The World's Fairs and World War I

In 1915, as World War I reshaped global politics and strained international ties, two world’s fairs opened in the United States with the bold promise of celebrating cooperation, innovation, and peace. Yet behind the grand pavilions and idealized “avenues of nations,” the war was already altering who could participate, how the fairs presented themselves, and what they ultimately came to represent. The fairs of 1915 - one in San Francisco, the other in San Diego - became unexpected reflections ...