Apr 20, 2023·edited Apr 20, 2023Liked by Anton Cebalo
This was a good piece. Other commenters have mentioned that the US was preparing to fight fascism at this time, but I don't really think that's true. This happened in 1939 and the imperative (and you could argue, popular mandate/support) to get involved in the war really didn't happen until almost 1942 (Pearl Harbor was 12/7/1941).
My take on this is that the intelligentsia at this time realized that promoting mass consumerism was the only real way forward for them to maintain control of the United States. 1939 was still very much a time in which the Great Depression's effects were being felt. Think, for example, of how much the Great Recession still resonated in popular debate in 2017 and 2018. 1939 was the same amount of time away from the Great Depression as those years were for us.
Consumerism, and by extension, control, has thus been used as a primary form of control ever since. Frankly, it makes sense because we're a nation with arguably very little shared history and ethnic ties; the alternative power structures probably look very different, and maybe even less peaceful than they are right now.
The real takeaway for me from reading about this fair is that it's cool to see how people in this time were actively thinking about how the future could be reimagined, different, and potentially better than the present. Look at the design quality that went into some of these exhibits. Have you seen art or design that has struck you the way that it probably struck those in attendance then? I rarely have. Especially not design that was made in the present day.
The future that was presented at the fair may not have been a future everyone wanted, but at least they were attempting to imagine something. I want to see that imagination make a comeback in our society today.
I was there! I was only four years old and my memories are fragmentary, but I loved it, particularly the enormous model railroad. (It was O gauge and I believe had three-rail track, unlike modern large layouts which are the half as wide HO gauge.) I remember the Trylon and Perisphere, and my sadness when they were demolished several years later. The area became Flushing Meadow Park and was the site of the 1964 Worlds Fair, which I also attended.
Great piece, really intriguing about Bernays controlling the desires of the masses — makes sense he didn’t actually like people. I’m doing research about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair at the moment, so it was really interesting to read your piece about what the thinking was 46 years later.
Very interesting insights and supplement to your Palladium Magazine piece, Anton -- whose provocative title really caught my eye and stoked my interest to learn the answers to Who, How, & Why?: "Midcentury Planners Demolished America’s Social Fabric."
In both pieces you highlight the Futurama exhiibit and Norman Bel Geddes' influence on urban planning with his dream of a nation of superhighways; however, I'd previously learned and attributed that to President Eisenhower's influence via his push to create the U.S. Interstate Highway System (IHS). It would be interesting to discover or learn how, if at all, either influenced and/or complemented or conflicted with the other.
Found a good 2018 summary of Ike's motivations and the history of the IHS at the U.S. Army website:
[Pull Quote 1:] "In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Lt. Gen. Lucius Clay (instrumental in the logistics success following the D-Day landings) to head the President's Advisory Committee on the National Highway System ... On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed legislation funding the construction of the U.S. Interstate Highway System (IHS) -- something Americans had dreamed of since Detroit starting building cars."
[Pull Quote 2:] "In order to understand the IHS's importance in U.S. society, let's examine its history. President Eisenhower is widely regarded as the catalyst for the IHS. His motivations for a highway network stemmed from three events: his assignment as a military observer to the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy [a road test for military vehicles and was used to identify the challenges in moving troops from coast to coast on the existing infrastructure], his experience in World War II where he observed the efficiencies of the German autobahn, and the Soviet Union's 1953 detonation of the hydrogen bomb, which instigated a fear that insufficient roads would keep Americans from being able to escape a nuclear disaster."
[Academic Note: You correctly define here the "third places" whose loss Ray Oldenburg lamented as "neither work nor HOME" (per Wikipedia: "Oldenburg suggests that for a healthy existence, citizens must live in a balance of three realms: HOME LIFE, the workplace, and the inclusively sociable places"). However, in your Palladium Magazine piece. you'd defined Oldenburg's "third places" as "those areas of socialization that can be counted as neither SCHOOL nor work" (which actually struck me last week when I'd first read it as making more sense for most of us today in an age of shrinking families, extended families living together, farms & ranches, etc. -- and I only noticed it because just this morning I'd been relating parts of that first essay to my wife. FOOTNOTING This Article FTW! ;-) ]
Fascinating and terrifying! Thank you for the education. Knowledge is power. Let us use this power to change the model. Active participation in democracy will produce a healthier and more sustainable society.
The first thing that struck me: the main images were a phallic symbol. As I read that Freud had some influence, I was not surprised. I'm betting that the Masonic orders also played large in influence. Next, the confusion of "democracy" and "constitutional republic" and "consumerism" and "capitalism" are still around today. The Marxist influences are also present: the "masses" can be manipulated, or shaped. This fair happened before I was born, and as we all know, the world changed dramatically with what was then the coming war. Finally, I wonder now what the 2010 Worlds Fair in Shanghai presages for the coming generations, with its theme of "One World."
I grew up in the 60s and came to believe early in life that the car (with its gasoline-powered engine) was one of the more intensely problematic inventions of mankind. The idea of building communities around it extended far into the suburbs and was instrumental in creating the habitat destruction I’ve been fighting against for decades. When a developer re-imagined our suburban “downtown” as a mall and giant parking lot, I was that person who gets up and goes to the mike in the big unveiling and says, “I’m sorry. This is is mall. You want to make our downtown into a mall?” And 800 people sat in that room, shocked into silence. “Where will people walk?” I asked. “Where will they socialize?” Silence. I thought, “Geez, what a bunch of sheep. If I’m the only one in the room who sees the problem here, we are in BIG trouble.” Americans are selfish and lazy. We get the landscape (and the government) we deserve. I moved out of that town and never looked back.
An interesting 'flashback' and well worth its while.
Isn't it funny we are so blinded to the reality the individual makes the culture. Care for one and the other thrives....quite the opposite strategy for what has unfolded in this great chemical mistake. In this regard existing society is an identical expression of what was forcefully sold and 'bought' by the masses so totally overwhelmed by the corporate insistence on 'progress' at any cost. Dysfunction cannot succeed at anything but replicating itself.
What that generation learned was that "grand national narratives told to an eager public" tend to lead to death camps. Better to leave people alone to pursue their own happiness in peace (which, alas, we have *not* actually learned...)
This was a good piece. Other commenters have mentioned that the US was preparing to fight fascism at this time, but I don't really think that's true. This happened in 1939 and the imperative (and you could argue, popular mandate/support) to get involved in the war really didn't happen until almost 1942 (Pearl Harbor was 12/7/1941).
My take on this is that the intelligentsia at this time realized that promoting mass consumerism was the only real way forward for them to maintain control of the United States. 1939 was still very much a time in which the Great Depression's effects were being felt. Think, for example, of how much the Great Recession still resonated in popular debate in 2017 and 2018. 1939 was the same amount of time away from the Great Depression as those years were for us.
Consumerism, and by extension, control, has thus been used as a primary form of control ever since. Frankly, it makes sense because we're a nation with arguably very little shared history and ethnic ties; the alternative power structures probably look very different, and maybe even less peaceful than they are right now.
The real takeaway for me from reading about this fair is that it's cool to see how people in this time were actively thinking about how the future could be reimagined, different, and potentially better than the present. Look at the design quality that went into some of these exhibits. Have you seen art or design that has struck you the way that it probably struck those in attendance then? I rarely have. Especially not design that was made in the present day.
The future that was presented at the fair may not have been a future everyone wanted, but at least they were attempting to imagine something. I want to see that imagination make a comeback in our society today.
This was very well written, informative. I am so glad I stumbled across this site. Keep up the good work Anton!
I was there! I was only four years old and my memories are fragmentary, but I loved it, particularly the enormous model railroad. (It was O gauge and I believe had three-rail track, unlike modern large layouts which are the half as wide HO gauge.) I remember the Trylon and Perisphere, and my sadness when they were demolished several years later. The area became Flushing Meadow Park and was the site of the 1964 Worlds Fair, which I also attended.
I have often wondered why some people think capitalism is necessary for democracy.
Great piece, really intriguing about Bernays controlling the desires of the masses — makes sense he didn’t actually like people. I’m doing research about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair at the moment, so it was really interesting to read your piece about what the thinking was 46 years later.
Very interesting insights and supplement to your Palladium Magazine piece, Anton -- whose provocative title really caught my eye and stoked my interest to learn the answers to Who, How, & Why?: "Midcentury Planners Demolished America’s Social Fabric."
In both pieces you highlight the Futurama exhiibit and Norman Bel Geddes' influence on urban planning with his dream of a nation of superhighways; however, I'd previously learned and attributed that to President Eisenhower's influence via his push to create the U.S. Interstate Highway System (IHS). It would be interesting to discover or learn how, if at all, either influenced and/or complemented or conflicted with the other.
Found a good 2018 summary of Ike's motivations and the history of the IHS at the U.S. Army website:
https://www.army.mil/article/198095/dwight_d_eisenhower_and_the_birth_of_the_interstate_highway_system
[Pull Quote 1:] "In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Lt. Gen. Lucius Clay (instrumental in the logistics success following the D-Day landings) to head the President's Advisory Committee on the National Highway System ... On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed legislation funding the construction of the U.S. Interstate Highway System (IHS) -- something Americans had dreamed of since Detroit starting building cars."
[Pull Quote 2:] "In order to understand the IHS's importance in U.S. society, let's examine its history. President Eisenhower is widely regarded as the catalyst for the IHS. His motivations for a highway network stemmed from three events: his assignment as a military observer to the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy [a road test for military vehicles and was used to identify the challenges in moving troops from coast to coast on the existing infrastructure], his experience in World War II where he observed the efficiencies of the German autobahn, and the Soviet Union's 1953 detonation of the hydrogen bomb, which instigated a fear that insufficient roads would keep Americans from being able to escape a nuclear disaster."
[Academic Note: You correctly define here the "third places" whose loss Ray Oldenburg lamented as "neither work nor HOME" (per Wikipedia: "Oldenburg suggests that for a healthy existence, citizens must live in a balance of three realms: HOME LIFE, the workplace, and the inclusively sociable places"). However, in your Palladium Magazine piece. you'd defined Oldenburg's "third places" as "those areas of socialization that can be counted as neither SCHOOL nor work" (which actually struck me last week when I'd first read it as making more sense for most of us today in an age of shrinking families, extended families living together, farms & ranches, etc. -- and I only noticed it because just this morning I'd been relating parts of that first essay to my wife. FOOTNOTING This Article FTW! ;-) ]
Excellent content and an essential glimpse at our past looking to the future.
Fascinating piece! I looked at an earlier, seminal U.S. fair, the World’s Columbian Exposition, through a different lens–leisure–and tied it into the larger impact that amusement parks have played and continue to play in American culture. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22621855/theme-park-amusement-park-disney-coney-island
Fascinating and terrifying! Thank you for the education. Knowledge is power. Let us use this power to change the model. Active participation in democracy will produce a healthier and more sustainable society.
Great. Love reading psy op stuff!
Very Illuminating and insightful. Thank you.
The first thing that struck me: the main images were a phallic symbol. As I read that Freud had some influence, I was not surprised. I'm betting that the Masonic orders also played large in influence. Next, the confusion of "democracy" and "constitutional republic" and "consumerism" and "capitalism" are still around today. The Marxist influences are also present: the "masses" can be manipulated, or shaped. This fair happened before I was born, and as we all know, the world changed dramatically with what was then the coming war. Finally, I wonder now what the 2010 Worlds Fair in Shanghai presages for the coming generations, with its theme of "One World."
I grew up in the 60s and came to believe early in life that the car (with its gasoline-powered engine) was one of the more intensely problematic inventions of mankind. The idea of building communities around it extended far into the suburbs and was instrumental in creating the habitat destruction I’ve been fighting against for decades. When a developer re-imagined our suburban “downtown” as a mall and giant parking lot, I was that person who gets up and goes to the mike in the big unveiling and says, “I’m sorry. This is is mall. You want to make our downtown into a mall?” And 800 people sat in that room, shocked into silence. “Where will people walk?” I asked. “Where will they socialize?” Silence. I thought, “Geez, what a bunch of sheep. If I’m the only one in the room who sees the problem here, we are in BIG trouble.” Americans are selfish and lazy. We get the landscape (and the government) we deserve. I moved out of that town and never looked back.
An interesting 'flashback' and well worth its while.
Isn't it funny we are so blinded to the reality the individual makes the culture. Care for one and the other thrives....quite the opposite strategy for what has unfolded in this great chemical mistake. In this regard existing society is an identical expression of what was forcefully sold and 'bought' by the masses so totally overwhelmed by the corporate insistence on 'progress' at any cost. Dysfunction cannot succeed at anything but replicating itself.
What that generation learned was that "grand national narratives told to an eager public" tend to lead to death camps. Better to leave people alone to pursue their own happiness in peace (which, alas, we have *not* actually learned...)
Very thought provoking and well written. Thank you