Capital of the World: The Race to Host the United Nations

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

297 Acknowledgments Traces of the Capital of the World competition are scattered widely, and so I owe thanks to many dedicated librarians and archivists who helped me follow the trail of civic boosters from their hometowns to the world stage. I came across my first hint of this story quite by accident in the archives of Independence National Historical Park while working on a previous book. This led to many productive days at the United Nations Archives in New York, the Library of Congress, various state and university archives, presidential libraries, historical societies, and local history rooms of public libraries across the country. For travel and research in key repositories, I received generous support from the Massachusetts Historical Society (Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship); the Rockefeller Archive Center ; the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library Institute; and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Additional support came from the Penn Humanities Forum, Villanova University and the Villanova University History Department, and Rutgers University. I had the pleasure of writing this book with the advice and encouragement of colleagues in the history departments of Villanova University and Rutgers University–Camden. I am grateful to these and many other scholars who have sustained and strengthened the work. For advice on formulating the project and assistance with preparing grant proposals and seeking a publisher, I thank Carl Abbott, Peter Baldwin, David Contosta, Richard Davies, Allen Davis, Marc Gallicchio, Howard Gillette, David Glassberg, Randall Miller, Gary Nash, Howard Spodek, Morris Vogel, and Allan Winkler . I benefited from insightful critiques and questions during presentations at the Urban History Association, the National Council on Public History, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Penn Humanities Forum, and from editors and reviewers of the work in progress. Most especially , I appreciate the close readings of every chapter by the “second book club,” Paul Rosier and Judith Giesberg, whose advice improved every page. Other friends and family members helped by providing good cheer 298 Acknowledgments and places to stay during my research travels. Thanks to the Mires family of Lake Forest, Illinois, and Durham, North Carolina; the Abbott family of Newburgh, Indiana; Jane Dye; Virginia Orange; and Heather Ewing. Some material in this book appeared previously in the New England Quarterly 79 (March 2006): 37–64 and the Michigan Historical Review 35 (Spring 2009): 61–82, and is reprinted with their permission. The University of Pennsylvania Press also granted permission to adapt a brief account of the Philadelphia campaign from my first book, Independence Hall in American Memory (2002). At NYU Press, I was fortunate to meet Gabrielle Begue, whose enthusiasm for the manuscript led to its publication. Anonymous reviewers of the manuscript offered insightful guidance, and the editorial skills of Deborah Gershenowitz sharpened the prose. The manuscript was copyedited by Emily Wright, and Colleen Rafferty accomplished the difficult task of securing the illustrations. Because I began my career as a journalist, and wrote this book as newspapers struggled with the realities of our digital age, I feel a keen appreciation for the “first draft of history” that made it possible for me to recover the search for the Capital of the World. I was able to write this history because so many news reporters covered the story of their own hometowns. Although they usually did not see the big picture, and they often crossed the line from objectivity to boosterism, they wrote with gusto and attention to detail. Because they put their stories in print, I could piece together a chronology, which then led me to the archives of so many participants in these events. So I close with a salute to the news reporters of 1945 and 1946 and my hope that whatever may change with technology, their dedication to documentation and good stories will survive. ...