<P> The new building opened on Park Avenue, between East 49th and East 50th streets, on October 1, 1931 . It was the tallest and largest hotel in the world at the time, covering the entire block . The slender central tower became known as the Waldorf Towers, with its own private entrance on 50th Street, and consisted of 100 suites, about one third of which were leased as private residences . President Herbert Hoover said on the radio, broadcast from the White House: "The opening of the new Waldorf Astoria is an event in the advancement of hotels, even in New York City . It carries great tradition in national hospitality...marks the measure of nation's growth in power, in comfort and in artistry...an exhibition of courage and confidence to the whole nation". There were 2,000 people in the ballroom listening to this speech, but by the end of the business day, the 2,200 - room hotel had only 500 occupancies . It was not until 1939 that the Waldorf - Astoria began operating at a profit . Lucius Boomer continued to manage the hotel in the 1930s and 1940s, a commanding figure who Tony Rey referred to as "the greatest hotelman of his era". Boomer was elected chairman of the board of the Waldorf - Astoria Corporation on February 20, 1945, a position he held until his death in July 1947 . </P> <P> Like the original hotel, from its inception, the Waldorf Astoria gained worldwide renown for its glamorous dinner parties and galas, often at the center of political and business conferences and fundraising schemes . Author Ward Morehouse III has referred to the Waldorf Astoria as "comparable to great national institutions" and a "living symbol deep within our collective consciousness". It had the "greatest banquet department in the world" at the time according to restaurateur Tom Margittai, with the centre of activity being the Grand Ballroom . On August 3, 1932, some 200 people representing the "cream of New York's literary world" attended the Waldorf Astoria to honor Pearl S. Buck, the author of The Good Earth, which was the best - selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 . One dinner alone, a relatively "small dinner" attended by some 50 people in June 1946, raised over $250,000 . </P> <P> The hotel played a considerable role in the emerging Cold War and international relations during the post-war years, staging numerous events and conferences . On March 15, 1946, Winston Churchill attended a welcoming dinner at the hotel given by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, ten days after making his famous Iron Curtain speech, and from November 4 to December 12, 1946, the Big Four Conference was held in Jørgine Boomer's apartment on the 37th floor of the Towers between the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union to discuss the future of Eastern Europe . On November 24, 1947, 48 prominent figures of the Hollywood film industry, including various film executives such as Louis B. Mayer of Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer, Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures, Spyros Skouras of 20th Century Fox and Albert Warner of Warner Bros. and Eric Johnston, the head of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, met at the Waldorf Astoria and discussed what would become the Waldorf Statement, banning people with Communist beliefs or tendencies from the Hollywood film industry . The Statement was a response to the contempt of Congress charges against the so - called "Hollywood Ten". </P> <P> On June 21, 1948 a press conference at the hotel introduced the LP record . From March 27 to 29, 1949, the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, also known as the Waldorf World Peace Conference, was held at the hotel to discuss the emerging Cold War and the growing divide between the US and the Soviet Union . The conference came at time when there was deep anti-Communist sentiment and suspicion of the Soviet Union in the United States, following the Berlin Blockade and the Czechoslovak coup d'état the previous year . The event was organized by the struggling American Communist Party, but was sponsored by many individuals who were not Stalinists such as Leonard Bernstein, Marlon Brando, Albert Einstein and Aaron Copland, with the intention of promoting peace . The conference was attended by the likes of Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Vyshinsky, composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich and writer Alexsander Fadeyev . Tension mounted during the controversial event, and culminated when Shostakovich, in front of a crowd of some 800 people, launched a scathing attack on western civilization, remarking that "a small clique of hatemongers was preparing world public opinion for the transition from cold war to outright aggression". The event was picketed in a counter-attack by anti-Stalinists running under the banner of "America for Intellectual Freedom" (AIF), and prominent individuals such as Irving Howe, Dwight Macdonald, Mary McCarthy, Robert Lowell and Norman Mailer publicly denounced Stalinism at the hotel . In 1954, Israeli statesman and archaeologist Yigael Yadin met secretly with the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mar Samuel in the basement of the Waldorf - Astoria Hotel to negotiate the purchase of four Dead Sea Scrolls for Israel . The scrolls were kept in a vault at the Waldorf - Astoria branch of New York's Chemical Bank . At the request of the Israeli government, respected biblical scholar Dr. Harry Orlinsky examined the scrolls and verified their authenticity; Yadin paid $250,000 for all four . Restaurateur George Lang began working at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1955, and on December 13, 1955 he helped organize the American Theatre Wing's First Night Ball to celebrate Helen Hayes's 50th year in show business . He did much to organize dinners at the Waldorf to assist Hungarian issues and relief . On one occasion an event was attended by the likes of Edward G. Robinson and pianist Doklady and some $60,000 was raised . </P>

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