Page 13 - Demo

Century of Progress Zeppelin Issue1933Graf Zeppelin, Century of Progress FlightC18%u2014October 2, 1933When the Zeppelin Company was invited to fly one of its airships to the 1933 Chicago World%u2019s Fair, Commander Dr. Hugo Eckener agreed%u2014but only if the U.S. issued a special commemorative stamp for the occasion. He demanded, as well, that the resulting postal revenue be shared with the Zeppelin Company to help defray the cost of the flight. At first, both the Post Office and President Roosevelt rejected the idea. After all, the U.S. had released three Zeppelin stamps just three years earlier%u2014and had destroyed most of them. But, in the end, the Post Office acquiesced, and approved the issue of another new stamp%u2014a green 50-center featuring the Graf Zeppelin flying over the Atlantic Ocean. To distinguish it from the three earlier U.S. Zeppelin stamps, collectors dubbed it the %u201cbaby Zeppelin.%u201dThree miles along the lakefront, at Chicago%u2019s 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, with the Graf Zeppelin flying overhead.