Internationalist Exhibitionism: The League of Nations at the New York World's Fair, 1939–1940

Summary

"Internationalist Exhibitionism" tells the surprising story of the League of Nations' last-ditch efforts to appeal to the American public, through its building of a pavilion at the New York World's Fair, 1939-40. Contributing in particular to the new historiographies of internationalism and public diplomacy, the chapter shows how the League translated into architecture its desire to salvage internationalism for a future, postwar period in which the United States would lead the world. The Pavilion was never a success, and by the end of the Fair, with war raging, it was a decrepit, lonely monument to a dormant dream.