment projects in Queens. Architecturally, the Trylon and Perisphere became emblems reproduced in posters by graphic artists linked to A.M. Cassandre-influenced design, and several pavilions' architects later contributed to campus plans at University of Pennsylvania and civic projects in Los Angeles. Artifacts and archives reside in collections at the New York Public Library, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Museum of Modern Art, and the Queens Museum, which preserves the fair's Panorama of the City of New York. The exposition remains a touchstone in studies of modernism, mass media, international relations before Pearl Harbor, and the cultural history documented by photographers like Alfred Eisenstaedt and Margaret Bourke-White.

Category:World's fairs