e RO U N D BRE A Kl N G AT THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR 1964-1965
JUNE 19, 1963
the
New York City
Museum of
Science
and
Technology
Excerpts from transcription of remarks made by
New York City and World's Fair officials at the
groundbreaking ceremonies of the New York
City Museum of Science and Technology, New
York World's Fair, Wednesday, June 19, 1963-
Cover.- After the Fair, the New
York City Museum of Science and
Technology, which will be a per-
manent exhibit, will be operated
by a Board of Trustees to include
prominent scientific, academic
and industrial leaders. Mr. Wal-
lace K. Harrison of the firm of
Harrison & Abramovitz, New York,
is the architect for the Museum.
2
DR. ROBERTO DE MENDOZA [Deputy Chief. of
Protocol]: Mr. President of the Council and Com-
missioners of the City of New York, Mr. Moses, ladies
and gentlemen. We have gathered here this morning for
a very happy and momentous occasion. The Museum of
Science and Technology which the City of New York
will build for our World's Fair will be a monument to
the lofty dreams transformed into reality of the execu-
tives of the New York City government and the New
York World's Fair Corporation.
It is my great pleasure to introduce our first speaker,
Mario J. Cariello, President of the Borough of Queens.
THE HONORABLE MARIO J. CARIELLO: Mr.
Chairman, Acting Mayor Paul Screvane, Commissioner
Moses, Commissioner Reidy, distinguished World's Fair
officials and friends. This is an auspicious occasion for
the entire country, the City of New York and particularly
the Borough of Queens. We are very thankful to Acting
Mayor Screvane, Commissioner Moses, Commissioner
Reidy, and of course my colleagues on the Board of Esti-
mate for their cooperation in making possible this
groundbreaking.
This Museum will be one of the outstanding perma-
nent benefits for the Borough of Queens, the Borough
which is growing and expanding so rapidly and whose
population and residents so greatly appreciate this cul-
tural benefit. We know that it will be a tremendous incen-
tive to our youth to come here and see the progress that
is made and will be made in science and we welcome this
© 1963 New York World's Fair 1964-1965 Corporation
building as one of the finest examples of the benefits that
Queens will derive from the City of New York in recogni-
tion of its tremendously expanding population.
As President of this fine Borough, I want to say that
every possible cooperation will be given by me and our
staff at Borough Hall in furtherance of the improvement
and continuing benefits for this fine structure. It will be
necessary in order to maintain it, to have public partici-
pation in the form of contributions of funds, and I am
already working on citizens' participation so that we may
be able to maintain it in the best possible manner. Thank
you.
DR. DE MENDOZA: Thank you, Mr. Cariello. And
now our next speaker. I shall only quote Mayor Wagner's
statement when he appointed him Commissioner of Public
Works: "We searched far and wide to find the best
equipped individual to head the Department of Public
Works. Mr. Reidy is accepting the position at substantial
personal sacrifice, but he believes with me that it is a duty
to perform a public service of this sort."' I am certain no
other words could better describe the personality, deeply
ingrained sense of duty and exceptional ability of our
next speaker. I have the privilege to present The Honor-
able Peter Reidy, Commissioner of Public Works of the
City of New York.
THE HONORABLE PETER J. REIDY: Acting
Mayor Screvane, Borough President Cariello, Commis-
sioner Moses, Mr. Wally Harrison and ladies and gentle-
men. This event should establish a record of some sort.
Less than four weeks ago the Board of Estimate granted
me permission to negotiate a contract for the foundations
of this building. I say it's a sort of record because as a
rule in city work we are not able to work this quickly.
I want only to say that we are starting today, we've a
lot to do, it will require the most complete and intense
cooperation between the Board of Estimate, the City offi-
cials, the Fair officials and the exhibitors in order to make
this structure a reality. I am sure that all of us feel that
way about it and I am sure that cooperation will be forth-
coming — it's a definite must and we can proceed only
on that basis. Thank you.
DR. DE MENDOZA: Thank you, Commissioner
Reidy. There is nothing that I can possibly say that you
do not know about our next speaker whose life, dedicated
to the service of the public, has been crowned with one
glittering success after another. It is my great pleasure to
present The Honorable Robert Moses, president of the
New York World's Fair Corporation.
MR. ROBERT MOSES: For a long time we were con-
cerned about the conspicuous absence of an adequate
exhibit on space and science at Flushing Meadow. We
tried in vain every known expedient and device, every
legitimate pressure, hard and soft sell and charm, through
our most persuasive and skillful representatives and
friends, to fill this gap. Suddenly at the last possible
moment, due to the lively concern of the City administra-
tion, the intervention of Mayor Wagner, the personal
enthusiasm of Paul Screvane and the persistence of Guy
Tozzoli, miraculously we solved the problem not only for
the Fair's two years, but for a permanent city museum
of science.
The Museum of Science and Technology will occupy
a strategic, accessible and expandable place in the com-
pleted Flushing Meadow Park. It will be a living symbol
of the most extraordinary twenty- five years of human
progress, discovery and invention since the beginning of
recorded history, not only for the fast-growing Borough
of Queens, but for all of New York and its visitors.
We have entrusted the design for the museum to Wal-
lace K. Harrison, distinguished architect who was Direc-
tor of Planning for the Architectural Commission that
designed the United Nations Secretariat, and Commis-
sioner Reidy is in charge of construction.
Now I want to give this medallion to my old friend
Peter Reidy to keep on his desk where he is now, and
when he becomes the chief executive officer of the Tri-
borough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.
DR. DE MENDOZA: Thank you, Mr. Moses. Our
next speaker is one of the most popular and well-liked
men in New York, a shining example of the wonderful
opportunities this great City offers to someone with a
great personality, outstanding ability, a profound desire
to serve the public and the will to succeed. A colonel in
the Army Reserve and former deputy mayor, he is the
author of the Freedom Writers Law in the City of New
York, and it is in great part due to his contagious enthu-
siasm, resolute convictions and inspired perseverance that
the Museum of Science and Technology will grace the
New York World's Fair to remain in the future Flushing
Meadow Park as a proud contribution of the City of New
York to the advancement of science.
I have the high honor to give you The Honorable Paul
R. Screvane, President of the Council and Acting Mayor
of the City of New York.
THE HONORABLE PAUL R. SCREVANE: Thank
you very much, Dr. De Mendoza. With Commissioner
Moses' permission I think we'll take you around to intro-
duce me all the time — you do it so beautifully.
Commissioner Moses, Commissioner Reidy, Borough
President Cariello, friends. It is a great personal pleasure
for me to participate in these groundbreaking ceremonies
for the Museum of Science and Technology. After re-
peated attempts over the last many years to locate a sci-
ence museum in New York City, these efforts are finally
attaining fruition through the World's Fair Committee.
However, like the fabled magic trees of old, this museum
will continue to bear fruit, for not only will it serve the
Fair as a science pavilion but long after the Unisphere®
is set beside the trylon and perisphere as a symbol of great
world's fairs of the past, this permanent museum will
serve the people of the City, the nation and the world.
It is always gratifying for an elected official to see a
public need about to be filled. Our City, renowned for its
cultural activities, its museums, its art galleries, its li-
braries, its concert halls and theatres, has long had a
cultural scientific gap in its web of institutions. Today the
Assisting at the groundbreaking for the New York City Museum of Science and
Technology are: (left to right) Paul Screvane, Acting Mayor of the City of New
York; Peter J. Reidy, Commissioner of Public Works of the City of New York;
Robert Moses, president of the Fair; Mario J. Cari-
ello, Borough President of Queens; Guy Tozzoli, Port
of New York Authority; and Wallace K. Harrison,
architect of the Museum.
"T
•>
MUSEUM OF
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
•>
(ground bremuug
Shown on the dais at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Museum
of Science and Technology are: (left to right) Paul Screvane; Mario J.
Cariello; Dr. Roberto De Mendoza, Deputy Chief of Protocol at the
Fair; Peter J. Reidy; and Robert Moses.
first shovel of earth for this museum is being taken from
Flushing Meadow Park. It will be replaced by mortar.
stone and steel to house the wonders of science for all
to view.
With the race for space between East and West grow-
ing in urgency, a recent New York Times editorial put it
most succinctly: "Many of the seventy million expected
to attend the New York World's Fair will visit the exhibit
and get a first-hand view of the interrelationship between
a high standard of living and free democratic institutions,
demonstrating that man's greatest achievements, mate-
rially and culturally, have always been made in an atmos-
phere of intellectual freedom."
Furthermore, this museum is truly the essence of the
democratic cooperation between the City, which contrib-
uted three and a half million dollars, the federal govern-
ment, the World's Fair Committee and private industry.
This science center will be both a repository and an
incentive for scientific knowledge and achievement. Ben-
jamin Disraeli once wrote that what art was to the ancient
world, science is to the modern. The grandeur of Rome
and Greece can be the grandeur of our own world if only
we k-arn to turn the sciences to our own advantage. I be-
lieve that the museum will aid in serving such a purpose.
In conclusion I want to pay my respects and pay tribute
to a few of the people who have worked so hard to bring
about this great facility. Certainly, Commissioner Moses
who gave leadership to this project and the fellow who
has been the workhorse and has worked continuously on
it, Mr. Guy Tozzoli, and of course the architect who was
so imaginative as you can see by this rendition, Mr. Wal-
lace K. Harrison, and all of the many people who have
contributed time and effort, our Board of Estimate and
our City Council. Thank you very much.
NEW YORK CITY MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS:
NEWBOLD MORRIS, Commissioner of Parks
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS:
PETER J. REIDY, Commissioner of Public Works
CONTRACTORS:
W. J. BARNEY CORPORATION
NEW YORK WORLD'S
FAIR
1964-1965 CORPORATION
Flushing 52, N. Y.
c— — .«-..-..»
Tel. 212-WF 4-1964
ROBERT MOSES, President
THOMAS J. DEEGAN, JR., Chairman of the Executive Committee
WILLIAM E. POTTER, Executive Vice President
CHARLES POLETTI, Vice President, International Affairs and Exhibits
STUART CONSTABLE, Vice President, Operations
WILLIAM BERNS, Vice President, Communications and Public Relations
ERWIN WITT, CompfroUer
MARTIN STONE, Director of Industrial Section
GUY F. TOZZOLI, (Porr of New York Authority) Transportation Section
ERNESTINE R. HAIG, Secrefory of the Corporation and
Assistant to the President
WILLIAM WHIPPLE, JR., Chief Engineer
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