New York at War
"New York at War" was a military parade and civilian home front procession held supporting the World War II mobilization effort on June 13, 1942. It was considered at the time the largest parade ever held in New York City, with up to 500,000 marching up Fifth Avenue (from Washington Square Park to 79th Street) and 2,500,000 spectators in attendance.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The parade coincided with a global "United Nations Day" launched by President Franklin Roosevelt tied to US Flag Day on June 14, six months after the Declaration by United Nations.[7][8]
Hugo Gellert led a committee of artists that designed the approximately 300 floats in the parade.[9]
The march was organized by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia as honorary chairman,[10] his deputy Grover Whalen as chairman, and General Hugh Aloysius Drum as grand marshal. Other dignitaries on the reviewing stand included Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Vice President Henry A. Wallace, the exiled King George II of Greece and Prime Minister Emmanouil Tsouderos,[11][4] President of the Philippines Manuel L. Quezon, Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson, and Princess Märtha of Sweden.[4]
Despite a celebration of groups including German Americans and Italian Americans, Japanese Americans were excluded from the march, leading to objections from the American Civil Liberties Union.[11]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 American on the March! (Paramount News), a video of the parade from Getty Images |
See also
[edit]- Operation Pastorius, German saboteurs in Manhattan at time of parade[12][13][14]
- New York City Victory Parade of 1946
References
[edit]- ^ Perret, Geoffrey (1985). Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph: The American People, 1939-1945. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 213. ISBN 9780299103941.
- ^ Napoli, Philip F. (2013-06-11). Bringing It All Back Home: An Oral History of New York City's Vietnam Veterans. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 7. ISBN 9781466837003.
- ^ Jackson, Kenneth T. (Summer 2013). "WWII & NYC". Columbia Forum. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
- ^ a b c "City Roars Vow to Win at War Parade". Brooklyn Eagle. June 14, 1942. pp. 1, 3.
- ^ "Picture of the Week". Life. June 29, 1942. pp. 28–29.
- ^ Allen, Holly (2015-04-09). Forgotten Men and Fallen Women: The Cultural Politics of New Deal Narratives. Cornell University Press. pp. 134–136. ISBN 9780801455834.
- ^ Plesch, Dan (2011-02-15). America, Hitler and the UN: How the Allies Won World War II and Forged Peace. I.B. Tauris. pp. 47. ISBN 9781848853089.
- ^ Hammerton, Sir John Alexander (1942). "United Nations Day in London and New York". The War Illustrated. p. 52.
- ^ Tatham, David (2006). North American Prints, 1913-1947: An Examination at Century's End. Syracuse University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9780815630715.
- ^ Jeffers, H. Paul (2002-06-18). The Napoleon of New York: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. John Wiley & Sons. p. 321. ISBN 9780471211037.
- ^ a b Howard, Harry Paxton (September 1942). "Americans in Concentration Camps". The Crisis. pp. 281–284.
- ^ Dobbs, Michael (2007-12-18). Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 110. ISBN 9780307427557.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (2010-04-13). Helluva Town: The Story of New York City During World War II. Simon and Schuster. p. 39. ISBN 9781416593027.
- ^ Cavanaugh, Jack (2015-03-03). Season of '42: Joe D, Teddy Ballgame, and Baseball s Fight to Survive a Turbulent First Year of War. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. p. 155. ISBN 9781613217993.
