1964 New York World's Fair

==Federal and state exhibits==
===United States Pavilion===
The United States Pavilion was titled "Challenge to Greatness", and focused on President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s "[[Great Society]]" proposals. The main show in the multimillion-dollar pavilion was a 15-minute ride through a filmed presentation of American history. Visitors seated in moving grandstands rode past movie screens that slid in, out, and above the path of the traveling audience.

Elsewhere, there were tributes to the late [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]], who had broken ground for the pavilion in December 1962 but had been assassinated in November 1963 before the fair opened.

The pavilion displayed a painting by the Belgian artist [[Luc-Peter Crombé]], a semi-religious presentation of three young men challenging flames.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 8, 1964 |title=Luc Crombé op W.T. te New York bekroond|trans-title=Luc Crombé awarded on W.T. in New York |language=nl |work=Gazet van Antwerpen |location=Belgium}}</ref>

==== Civil rights protests ====
The [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE) organized a protest during the World's Fair.{{when|date=March 2024}} About 700 protestors participated; of those, 300 were arrested.<ref name="demnow">{{Cite web |title=Protesting the 1964 World's Fair: Activists Recall Effort to Highlight Civil Rights, Labor Struggles |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/25/protesting_the_1964_world_s_fair |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=Democracy Now! |language=en}}</ref> Demonstrators used [[walkie-talkie]]s to communicate during the protest.<ref name="demnow"/> Protestors demanded that the Civil Rights Act be passed and criticized the lack of inclusive hiring for the World's Fair.<ref name="demnow"/> During President Johnson's speech, demonstrators shouted "Jim Crow must go!" and "Freedom now!" and jeered as he outlined his plans for the Great Society.<ref name="Tirella"/> The mayor of New York later publicly apologized on behalf of the city.<ref name="Tirella"/>

More radically, [[Louis Lomax]], of the Brooklyn chapter of CORE, had proposed a "stall-in"; 500 drivers would go to the fair and stop or deliberately run out of gas on the way there, creating a traffic jam.<ref name="Tirella">{{Cite web |last=Tirella |first=Joseph |date=2014-04-22 |title=Fifty Years Ago Today, Rogue Civil Rights Activists Tried to Ruin Robert Moses' Greatest Triumph |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/04/cores-1964-stall-in-the-planned-civil-rights-protest-that-kept-thousands-away-from-the-worlds-fair-in-new-york.html |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref name="NYT19640422">{{Cite news |date=1964-04-22 |title=Drivers Take Up Positions To Block Roads at 7 A.M. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/22/archives/drivers-take-up-positions-to-block-roads-at-7-am.html |access-date=2022-03-23 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Because it would clog the highways, it would also have been a protest against [[Robert Moses]] and his newly renovated traffic networks.<ref name="Tirella"/>  [[Henry Barnes (traffic engineer)|Henry A. Barnes]], the New York City Traffic Commissioner, made it illegal to intentionally run out of gas on a New York roadway.<ref name="Tirella"/>  Tactics such as using emergency brakes to stop subways and releasing rats during Johnson's speech were also proposed.<ref name="demnow"/> [[James Farmer]], who was the national chair of CORE at the time, suspended the group.<ref name="Tirella"/> [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King, Jr.]] wrote a letter stating that he did not support the stall-in as a tactic, but also would not condemn it. He wrote: "Which is worse, a 'Stall-In' at the World's Fair or a 'Stall-In' in the United States Senate? The former merely ties up the traffic of a single city. But the latter seeks to tie up the traffic of history, and endanger the psychological lives of twenty million people".<ref name="Tirella"/> Despite a ''New York Times'' article stating that "the stall is on",<ref name="NYT19640422"/> only a few drivers actually showed up.<ref name="Tirella"/> Isaiah Brunson, chair of the Brooklyn chapter, promised future protests, but went into hiding a few days later.<ref name="Tirella"/>

===United States Space Park===
[[File:255-CC-65-HC-223, front.jpg|thumb|upright|Space Park, as it appeared in December 1963 before its official opening]]

A {{convert|2|acre|ha|adj=on}} United States Space Park was sponsored by [[NASA]], the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] and the fair. Exhibits included a [[Thor-Delta]] rocket, an Atlas booster rocket with a [[Project Mercury|Mercury]] capsule, a [[Titan II GLV|Titan II]] booster with a [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] capsule, and a full-scale model of the aft skirt and five giant [[F-1 (rocket engine)|F-1]] engines of the [[S-IC|first stage]] of a [[Saturn V]] (as would be used in U.S. [[Apollo program]] moon launches). On display at ground level were ''[[Aurora 7]]'', the Mercury capsule flown by [[Scott Carpenter]] on the second American-crewed orbital flight; full-scale models of an [[X-15]] aircraft, an [[RM-81 Agena|Agena upper stage]]; a Gemini spacecraft; an Apollo [[Apollo Command/Service Module|Command/Service Module]], and a [[Lunar Module|Lunar Excursion Module]]. Replicas of uncrewed spacecraft included lunar probe [[Ranger 7]]; [[Mariner 2]] and [[Mariner 4]]; [[Syncom]], [[Telstar|Telstar 1]], and [[Project_Echo#Echo_2|Echo 2]] communications satellites; [[Explorer 1]] and [[Explorer 16]]; and [[Tiros]] and [[Nimbus program|Nimbus]] weather satellites.<ref>[http://www.westland.net/ny64fair/map-docs/technology.htm "Showcasing Technology at the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair"], Stanton, Jeffrey (2006)</ref>

===New York State Pavilion===
{{main|New York State Pavilion}}
New York played host to the fair at its six-million-dollar open-air pavilion called the "Tent of Tomorrow". Designed by famed modernist architect [[Philip Johnson]], the 350-feet-by-250-feet (107 × 76 m) pavilion was supported by sixteen 100-feet-high (30-metre) concrete columns, from which a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m<sup>2</sup>) roof of polychrome tiles was suspended. Complementing the pavilion were the fair's three [[observation tower]]s, two of which had cafeterias in their in-the-round observation-deck crowns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flushing Meadows Corona Park Highlights - New York State Pavilion : NYC Parks |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/flushing-meadows-corona-park/highlights/12632 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=www.nycgovparks.org}}</ref> The pavilion's main floor, used for local art and industry displays including a {{convert|26|ft|m|abbr=off|adj=on}} scale reproduction of the [[New York State Power Authority]]'s St. Lawrence hydroelectric plant, comprised a 9,000-square-foot (800 m<sup>2</sup>) [[terrazzo]] replica of the official [[Texaco]] highway map of New York State, displaying the map's cities, towns, routes and Texaco gas stations in 567 mosaic panels.<ref name="cbs-nys-pav">{{cite web|url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/03/25/long-shuttered-n-y-state-pavilion-in-queens-to-reopen-for-3-hours-next-month/ |title=Long-Shuttered N.Y. State Pavilion In Queens To Reopen For 3 Hours Next Month |date=March 25, 2014}}</ref>

===Other state pavilions===
[[File:Wisconsin Pavilion.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Wisconsin Pavilion]]]]
[[Wisconsin]] exhibited the "World's Largest Cheese". [[Florida]] brought a [[dolphin show]], [[flamingo]]s, a talented [[cockatoo]] from [[Miami]]'s [[Parrot Jungle]], and water skiers to New York. [[Oklahoma]] gave weary fairgoers a restful park to relax in. [[Missouri]] displayed the state's space-related industries. Visitors could dine at [[Hawaii]]'s "Five Volcanoes" restaurant.

===New York City Pavilion===
At the New York City pavilion, the ''[[Panorama of the City of New York]]'' (a huge scale model of the city) was on display, complete with a simulated helicopter ride around the metropolis for easy viewing.<ref name="Leuthner">{{cite web |last=Leuthner |first=Stuart |title=Small World |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/small-world |work=American Heritage |publisher=American Heritage Publishing Company |access-date=May 1, 2012}}</ref> Left over from the 1939 Fair, this building had been used partially as a recreational public [[roller skating rink]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Michelle |date=2016-08-30 |title=10 NYC Remnants of the 1939 World's Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park - Page 3 of 10 |url=https://untappedcities.com/2016/08/30/remnants-of-the-1939-worlds-fair-at-flushing-meadows-corona-park/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=Untapped New York |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Bourbon Street Pavilion===
[[File:Bourbon Street.jpg|thumb|upright|Bourbon Street Pavilion]]
[[Louisiana]] had a pavilion called "Louisiana's Bourbon Street" (later renamed to just "[[Bourbon Street]]"), which was inspired by [[New Orleans]]' [[French Quarter]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Nywf64.com |title=Bourbon Street&nbsp;... at nywf64.com |url=http://www.nywf64.com/boustr01.shtml |access-date=June 11, 2012}}</ref> It started off with financial trouble, not being able to complete its construction and subsequently filing for bankruptcy. A private company, called Pavilion Property, bought up the assets and assumed its debts. This prompted [[List of Governors of Louisiana|Louisiana Governor]] [[John McKeithen]] to sever all ties and withdraw state's sanction, leaving the pavilion completely to private enterprise.

Special media attention was given to a racially integrated [[minstrel show]] that was intended to be a satirical anti-bigotry review,{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} called "America, Be Seated", and produced by [[Mike Todd, Jr.|Mike Todd Jr.]] During the opening of the fair, several civil rights protests were staged by members of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]], who believed that the "minstrel-style" show was demeaning to [[African-American]]s.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

The pavilion included ten theater restaurants, which served a variety of [[Louisiana Creole cuisine|Creole food]], a [[Jazz|Jazz club]] called "Jazzland" which hosted live jazz artists,<ref>
{{cite news |title=Jazz Club at World's Fair |newspaper=Billboard |date=March 21, 1964 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38 |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref> miniature [[New Orleans Mardi Gras|Mardi Gras parades]], a teenage dancing venue, a voodoo shop, and a doll museum. Due to the presence of the various bars, the pavilion was especially popular at night. Notable [[go-go dancer]] [[Candy Johnson]] headlined a show at a venue called "Gay New Orleans Nightclub".

<!-- It is impossible to determine without individual examination which of the following citations support which claims in the above section.  They need to be parsed, assigned to specific claims, and lesser redundancies eliminated:
<ref>{{cite book |author=Lisanti, Tom |title=Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties |publisher=Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub |date=March 2003 |pages=40, 270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwFbcgV_LDgC&pg=PA270 |access-date=June 9, 2012 |isbn=978-0-7864-1575-5}}</ref> Near the closure of the fair, the pavilion was reported to have achieved the highest gross income of any single commercial pavilion at the fair.<ref name="Cotter Young"/>{{rp|77}}

<ref name="End of the Innocence">{{cite book |author=Samuel, Lawrence R. |title=The End of the Innocence: The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |date=August 1, 2010 |pages=27, 34, 48, 74, 130, 164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PF05Yq5aibgC&pg=PA48 |access-date=June 9, 2012 |isbn=978-0-8156-0956-8}}
</ref>

<<ref>{{cite book |title=Ebony |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |date=June 1964 |page=170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC8yxuzqfi4C&pg=PA170 |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite book |title=Jet |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |date=May 28, 1964 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA56 |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite book |title=Jet |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |date=May 7, 1964 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite news |title=America Be Seated out of World Fair |newspaper=Washington Afro-American |date=May 12, 1964 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2238&dat=19640512&id=X5YlAAAAIBAJ&pg=4198,1805813 |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite news |title=Have You Seen 'America, Be Seated' |newspaper=The Morning Record |date=April 10, 1964 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2512&dat=19640410&id=sKFIAAAAIBAJ&pg=2284,4902147 |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref>

<ref>{{cite web |title=Photos of Louisiana/Bourbon Street pavillion |url=http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/louisiana.htm |access-date=June 9, 2012}}</ref>-->