ABSTRACT
To be a success, the League of Nations needed to become not just useful to states, but valued by peoples. Hence, it devoted considerable resources to publicity, particularly through the mass media. Perhaps the League’s most remarkable attempt to gain attention came at its lowest point, as international society crumbled at the end of the 1930s: a pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and 1940, a last ditch effort to win over the American public for internationalism when it was most needed. In an analysis of the pavilion’s genesis, architecture and exhibits, this chapter argues that the pavilion was most visible, public symbol of a broader rapprochement between the League and the United States, as well as emblematic of the League’s shift from political to technical collaboration between states. Situated at the intersection of international and domestic politics, and inserted into the American neutrality debates, the pavilion was designed by journalists in the League’s Information Section, and was aimed at elites and ordinary sightseers. But this exhibit of internationalism was a disappointment: it failed to stimulate media attention, to stoke debate, or to attract visitors.
