Full text of "1964-65 New York World's Fair Groundbreaking and Dedication Booklets"

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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