Century 21: World Fair Seattle, 1962
No World's Fair occurred between 1940 and 1958, interrupted by WWII. When Eisenhower announced Seattle would be the location for the 1962 fair, it was due largely to Boeing's central importance to the U.S. military future–aganist the backdrop of the Cold War and space race.
The themes were space, science, and the future, but the legacy of the fair brought Seattle into the national limelight on many fronts, including arts and sports. Almost 10 million people attended. President Kennedy failed to attend closing ceremonies October 21- it later became public that he was dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Please visit the links provided here for an excellent series of illustrated articles and resources about this important moment in Northwest and US history.
The Impact of the Cold War on Washington: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair
Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
www.washington.edu/../Lessons/25/25.html
Seattle History: A Fair to Remember seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/worldsfair/
Why Seattle got the World’s Fair seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/68136_wfairart.shtml
Fair's architectural contributions
seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/66578_fairarch16.shtml
Century 21 -- The 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Part 1 www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2290
Century 21 -- The 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Part 2 www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2291
Post Cards: Seattle World's Fair, Seattle, WA 1962 www.alamedainfo.com/seattle_worlds_fair_1962.htm
Cold War and Space Race context, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_21_Exposition
1962 Seattle World's Fair, Expo Museum
http://expomuseum.com/1962/
Space needle and monorail, Seattle, January 1962
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Movie Poster for Elvis’s It Happened At The World's Fair, 1962
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