1939: World War II and The World of Tomorrow

The United States did not enter World War II until December 1941, but the fair included a number of exhibitor nations embroiled in the conflict, including the United Kingdom, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the U.S.S.R and France. The involvement of foreign countries made the fair a world’s fair and thus the world’s problems impacted the event. By its close on October 27th, 1940, the Government Zone looked like shell of its former self with a number of structures having been dismantled for scrap metal stockpiles.

By the second season, which began on May 11, 1940 Poland and Czechoslovakia had fallen to the Nazis and chose not to return to the fair. France was not far behind, as the Nazis seized Paris on June 14th, 1940. Poland draped its pavilion in black cloth and the Czechs left theirs vacant, providing visitors with an eerie reminder of the tomorrow they might actually face.

H.R.H.KingGeorge VI and Queen Elizabeth visiting the fair on June 10, 1939. The season before the British Pavillion bombing

H.R.H.KingGeorge VI and Queen Elizabeth visiting the fair on June 10, 1939. The season before the British Pavillion bombing.

The threat of war became all too real when the British Pavilion received a bomb threat. The bomb was discovered and removed by fair patrolmen, who moved it to a remote area to wait for specialist intervention. Two officers, Detectives Joseph Lynch and Ferdinand Socha of New York City’s fledgling bomb squad responded. As Lynch and Socha inspected the still ticking package, the bomb detonated, killing both detectives.

While the culprit was never caught, Nazis and Nazi sympathizers have long been suspected. The officer’s deaths cast a dark shadow over the fair, as violence became tangible and the future appeared more ominous.

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