The 1939 New York World's Fair promised a dream future unlike any other, but the consequences of its vision were buried beneath the spectacle. Two complementary worldviews were presented that would go on to shape the modern United States.

It can be said that much of modern America was born in 1939. That year, the New York City World’s Fair officially began. The mega-event would go on for two seasons (‘39 and ‘40) and break records, exciting audiences by promising a glimpse into the “world of tomorrow.”

The Fair condensed many ideas and developments that would come to define the coming era, famously called the “American Century” by media magnate Henry Luce. Those who attended described experiencing a feeling of awe and being overloaded with newness. The exhibits were futuristic, optimistic, and unyielding in their belief in progress and technology.

If you were there, something was bound to interest you — mechanized farms, car production lines, steelworks, home heating, glassmaking furnaces, dioramas of future megacities, long-distance phone lines, amusement parks, motorcycle shows, electrical appliances, diesel-powered locomotives, industrial plastics, nutritional science, mechanized milk production (with actual cows), nylon clothing, high-end fashion houses, watchmaking, rare jewels, orchestral performances, amusement parks, atomic science presentations, the first computer game, the first science fiction convention, over 500 world-renowned paintings and sculptures, an exhibit for each of the world’s leading nations (and for twenty-three U.S. states), and on and on.¹

*The Food Exhibit showing foodstuff production (New York Public Library Digital Collections*)

*A crowd watches Elektro, a seven-foot tall humanoid robot who could walk, speak, blow up balloons, and smoke a cigarette (New York Public Library Digital Collections*)

*A crowd gathers at the connection to the Electric Utility Exhibit (source*)

*The U.S. Federal Building on the Fairgrounds (source*)

Nimatron, a non-programmable computer that played the game Nim (source)

It was all so spectacular that even the otherwise boring, like new developments in the insurance industry, were dramatized with marionette shows. And if that didn’t suit you, you could always go see how Wonder Bread and Hostess Cakes were made in precise step-by-step detail.

The Fair had it all and promised to provide, enough so that you could live ...

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