On Expos: The 60th Anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair

Ever wondered about the history of the iconic Space Needle, recognized globally as a symbol of Seattle? What about the Climate Pledge Arena, previously known as the Washington State Coliseum? The Alweg Monorail?  These landmarks and more were built for the 1962 World’s Fair (also known as Expos) that brought thousands of  international visitors to Seattle. Expos are the world’s oldest and largest mega event, held every three to five years in host cities around the world since their inception in 1851 in London. Similar to  the Olympics, which are world festivals of sports, Expos are festivals of culture, technology, innovation, design, and human excellence. Join us June 9th at 5:30pm PDT for an #ExpoConvo with oral historian Anna Kaplan, along with Gavin Sundwall and Anthony Pahigian from the U.S. Department of State, to learn more  about the impact the Expos had on our city and how the United States is represented abroad. 

This is a hybrid program; you can attend in-person  or virtually over Zoom.

• By registering for this in-person event, you must agree to a self-attest health check prior to the program and that you will attend not attend in-person if you have COVID-19 symptoms (you will still be able to attend virtually). You must also agree to present valid proof of vaccination upon arrival, and to wear a mask during the event.

Can't make it to this event live? World Affairs Council Members who register for this event will have access to the recording for 7 days after the event. Members must register in advance. 

Not a World Affairs Council Member yet? Click here to purchase a membership today.

Promotional partners for this program are the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Seattle, and Humanities Washington:

About our Speakers

Anna F. Kaplan, PhD, (she/her) is a scholar and oral historian in Washington, DC. She earned her PhD in History at American University and MAs in Oral History and Anthropology at Columbia University, studying memory and race in the US South. She has worked on projects with the National Park Service, the DC Oral History Collaborative, and several Smithsonian Institution museums. In addition to working with Global Ties, US, to research the socio-cultural impacts of Expos, Kaplan is the oral historian documenting the history of the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Office and the Secretary of State’s Register of Culturally Significant Properties. In addition, she is an adjunct professor and Resident Public Historian at American University and the University of the District of Columbia. She also serves as Vice President of the Board for Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region and co-chair of the Oral History Association’s Diversity Committee and the Equity Audit Task Force. This summer, Kaplan will present a paper on Ophelia Settle Egypt as another ancestor of oral history for the symposium “Assessing the Role of Race and Power in Oral History Theory and Practice.”

https://annafkaplan.wordpress.com/ 

Social media: @annafkaplan (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram)

---

Anthony Pahigian, has spent more than 30-years as a U.S. diplomat.  Since 2019 he has been serving as a Senior Advisor in the Office of International Expositions in the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy.  Prior to his current position Anthony was the Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs in San Jose, Costa Rica.  From 2016 -2018 Anthony was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in then-Astana, Kazakhstan where he was Country Counselor for Public Affairs, serving concurrently as the Deputy Commissioner General at the USA Pavilion at the Astana Expo in 2017.  Previous postings in Washington include Political Counselor at the United States Mission to the Organization of American States, Chair of the Secretary of State’s Open Forum, director of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor’s Office of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy and director of OSCE policy at the State Department.  Anthony has also served overseas in Serbia, Lithuania, Brazil, Slovakia, (POL), Italy and Colombia.

Anthony, a Bostonian, studied at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and has an MA in international security affairs from University of Maryland, College Park.  Prior to joining the Service, he worked as a wilderness school instructor taking students hiking, climbing and whitewater canoeing.  He and his spouse Gordana still enjoy these sports along with cross-country skiing, volleyball, reading, and seeing films of all sorts.

---

Gavin Sundwall is the Managing Director for Policy and Planning for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs’ Office of Policy, Planning, and Resources, a position he has held since September 2021.

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister Counselor, Gavin joined the Department of State in 1997 and has served overseas in Panama (1997-1999), Kuwait (1999-2001), China (2002-2005), Panama again (2006-2009), Portugal’s Azores Autonomous Region as Principal Officer of U.S. Consulate Ponta Delgada (2009-2011), and Afghanistan as U.S. Embassy Kabul Spokesperson (2011-2012). He was the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen (2014-2016) where he led innovative public diplomacy initiatives, including the first-ever documentary/reality television series about the work of a U.S. ambassador and embassy, “I am the Ambassador,” which won a Danish “Emmy” and was a Netflix and iTunes feature.

Most recently, Gavin served in Australia as the Minister Counselor for Public Affairs and briefly as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. (2018-2021). In Washington, he has served in the Office of Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Island Affairs (2005-2006) and as Senior Advisor to the Counterterrorism Bureau’s Office of Countering Violent Extremism (2017-2018).

Gavin is a graduate of the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School (MS 2013), where he won the school’s Award for Excellence in Research, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA 1991, MA 1994). An avid tennis player, he authored the May 2007 Tennis Magazine article: “The Global Game: For one U.S. diplomat, the art of statesmanship means speaking softly and carrying a tennis racquet.”

About the Moderator:

Ross Reynolds is a moderator, interviewer, and convener. He retired from the position of KUOW Public Radio’s  Executive Producer for Community Engagement in January 2022. Before that, he was a KUOW program host for 16 years. His awards include the 2011 Public Radio News Directors First Place in the Call-in category for “Living in a White City” and a National Headliner Award for news coverage of the 1991 World Trade Organization demonstrations. He has also been KUOW’s News Director, Program Director and he hosted the weekly KCTS-TV interview program ‘Upon Reflection’.  Ross was news director at KBOO Radio in Portland, Oregon, and News/Public Affairs Director at WCUW Radio in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2015 he was named to the University of Washington Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. He is also an honorary Seattle Seafair Pirate. His pirate name is ‘Rotten Ross’.