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Introduction
"To celebrate this continental achievement and - in the main - to promote the feeling of international goodwill between the twenty-one independent nations of the New World, as voiced so strongly by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt before the 1936 Inter-American Peace Conference in Buenos Aires, is the magnificent Greater Texas and Pan American Exposition at Dallas." "Opening on June 12, for a run of 142 days, the Pan American Exposition is the cosmopolitan center of North America. Here the peoples of the western hemisphere meet and mingle to view the elaborate exhibits being displayed by the governments and private industry of the American nations, and to understand each other that the concept of international peace may become an integral part of their daily thinking." "In a subtropical setting, replete with the luxuriant foliage of the tierra caliente, rise the magnificent buildings of the Pan American Exposition. Designed after the glorious edifices of Chichen Itza, Cuzco, and Tenochtitlan, that are now one with Nineveh and Tyre, these structures house the commercial and governmental exhibits." "The Pan American Palace, facing the Plaza de las Americas, provides 26,700 square feet of air-conditioned space for displaying the exhibits imported from the Latin American nations. Across from the Pan American Palace is the Federal Building of the United States Government, surmounted by its 170-foot tower. Adjoining the Federal Building on the Patio de Honor is the Texas Hall of State, a palatial structure containing priceless historical relics identified with the Lone Star State." "The Pan American Casino on the Plaza México offers the visitor the world's greatest entertainers in an air-conditioned setting, eclipsing any venture in the history of the American theatre. Stars of stage, screen and radio augmented by an international revue make the Casino the amusement center of the Exposition." "Symphonies, light and comic operas and concerts of a varied nature are being featured in the symphony shell, an al fresco theater seating more than 4,000 persons. In the Pan American Village the visitor may by day watch serape weavers and workers in metal and leather. By night, he may attend the colorful fiestas in the bull ring. The romantic story of five centuries of conquest and achievement of the New World is told on the largest stage in the world when the panoramic drama of the "Cavalcade of the Americas" passes in review." "The Pan American games and professional and amateur-football prevail in the Cotton Bowl and automobile and air races round out the sports calendar of the Exposition." "Through the Pan American Exposition, Dallas becomes the focal point of all vacational travel in the summer of 1937, and, in co-operation with the Mexican government, which offers special inducements to tourists to visit below the Rio Grande, is the mecca of all travelers who want to go abroad at home."
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"The spread of empire throughout the Western World in less than five centuries is the phenomenal story of the Americas."