While researching the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933 for her new novel, Anika Scott came across an episode of political public manipulation which took her aback – for its present-day resonances as well as its impact at the time. She tells Historia what happened when the Fascists flew to the Fair.
Sometimes, a piece of research makes your skin crawl. When I was developing my latest novel, Sinners of Starlight City, I dived into the details of a historical event that has chilling echoes of political shifts happening in the world today.
On 15 July, 1933, a squadron of 24 seaplanes from Fascist Italy swept into the World’s Fair on the banks of Chicago’s Lake Michigan. More than a hundred thousand people crowded the lakefront to cheer on the spectacle. Later, the squadron’s general, Italo Balbo, Mussolini’s deputy, spoke to an adoring crowd in a mix of Italian and English. At the phrase “Duce Italia Fascist”, the crowd roared with approval.
The seduction
In the interwar years, the fascists were on a charm offensive. Political talk alone wasn’t going to capture the imagination of people in the world’s democracies; big spectacles might.
Early on, the fascists used the technological advancements of the day to attract attention and recruits.
The Nazis held motorcycle races to give themselves an air of speed, coolness and youth. In 1933, they introduced the Volksempfänger, the “people’s receiver,” a radio that even working class Germans could afford. Nazi propaganda could now reach even remote areas of the country.
Mussolini was a master of this kind of political seduction. During his rule he cultivated a new image of Fascist Italy as a modern country whose technological achievements continued the tradition of the great engineers and thinkers of imperial Rome. His Italy was linked closely to the exciting new advancements in aviation. He intended to show them to the world for the glory of fascism (and himself, of course). He only needed the right opportunity.
The 1933 World’s Fair
Chicago had a few strikes against it when it decided to host a World’s Fair. The city had the reputation for mob violence. Prohibition was still in force, so the nightlife of the Fair would be toasted with near-beer and bootleg liquor. After the 1929 stock market crash, the world plunged into the Great Depression. Many countries couldn’t afford to send pavilions or staff to Chicago for the Fair.
But to Mussolini, the Fair was the perfect stage for a show the whole world would be watching. Unlike Nazi Germany, which would barely have a presence at the Fair, Fascist Italy threw its support behind it.
In the end, Italy would send hundreds of exhibits featuring Italian achievements in technology and medicine. It would construct one of the most modern buildings at the Fair, the sleek and striking Italia pavilion. The design echoed the shape of an aeroplane, and that wasn’t coincidence.
The ‘air armada’
While the Fair was being planned, Mussolini commissioned a flight school to open in the Italian town of Orbetello. A hundred men were handpicked to train for what would become the Crociera aerea del Decennale, the Decennial Air Cruise. For the first time ever, pilots would fly a round trip in formation from Europe over the North Atlantic to the Chicago Fair and back again.
They trained on state-of-the-art Savoia-Marchetti S55 seaplanes, which had been setting aviation records for years. The expedition would be in honour of the 10th anniversary of the fascist ‘March on Rome’, which launched Mussolini’s party to power.
It would also be a propaganda triumph. When the armada lifted off from Italy on July 1, 1933, the world watched every moment of it. The pilots had a 6,100-mile dash to Chicago ahead of them, and they made several pitstops along the way — in Amsterdam, Derry and Reykjavik – before navigating the dangerous north Atlantic and descending to stops in Canada.
On every leg of the journey, crowds jostled to see the 24 planes land. Some people dressed in fascist black shirts, or heaved the fascist salute. The pilots were wined and dined. The world press declared them heroes.
The triumph
The armada’s landing at the Fair was hailed by the press in predictably exagerrated tones. It was compared to Columbus arriving in America. President Roosevelt would later host the pilots at the White House.
They had a ticker tape parade in New York City. Italo Balbo was so popular in America, he would appear on the cover of Time magazine in a flight suit and goggles in his plane.
The expedition was a spectacular feat of aviation, but it couldn’t be separated from its political intentions. The expedition’s true mission was to increase the popularity of Fascist Italy and Mussolini. The crowds cheering on the pilots were not all cheering for fascism, but they were succumbing to its seduction.
The echoes
When I was researching my novel, I was shocked at how successful this propaganda moment was for Mussolini. As I was writing about the enthusiastic crowds cheering on the pilots, I couldn’t help but think about the ways political parties manufacture public opinion in our societies today. I’m not sure things have changed as much as we think.
In the 1930s, the political winds were shifting as fast as they do now. With World War II on the horizon, Mussolini’s popularity wouldn’t last much longer.
But the air expedition to the World’s Fair is still a fascinating piece of interwar history from a moment when Europe and the US were still dazzled by the apparent dynamism and futuristic outlook of fascism in its early years.
Sinners of Starlight City by Anika Scott is published on 20 July, 2023.
She is the internationally bestselling author of three historical novels; her previous books are The German Heiress and The Soviet Sisters.
Similar features you may enjoy include:
Family memories of Italy in World War Two by Cristina Loggia
The Minister for Illusion: Goebbels and the German film industry by Catherine Hokin
John F Kennedy, the ambassador’s second son by Susan Ronald
Images:
- Poster for A Century of Progress World’s Fair showing exhibition buildings with boats on water in the foreground, 1933: US Library of Congress via Wikimedia (public domain)
- Crociera Aerea del Decennale, 1933: Emanuele Mastrangelo for Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- The Italia pavilion at the 1933 World’s Fair: Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collection (Newberry Library), Grant Schmalgemeier Century of Progress Collection (open access)
- A Savoia Marchetti S55 taking off from Manhasset Bay in 1929: Finn via Wikimedia (public domain)
- Time magazine cover for 26 June, 1933, showing Italo Balbo: Wikimedia (public domain)
