|
U.S. International Transportation Exposition, better known as Transpo '72, was a trade show held on of land at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. for nine days from May 27 to June 4, 1972. The $10 million event, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, was a showcase for all sorts of transportation-related technologies. Over a million visitors flocked to the show from all over the world. According to the ''Wall Street Journal'', it was "the biggest show the government has put on since World War II."〔Rothschild 1972〕 Transpo hosted the world's largest air show, all of the new widebody airliners, high-speed trains and demonstrations of the latest automated guideway transit systems. In addition to featuring futuristic technology "Flying trains, square dancing helicopters and the fantasy of a wonderland," according to a news release, Transpo '72 covered all current modes of transportation as well. General Manager William J. Bird explained, "We want to emphasize totally integrated systems in our future transportation..."〔''Living''〕 The event was officially opened by the second U.S. Secretary of Transportation, John A. Volpe. ==Background== Transpo was the idea of L. Mendel Rivers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Rivers had visited the Paris Air Show on occasion; at the time, there were a "ring" of three major air shows in Europe that took turns hosting, Farnborough, Paris and Hanover. Visitors from around the world could come to the show where sales teams from the aviation firms were ready to sign deals for their latest products. Rivers lamented the fact that there was no similar industry-based show in the U.S.〔 Rivers started planning a U.S. version of the air/trade show, and selected Washington as a natural location due to the density of military contacts and the presence of the recently expanded Dulles Airport. Rivers went to Congress with a request for $750,000 in funding. However, this was during an era of rapid shifts within the aviation industry. The winding-down of major purchases to feed the Vietnam War and Project Apollo was forcing the major aerospace firms to seek ways to diversify, and the government was actively funding a number of mass transit projects in partnership with them. Rivers changed the focus to be a show about any form of transit, not just aircraft, and the size and cost started to increase.〔 He won an initial appropriation of $3 million for the show, but had to return to Congress for another $2 million to keep it on track as its scale rapidly increased. Critics, notably William Proxmire, attacked the event〔("Transpo '72 Sets Clouded Departure" ), ''St. Petersburg Times'', 2 May 1972〕 and claimed that the actual costs would be closer to $10 million when industry input was considered.〔Rothschild 1972〕 By the time the show was ready it had expanded greatly, including not only displays but industry meetings, open seminars and hosts of presentations large and small. The official program was 80 pages.〔("Transpo 72 : official program" )〕 Pre-show estimates of visitors ranged about the 1 million mark or larger.〔("Tampans Flying to Transpo 72 in Washington" ), ''The Evening Independent'', 18 May 1972〕 Final attendance was put at 1.25 million.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Transpo '72」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|