News of the day from the New York area on April 21, 1964. Last minute preparations for the opening of the World's Fair, Civil Rights demonstrations, World's Fair Stall-In, Congress of Racial Equality and a subway fire between Times Square and Grand Central Station complicates commuting.
April 21, 2011

N.Y.-Worlds-Fair-Stall-In.jpg
"Come See The Fair" . . . .sort of.


If you happened to have fallen out of bed today and found yourself in the middle of Manhattan and the year just happened to be 1964, this is what you'd be hearing about if you turned on WNBC AM and FM and caught The 6:30 New York News Special.

C.O.R.E. (Congress Of Racial Equality) had scheduled a mass Stall-In for opening Day of The New York World's Fair. Civil Rights demonstrations were going on seemingly everywhere, especially at schools. Mayor Wagner was issuing stern warnings to demonstrators who showed up to ruin the event, pointing out there were three detention centers set up to house over 3,000 arrests. Various Civil Rights leaders in the New York area, although not necessarily condoning the demonstrations weren't condemning them either. Meanwhile, last minute preparations were underway at the site of the World's Fair with some of the exhibits not quite on schedule to open in the morning. There was a subway fire between Times Square and Grand Central Station that reeked havoc with commuters with fears that 42nd Street was in danger of sinking due to fire damage to supports. Oh, and it was going down to 40 with rain predicted and a high on Opening Day in the low 50's.

Okay, you can come back to 2011 now.

And don't forget to drop off the odd penny, nickel or dollar on your way out.
[gordon-donate]

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon