1964-65 New York World's Fair Groundbreaking and Dedication Booklets

THE! PAVILION OF

TREE PLANTING CEREMONY AT THE

NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR 1964-1965

Oklahoma's exhibit at the New York World's Fair will emphasize the state's water
development program and the natural beauties of Oklahoma. Focal point of the
natural outdoor setting will be a large lake, covering almost 10,000 square feet of
land, with two smaller streams feeding water into the lake over small waterfalls. Na-
tural plantings and large, shady trees will form a restful setting for almost 70,000,000
visitors, and a 1 00-foot-long topographic map of the state will tell visually the
story of Oklahoma's progress in the short years since statehood.

Excerpts from transcrip-
tion of remarks made by
officials of Oklahoma
and the Fair at dedica-
tion ceremonies for the
Pavilion of Oklahoma at
the New York World's
Fair. Monday. Sep
ber 16, 1963.

1963 New York World s Foir 1964-1965 Corporation

AMBASSADOR RICHARD C PATTERSON, JR.
[Chief of Protocol]: Governor Bellmon, Commissioner
Hclmerich, Miss Tallchief, General Potter, ladies and
gentlemen. I have the honor to welcome you to the dedi-
cation ceremony of the State of Oklahoma Exhibit, which
promises to be one of the most original and attractive
exhibits at the Fair. The Commissioners of Oklahoma for
the New York World's Fair have brilliantly conceived the
exhibit as a part of Oklahoma transplanted to the Fair in
the form of a beautiful park. The park will emphasize
Oklahoma's water development program, and the impor-
tance of water to the state's future development.

Our first speaker is General William E. Potter, execu-
tive vice president of the New York World's Fair
1964-1965.

GENERAL WILLIAM E. POTTER: Ambassador Pat-
terson, Governor Bellmon, Miss Tallchief, and all of you
from Oklahoma.

This exhibit is an example of civic leadership. The
chairman of the commission, Mr. Helmerich, has been
here on his own once or twice; the other commissioners
have added their brainpower and wisdom to the venture,
within the funds available, at personal sacrifice. When you
say that about such a project, you're setting a stage for
success.

Oklahoma has a great historical past, an historical past
that is of interest to people all over the world. The pic-
tures of the land rush, the pictures of your wheat, your
cattle, and the few little oil wells that you have around
the state, are pictures that are known world-wide but

which too few people have seen. But history' is not all of
a state; a state is its future.

It is my great pleasure at this time to present medallions
to Governor Bellmon and to Mr. Walt Helmerich, III,
chairman of the Oklahoma World's Fair Commission.
And representing Mr. Dean McGee, member of the
Oklahoma World's Fair Commission, is Mr. Jack Roach ;
and representing Mr. K. S. Adams is Mr. Kenneth Rugh.

AMBASSADOR PATTERSON: Thank you. General
Potter. Our next speaker took an important part in the
conception of the novel and exciting exhibit of Okla-
homa. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, and of
the Harvard Business School, he is president of Hel-
merich and Payne, Inc. Among his many civic services,
he is active in the Tulsa Psychiatric Clinic and the Okla-
homa Chapter of Young Presidents; he is a director in
the National Young Presidents Club. I take great privil-
ege in presenting Mr. Walt H. Helmerich, III, chairman
of the Oklahoma World's Fair Commission.

MR. WALT H. HELMERICH, III. Governor, ladies
and gentlemen. We are a long way from home, and there
are some mighty big things in New York; there are some
fabulous exhibits out here at the Fairgrounds.

We come from a grand state and I'd like to add that
we've got a great governor. One of our real strengths,
though, are the people we have back home, and each and
every one of you here from the state has been a wonder-
ful help to Mr. Adams and Mr. McGee and me in the
small part we played in putting this exhibit together.

For a long time we've tried to get people from this part

Shown above, planting the redbud tree at the site of the
Pavilion of Oklahoma, are Miss Maria Tallchief, General
William E. Potter, executive vice president of the New York
World's Fair Corporation, and Governor Henry Bellmon of
Oklahoma.

of the country to come down home and see what we have.
Now we have that opportunity plus some seventy million
more that will be in New York from all over the world.
With your continued support we hope to have something
here that'll bring them down to Oklahoma, many of them
to visit, but we hope that a lot of them will stay with us
and live where we all love it.

We have appreciated the reception we've received, the
hospitality from these people, and we hope to see you
again real soon.

AMBASSADOR PATTERSON: Thank you, Mr.
Helmerich. Now it's my great pleasure to introduce the
first Aggie governor in the history of Oklahoma. He
received his Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture at
Oklahoma State University, where he wrote the farm
column in the student newspaper, and was a member of
Alpha Zeta, the agricultural honor society. During WWII
he was executive officer and platoon leader of a tank unit
in the Marine Corps. He participated in tour battles of
the Pacific Campaign ; he received the Legion of Merit for
action in the Saipan invasion and the Silver Star for
bravery in the Iwo Jima invasion. After serving a long
term in the State Legislature, he became state chairman
of the Republican Party, when his friends decided to run
him for governor. I have the high honor to present the
Governor of Oklahoma.

THE HONORABLE HENRY BELLMON [Governor
of Oklahoma]: I'm sure I speak for all of us when I tell
General Potter and our other hosts and guests from this
area how pleased we are to be in New York.

I asked General Potter to read the inscription on this
medallion — it says "Man's achievement in an expanding
universe;" and on the back, "The 300th Anniversary of
the Founding of the City of New York." Now General
I can't look ahead to the 300th anniversary of Oklahoma,
but I'll bet that we've come further in our first 70 years
than New York did in its first 70 years. And I'm con-
fident that the next 230 years will be equally as great so
far as our state and our nation are concerned.

I'd like to comment, also, on the fact that I believe this
is one of the finest groups ever assembled to represent our
state or any other state.

The fact that we have participation from a group like
this, General Potter, almost assures the success of our
project as far as the construction and conception and the
operation of the Oklahoma World's Fair Exhibit is con-
cerned. There are a lot of historical things connected with
this date but one of them is that 70 years ago today
marked the opening of the Cherokee Strip.

Also, the date that the Fair will open next year will
mark the 75th anniversary of the Oklahoma Land Run of
1889. So again we'll have a very close historical tie-in
with the New York World's Fair, and it's one to which
I believe Oklahomans will attach a great deal of impor-
tance.

When the Congress of the United States admitted
Oklahoma to statehood on November 16, 1907, we joined
the other 45 states as a land where a man could still find
a rare freedom of opportunity.

Today, just 56 short years later. Oklahoma has com-

pleted its first half-century and stands at the brink of an
exciting period. Oklahoma is literally a land where his-
tory is just beginning. We find it altogether fitting that
the opening day of the New York World's Fair coincides
directly with the 75th anniversary of the Oklahoma Land
Run of 1889. And we dedicate this site and ourselves to
creating an awareness on the part of the world that will
result in another run to wide open spaces of Oklahoma in
the years ahead.

This is the first time our state has ever undertaken to
participate in a world's fair exhibit, and I'd like to con-
gratulate the members of the legislature who are here,
for the job they did in getting through the legislature an
appropriation which set the stage for this exhibit, and
which showed that the full governmental strength of the
state of Oklahoma is back of this effort. I'd like also to
compliment the World's Fair Commission, Walt Helm-
rich, Boots Adams and Dean McGee, for the effort they've
put forth since they were appointed to this important post.
Without the leadership which these men ha\e given the
Oklahoma World's Fair Exhibit, we could never have
come to this point so soon after they took over this respon-
sibility.

Prior to the work done by Walt and the other Commis-
sion members, a feasibility committee checked carefully
into the desirability of Oklahoma's participation and cer-
tainly their work should not go without thanks and with-
out some thought being given to the fact that they also
helped lay the foundation for this exhibit.

We are still a young state; we are proud of our accom-

plishmenc. We have many of our native sons and daugh-
ters who have distinguished themselves greatly in many
fields. We have outstanding Oklahomans in the fields of
sports, business, industry, agriculture, education, science
and the arts.

We have two of those famous Oklahomans present
here today, and I'd like to stop for a moment and recog-
nize them and to present to them a medallion which has
been prepared in their honor.

First of all, I'd like to call on one of our most famous
artists from Oklahoma, a young lady who was raised in
Fairfax and who has become renowned all over the world
for her performances as a ballerina: Maria Tallchief.

All of us from Oklahoma are proud always to know
that one of the most famous and most respected news
commentators in the business comes from our state, and
many of you knew him when he was active in the same
field in Oklahoma, so without any more ado, I'd like to
ask Frank McGee to come forward and present him with
this medallion in honor of the work he's done for our
state.

There has been some brief comment in our state about
the fact that the concept of our exhibit here does not
emphasize our — let's call it our cowboy-Indian culture
in Oklahoma. Now I'd like to say briefly that we're not
in any way trying to play down this tradition in the state,
or to ignore it at all, rather we'd like at this time simply
to concentrate on another aspect of Oklahoma which gen-
erally has been overlooked in the past. For instance, I
brought with me this morning two products of Oklahoma

which some of you here may not even know are made in
our state. I'd like to present these to General Potter as
sort of a remembrance of Oklahoma. Last week I had an
opportunity to go through the Douglas plant in Tulsa,
and at the conclusion of that day, Mr. Rogan presented
me with this Delta space vehicle which is manufactured
almost totally in Oklahoma.

Nowj I was extremely proud to know that in Oklahoma
we have the know-how and the skills to manufacture such
a delicate instrument, and also I was proud to find out
that this rocket is really the work-horse of our space pro-
gram. This has proved to be the most reliable launch
vehicle that has been developed up to now. In fact it has
been used in over 100 successful space launches, with a
success record of about 93%.

This, to me, is highly significant and I'd like to point
out that this vehicle, powered by a Thor rocket, has put
more hardware into orbit than any other vehicle that has
been used up to now. Again, a product of Oklahoma, and
something that I'm sure all of you will be proud of just
as I am. So, General Potter, let me give this to you for
your own use.

I have brought along a model of a jet commander. This
is an executive-type aircraft being manufactured by the
Aero Commander Company in northwestern Oklahoma
City. This is, at least according to the company, and I'll
have to agree, the finest aircraft of its kind yet developed,
and again it's a total product of Oklahoma's skills and
manpower. This plane travels something like 550 miles
an hour, and it's expected that it will certainly rind a

ready acceptance in the field of executive travel. So, Gen-
eral Potter, here again — something of which Oklahoma
is very proud.

I do feel that it's high time we in Oklahoma realized
that we have kept up with the 20th century and I believe
these two products will do a great deal to show that we
are very much in step with the progress of our country.

In conclusion I'd like to say that I believe this exhibit
will do a great deal to let the whole world know about
our state. We'd like the world to know that we are a
friendly, scenic, historic state and I hope that as a result
of what we do here, a lot of folks will beat a path to
Oklahoma, and that when they're there they'll find that
our state, perhaps more than any other, is a place where
the hospitality of the south blends favorably with the
vitality of the west.

We are proud of our heritage ; we are confident of our
future; and we're glad that we're going to have this
chance to share Oklahoma's history and future with so
many visitors at the New York World's Fair.

Oklahoma!

Mr. Walt H. Helmerich, III, chairman of the Oklahoma
World's Fair Commission, speaking at the dedication cere-
monies at the New York World's Fair.

7

OKLAHOMA WORLD'S FAIR COMMISSION

WALT H. HELMERICH, III, Chairman

DEAN McGEE

K. S. ADAMS

WARREN K. JORDAN, Executive Director

NEW YORK
WORLD'S FAIR

1964-1965

C O R P O R AT I O N
Flushing, N. Y. 11380
Tel. 212-WF 4--1964-

ROBERT MOSES, President

THOMAS J. DEEGAN, JR., Chairmen 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, Comptroller

MARTIN STONE, Director of Industrial Section

GUY F. TOZZOLI, (Port of New York Authority) Transportation Section

ERNESTINE R. HAIG, Secretary of the Corporation and
Assistant to the President

WILLIAM WHIPPLE, JR., Chief Engineer