50 years ago in Expo history: Leader of environmental series resigns

Expo ’74 General Manager Petr L. Spurney asked for, and received, the resignation of M.L. Alter as managing director of Expo’s Environmental Symposia Series.

The Environmental Symposia Series was intended to give Expo ’74 some scientific and intellectual heft, and to demonstrate that it was taking the fair’s environmental theme seriously. However, the series had faced some funding and organizational issues, and time was running out to get it back on track.

Expo had already taken over funding of the series, and this latest move meant that Expo was assuming overall management. Spurney announced that he had hired a New York consultant to be the symposia’s general manager.

From 100 years ago: Ignacy Jan Paderewski, one of the most famous pianists in the world, was given a rapturous reception at a concert at the Spokane Armory.

The audience “filled almost every foot of the huge place.” Paderewski played pieces by Bach, Liszt and Hayden.

Yet the highlight was a Beethoven sonata, Opus 57, which “restored the soul,” according to reviewer Hannah Hinsdale of The Spokesman-Review.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1856: The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kindom of Sardinia sign the Treat of Paris, ending the Crimean War.

1867: The U.S. buys Alaska from Russian for $7,200,000, roughly 2 cents an acre.

1981: President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley.