text: Development The site of the 1964 World's Fair, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens was originally a natural wetland straddling the Flushing River. The site was the Corona Ash Dumps in the early 20th century before it was selected for the 1939–1940 World's Fair. The 1939 fair was themed to "the world of tomorrow" and was highly unprofitable, recouping only 32% of its original cost. After the 1939 fair, the site was used as a park, although the site fell into disrepair due to a lack of funds. The development of the 1964 fair coincided with social upheavals in the early 1960s, including the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, and the aftermath of U.S. president John F. Kennedy's assassination.
  Planning
  World's Fair Corporation
  The idea for the 1964 fair was conceived by a group of businessmen. Among them was Robert Kopple, a lawyer who first discussed the idea at a family dinner in 1958 before suggesting it at a meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society the following year. The year 1964 was nominally selected to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the British conquest of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Kopple and two friends, Charles Preusse and Thomas J. Deegan, met with 35 potential financiers at the 21 Club restaurant. New York City mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. and parks commissioner Robert Moses formally endorsed the proposal in August 1959, and seventy-five businessmen formed the New York World's Fair 1964 Corporation (WFC) that month. Moses, who saw a 1964 fair as a means to develop the Flushing Meadows site, offered to let the WFC use Flushing Meadows for a nominal fee. The fairground would include not only the 1939 World's Fair site but also a part of the nearby Kissena Corridor Park.