The 1964 New York World's Fair | Think Back | The New York Times

The organizers of the New York World's Fair billed the event as one for the ages, but it failed to leave a lasting mark on the culture. The Times's Sam Tanenhaus explains why.

Produced by: Axel Gerdau

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The 1964 New York World's Fair | Think Back | The New York Times

[gonzimerchan]

The optimistic futurism, the iconic architecture, the attractions people still visit daily at Disney parks around the world, the fact we are even still talking about it 50 years later proves its lasting impact on the culture

[emmarose]

My dad (he was from Long Island) went to this fair. His dad worked there.
Must be why I love the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
I challenge everyone reading this to live its legacy. I don’t care whether you’re a centenarian or you’re a kindergartner, whether you went to this wonderful event or you didn’t even know it happened until you saw this video.
How do we live its legacy?
By working towards PEACE THROUGH UNDERSTANDING.
Tell off bullies.
Help a loved one who’s a victim of domestic violence.
See past skin color and look at the heart.
Let your mind be open as the skies of Flushing Meadows–Corona Park and your heart be as big as the Unisphere.
If we all do this, we just might have peace through understanding.

[konkelkent]

peoples reaction to these now is weird to me, these are INSANE. remember 50 MILLION people visited the World fair in paris 1900, the population was like 3 back then. its hard to grasp how huge these were, and its so strange they arent talked about more or even talking about doing one again?

[MRayner]

From what Tanenhaus says, didn't the event have an impact (albeit perhaps not one that was deliberate) insofar as exposing people to emergent technologies that would quickly render such global expositions largely irrelevant? So, in fact, it *did* leave a lasting mark on the culture...

[jtvmoderator]

While the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair may not have had a direct impact on our culture, the concepts that were incorporated by it definitely did: with manufacturers, corporations, companies geared toward consumer products taking center stage, it truly changed the culture in a way that can't be underestimated. You have to remember, there was never a fair where commercialism got as much attention as this one did, which made it unique then, but commonplace now. Remember also, we were still a couple of years from the NFL/AFL Championship game, which would eventually be renamed "The Super Bowl." This fair certainly informed manufacturers how much power they had to influence the culture and to insert their products into places they had never done before.

Certainly Disney had a major influence, with no fewer than 4 pavilions that provided the Imagineers a chance to create new attractions, plus the Disney characters wandering the park, making it a kind of Disneyland Northeast for the two summers of the fair.

While the fair lost money, helped to tarnish the reputation of Robert Moses, who was already becoming more and more irrelevant at this point in history, and isn't well remembered for what it provided to visitors, that element of consumer products, corporate commercialism and the creation of elements that made the two intertwine was first displayed here and that truly changed everything about how we saw both the products we used and ourselves.

[jonathangrant]

Most American companies displaying at the Fair no longer exist, or no longer exist as American companies or as major companies. Frigidaire is a trademark for a Korean company. IBM is becoming irrelevant. Chrysler is now an Italian company. GE is circling the drain and no longer makes the appliances shown at the fair. GM and Ford are no longer innovators. Westinghouse does not exist, nor does Sinclair oil (except for a few gas stations out west).

[jonathangrant]

And US Steel is a rusty shell of itself.

[MarkMiller-iq]

I think we're too cynical for a world's fair today. Fairs typically promote a bright future. But with nuclear war always hanging over our heads, and wars that could escalate into one, (Ukraine, Middle East), not to mention over 7 billion people now on the globe, melting ice caps and increased pollution, the future looks anything but bright. Since 1964, we've gone to the moon, explored Mars (robotically), invented artificial intelligence, personal computers and other things, including greater weapons of mass destruction that could destroy all the good stuff.