Tom Lee

Initially part of the U.S. Army, the Air Force was founded as a separate branch of the military in 1947. Its founding responded to the important role air power had played in World War II and would continue to play in the atomic age. This kiosk was designed to travel both nationally and internationally.

Tom Lee designed this display system for exhibitions, coordinated by the Smithsonian Institution, which traveled both nationally and internationally.

During the Cold War, trade fairs such as this one, which traveled throughout the United States, took on political as well as economic dimensions, offering opportunities for improve diplomatic relations between nations. Lee designed this pavilion for the Indian government.

Tom Lee designed displays for the American National Exhibition, which took place in Moscow during the summer of 1959. A major Cold War event, the exhibition showcased American capitalism in the form of fashion, art, automobiles, and model homes with up-to-date kitchens. It was in a kitchen equipped by General Electric that vice-president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev held a now-famous debate broadcast in both countries about the relative merits of capitalism versus communism.

Opened in 1962, the Tehran Hilton was designed by Iranian architect Heydar Ghiai, with British architect Raglan Squire serving as a consultant and Tom Lee designing the interiors. Prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, Jordanian King Hussein, and the American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were among the hotel’s many famous guests; after the revolution, the hotel was renamed the Esteghial Hotel, meaning “Independence” in Farsi (Persian), and is now state run.

Exterior, restaurant interiors and lobby, Royal Tehran Hilton, Tehran, Iran