“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News and the Every Evening.
May 1, 1939, Wilmington Morning News
President Roosevelt opens World’s Fair
President Franklin Roosevelt officially opened the New York World’s Fair yesterday by pledging the nation anew to a policy of peace and international good will….
He made no reference to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s rejection of peace guarantee proposals submitted by him to Berlin and Rome two weeks ago….
A parade of more than 25,000 artisans, officials and representatives of the foreign exhibitors in their colorful dress led off the day’s events….
At 6 p.m., the fair’s president announced that more than 600,000 persons had passed through the gates….
The exhibit area with its wide, asphalt-paved avenues, clipped cedar hedges, lawns and fountains was about 90 percent completed. A number of the pavilions owned by the 60 foreign nations participating lagged behind, but this was said to be due to the unsettled European conditions.
