50 years ago in Expo history: A key figure in the fair suddenly resigned, leaving a hole in operations as attendance grew

Expo officials were surprised by the sudden resignation of J. Welles Henderson, U.S. commissioner general to Expo ’74.

He announced that he wished to resign on June 7, “citing personal affairs.”

Expo president King Cole said this would be a serious loss.

“Since coming to Spokane he has helped put together the College of Commissioners General and established a sense of international community, without which the exposition could not have been a success,” Cole said.

Henderson’s job was mainly to work with Expo’s foreign participants “to meet their requirements and expectations.” Henderson said he was “happy to say that many of the problems have been resolved.”

One of the officials he worked with, the Canadian commissioner general, said he hoped a replacement would be named soon by the White House.

“None of the National Days have taken place yet,” the Canadian official said. “It will be important to have someone in the office then, when the nations are honored.”

In happier Expo news, attendance continued to be stronger than expected. Total attendance as of May 21 reached 517,767. The break-even target for all of May had been estimated at 450,000.

The average daily attendance was 28,000, about 9,000 above projections.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1934: American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are killed by police in an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana.