Jacque Fresco - Youth

Youth

Born on March 13, 1916, Jacque Fresco grew up in a minority neighborhood of Bensonhurst in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Precocious as a child, Fresco's interests did not pertain to the topics presented to him at school. Unwilling, or unable, to conform with a setting of formal education, he sought a self-directed education throughout his later teen years. Fresco spent many days of his youth at the local library where he investigated subjects of his own interest. At this early time, Fresco had a talent for acting and this won him the first prize at a prominent drama competition in New York. Fresco also exercised artistic abilities in painting and sketching. Atop the roof of his home at 67th and 20th Ave., Fresco spent time with his fellow comrades discussing Darwin, Einstein, science, and the future.

While mostly impoverished during the Great Depression, Fresco claims that it was during this time of hardship he developed the sensitivity and ambition to concern himself with the function of society and the future of humanity.

For a short time, Fresco took an interest in attending the Young Communist League wherein he caused commotion. After brief discussion and disagreements with the League president, Fresco was physically removed. Thereafter, Fresco turned his attention to Technocracy. In the travels of his youth, one destination was Florida where he developed an affinity for the tropics, a place to which he would return later in life. In the mid-1930s, Fresco traveled west to Los Angeles where he began his career as a structural designer in many fields.