Skip to main content

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

See other formats


1 


MARCH 
21,    19  63 


Swedish  pavilion 

GROUNDBREAKING    AT   THE    NEW  YORK   WORLD'S    FAIR   1964-1965 


Following  is  a  transcription  of  remarks  made 
by  Swedish  and  World's  Fair  officials  at  the 
groundbreaking  ceremony  for  the  Swedish  Pa- 
vilion, New  York  World's  Fair,  Thursday, 
March  21,  1963. 


AMBASSADOR  RICHARD  C.  PATTERSON  [Chief 
of  Protocol]:  Your  Royal  Highness,  Your  Excellencies, 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  I  am  privileged  to  begin  these 
exercises  by  the  presentation  of  a  distinguished  friend 
who  spent  ten  years  as  Consul  General  of  Sweden  in  New 
York  City,  and  who  I  know  regards  New  York  as  a 
second  home.  He  has  held  ambassadorial  posts  since  he 
left  the  Consulate  General  here,  and  I  can  conceive  of 
no  one  better  fitted,  with  an  understanding  of  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic,  than  His  Excellency  Ambassador  Lennart 
Nylander,  to  address  us  on  behalf  of  the  Swedish  con- 
sortium which  is  organizing  the  Swedish  Pavilion. 


AMBASSADOR  LENNART  NYLANDER:  Thank 
you  very  much  Mr.  Ambassador  for  your  courteous  in- 
troduction. Your  Royal  Highness,  ladies  and  gentlemen. 
It  is  with  the  most  sincere  pleasure  that  I  greet  you  here 
today  —  our  first  visitors  to  the  site  where  our  Swedish 
Pavilion  will  soon  begin  to  rise.  We  are  particularly 
honored  by  the  presence  of  His  Royal  Highness,  Prince 
Bertil  of  Sweden,  who  now  starts  his  American  visit  by 
breaking  ground  for  the  building  to  which  millions  and 
millions  of  Fair  visitors  will  come  to  breathe  a  bit  of 
Swedish  air  and  learn  more  about  our  country. 

We  in  the  consortium  for  participation  of  private 
Swedish  industries  are  also  pleased  and  honored  by  the 
presence  of  Ambassador  Gunnar  Jarring  from  Washing- 
ton and  our  United  Nations  Ambassador,  Madame  Agda 
Rossel.  Governor  Poletti,  we  welcome  you  as  a  most 
charming  landlord,  whom  we  already  know  quite  well, 
and  I  ask  you  to  forward  our  greetings  to  your  ingenious 
president,  Robert  Moses,  who  I  think  is  in  Nassau  right 


Cover:  His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Bertil  of  Sweden  (center)  presided  at  the  groundbreaking  ceremony  for  the  Swedish  Pavilion. 
With  him  are  (left)  Governor  Charles  Poletti,  vice  president,  International  Division  of  the  World's  Fair  Corporation  and  (right) 
Ambassador  Lennart  Nylander,  chairman  of  the  Swedish  Committee  in  the  U.S.A. 


1 1963  New  York  World's  Fair  1964-1965  Corporation 


now,  and  express  our  regrets  to  him  that  he  could  not  be 
with  us.  Within  a  very  short  time  more  professional 
ground  diggers  will  move  in  here  and  start  the  construc- 
tion of  our  pavilion.  In  it  will  be  present  the  finest  ex- 
amples of  advance  Swedish  industry  and  research  as  well 
as  handicrafts  and  arts  of  our  country,  all  around  the 
theme,  "Creative  Sweden."  Mr.  Moses  has  called  this 
Fair  the  greatest  show  in  our  time.  I  can  promise  you  an 
exciting  and  interesting  Swedish  participation  in  that 
show.  Thank  you  all  for  coming  out  here  to  this  ground- 
breaking. 

AMBASSADOR  PATTERSON:  Thank  you  Your 
Excellency.  You  mentioned  the  Swedish  Ambassador  to 
Washington,  the  Honorable  Gunnar  Jarring  and  I'd  like 
to  introduce  him  to  those  who  don't  already  know  him. 
And  in  particular  do  I  wish  to  present  a  good  friend  of 
ours  who  has  been  at  the  United  Nations  quite  a  long 
time,   Her  Excellency  Madame   Agda  Rossel. 

Now  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  next  speaker  is  Gov- 
ernor Poletti.  He  is  equally  well  known  on  both  the 
European  and  the  American  fronts,  and  as  you  know  he 
was  the  former  governor  of  New  York  State  and  he  was 
the  military  governor  of  Rome  during  the  last  war,  and 
is  now  vice  president  of  the  Fair's  International  Division. 
I  give  you  your  host,  Governor  Poletti. 


His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Bertil  of  Sweden  presenting  a  gob- 
let as  a  sample  of  the  Swedish  art  of  glassmaking  to  Gover- 
nor   Charles    Poletti,    vice    president,    International    Division. 


PAVILION 
OF   SWEDEN 

designed  by 
Stockholm  architects 

Sven  Backstrbm 
and  Leif  Reinius. 


GOVERNOR  CHARLES  POLETTI:  Thank  you  Mr. 
Ambassador.  Your  Royal  Highness,  Mr.  Ambassador, 
friends.  I'm  very  happy  to  be  participating  today  in  this 
most  significent  event.  This  gives  us  at  the  World's  Fair 
tremendous  joy  and  delight  because  we  know  it's  been 
a  very  difficult  task  to  achieve  the  presence  of  Sweden  at 
our  World's  Fair.  The  difficulty,  as  many  of  us  on  this 
platform  know,  has  been  caused  by  the  fact  that  your 
government  cannot  participate  on  account  of  its  mem- 
bership in  the  Bureau  Internationale  d' Expositions.  But 
into  the  breach  stepped  some  very  notable  citizens  of 
your  country,  and  they  were  able  to  create  a  consortium, 
and  since  today  is  the  commencement  of  what  will  un- 
doubtedly be  an  exciting  pavilion,  I  want  to  take  a  few 
moments  and  probably  abuse  your  patience  by  mention- 
ing the  names  of  the  persons  who  have  been  stalwart 
and  devoted  and  persistent  fighters  to  achieve  this  con- 
sortium and  a  pavilion  that  will  do  honor  to  the  splendid 
people  of  Sweden. 

I  want,  therefore,  to  mention  first  our  dear  friend, 
Baron  Lionhead.  He  says  his  name  is  different  in  Swedish 
but  for  us  at  the  Fair,  he  is  Baron  Lionhead.  I  also  want 
to  express  our  appreciation  to  Rudolf  Kalderen.  We  are 
delighted  that  Ambassador  Nylander  is  going  to  be  the 
general  factotum  for  this  pavilion,  and  we  hope  that  at 


the  end  of  the  Fair  in  1965,  he  can  truthfully  say  that 
this  fellow  Poletti  hasn't  been  a  bad  landlord. 

In  connection  with  the  construction,  may  I  take  a  mo- 
ment to  cite  the  various  companies  that  have  been  active 
in  achieving  this  consortium:  ASEA,  the  Nordiska  Com- 
pany, SAAB,  the  Johnson  Concern,  the  Stockholm 
Brewery,  Pripp  &  Lyckholm,  and  the  Svensk  Form  which, 
as  you  know,  does  a  lot  of  designs,  textiles  and  handi- 
craft, and  Siporex. 

I  also  want  to  commend  your  group  for  having  selected 
as  its  theme  what  I  think  is  a  most  appropriate  name, 
"Creative  Sweden."  I  told  Ambassador  Nylander  when 
we  were  in  the  hall  back  there  that  I  like  the  name  and  if 
I  may  use  a  non-Swedish  term,  going  back  to  the  country 
of  my  own  forbears,  "Creative  Sweden"  is  ben  trovato, 

I  hope  that  in  displaying  the  creativeness  of  your 
country,  you  won't  tell  us  only  about  the  magnificent 
designs  and  products  of  your  country,  but  I  trust  that  you 
will  remind  the  seventy  million  visitors,  and  most  of 
them  will  be  American  people,  that  Sweden  has  given 
wonderful  public  servants  to  the  world  —  Count  Berna- 
dotte,  Dag  Hammarskjold.  I  hope  you  will  remind  the 
American  people  again  that  your  country  is  the  home  of 
the  Nobel  Prize. 

These  are  significant  contributions  that  are  appealing 


and  will  not  only  increase  the  education  of  the  many 
millions  who  will  come  here  but  also,  I  hope,  will  serve 
to  give  these  visitors  spiritual  uplift.  This  Fair  is  not  a 
trade  fair,  nor  just  an  industrial  enterprise.  It  is  a  greater 
undertaking  that  has  required  years  of  effort  to  achieve 
and  we  think  it  will  give  the  people  a  spiritual  uplift. 
So  may  I  reiterate  my  trust  that  in  the  Swedish  Pavilion, 
this  "Creative  Sweden,"  there  will  be  a  reminder  of  the 
tremendous  services  that  have  been  rendered  to  the  world 
by  the  people  of  Sweden. 

Now  I  want  to  say  in  closing  that  we  at  the  World's 
Fair,  speaking  for  President  Moses  and  the  executive  com- 
mittee, are  honored  and  delighted  to  have  the  presence 
of  His  Royal  Highness,  Prince  Bertil  on  this  auspicious 
occasion.  We  know  how  busy  he  is,  and  we  are  grateful 
for  his  taking  the  time  to  come  here.  We  feel  that  his 
presence  here  is  that  of  a  friend.  He  has  been  to  out- 
country  before  —  I  think  this  is  his  sixth  trip  —  and  he's 
been  over  many  parts  of  it.  I'm  pleased  to  note  that 
while  he's  here  he  is  not  forgetting  the  spot  where  we 
have  quite  a  few  Americans  of  Swedish  ancestry.  I  notice 
his  itinerary  calls  for  a  visit  not  only  down  at  Fort 
Cristina  to  commemorate  the  founding  of  the  New 
Sweden,  but  he's  also  touching  little  places  like  Chicago 
and  big  cities  like  Rockfort,  Illinois,  where  I  am  told 


there  are  a  few  wonderful  American  citizens  of  Swedish 
extraction. 

In  all  events  we  are  delighted  and  honored  that  he  is 
here.  We  think  that  his  presence  augurs  well  not  only  for 
the  Swedish  Pavilion  but  also  for  the  success  of  the 
entire  World's  Fair.  And  to  indicate  in  a  small  way  our 
appreciation  of  his  sacrifice  in  taking  time  out  to  come 
here,  I'd  like  to  present  to  His  Royal  Highness  a  little 
token,  a  medal  of  the  New  York  World's  Fair.  On  one 
side  is  our  symbol,  the  Unisphere  which  is  our  own 
world,  and  the  motto  of  this  exposition,  "Peace  Through 
Understanding."  On  the  other  side  of  this  medallion  is 
the  seal  of  the  City  of  New  York,  because  in  1964  we 
also  commemorate  the  300th  anniversary  of  the  founding 
of  the  City  of  New  York.  So,  sir,  it  is  indeed  a  great  honor 
for  me  to  present  this  to  you  on  behalf  of  the  New  York 
World's  Fair.  Thank  you  again. 

PRINCE  BERTIL  OF  SWEDEN:  Governor  Poletti, 
Your  Excellencies,  ladies  and  gentlemen.  First  of  all  I 
would  like  to  thank  you  very  much  indeed  for  the  very 
fine  memento,  this  fine  medallion  which  will  remind  me 
of  the  New  York  World's  Fair  1964-1965.  It  certainly 
is  a  very  fine  medallion  and  I  appreciate  your  kindness 
very  much,  and  I  shall  always  cherish  it  as  a  good  memory 
of  this  ceremony. 


Secondly,  I  would  like  to  thank  you  very  much  for  your 
kind  words  of  greeting  to  me  and  to  my  fellow  country- 
men and  friends  in  Sweden.  I  would  like  to  say  that  I  am 
certainly  very  happy  to  be  back  in  the  United  States  of 
America  again.  It's  always  such  a  joy  to  come  here.  People 
are  so  friendly  and  so  kind.  And  especially  today,  to  come 
and  visit  this  tremendous  place,  as  we  saw  it  today  when 
it  was  so  very  well,  and  if  I  may  say  so,  so  amusingly 
described  by  Mr.  Douglas  Beaton. 

And  now  this  place  where  we  are  standing  today  is 
supposed  to  be  the  Swedish  Pavilion.  So  far  it  doesn't 
look  like  much  of  a  pavilion,  but  I  know  it  will  be  when 
the  World's  Fair  is  opened  in  April  of  1964.  And  I  hope, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  this  World's  Fair  will  encour- 
age the  good  relationship  between  the  United  States  and 
Sweden.  And  may  I  say  that  I  wish  you  all  the  best  of 
luck  for  the  World's  Fair,  and  I  thank  you  very  much. 

I  understand  that  I'm  supposed  to  do  the  ground- 
breaking and  I'll  do  my  best.  But  before  we  start  there 
is  one  task  more  I  have  been  asked  to  perform  by  the 
committee  of  the  Swedish  Consortium  for  the  New  York 
World's  Fair,  and  that  is  to  give  a  small  memento  to  the 
World's  Fair  Corporation.  And  I  should  like  to  hand  this 
over  to  Governor  Poletti  with  warm  wishes,  Godspeed 
and  good  luck  to  you  all. 


SWEDISH    PAVILION   COMMITTEE   FOR  THE   NEW  YORK  WORLD'S   FAIR  1964-1965 

RUDOLF  KALDEREN,  Chairman  Swedish  Committee 

ERIK  LEIJONHUFVUD,  Treasurer 

COUNT  SIGVARD  BERNADOTTE,  Chairman  Planning  Committee 

FOLKE  CLAESON,  Secretary  General 

AMBASSADOR  LENNART  NYLANDER,  Chairman  US  Committee 

STIG  ZETTERBERG,  Genera/  Manager 


SVEN  BACKSTROM 

LEIF  REINIUS 

JOHN  L.  O'BRIEN,  JR. 


Architects 


NEW        YORK        WORLD'S        FAIR        1964-1965        CORPORATION 

Flushing  52,  N.  Y.  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,  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 


■^