The
United States Bicentennial was celebrated on Sunday, July 4, 1976, the 200th
anniversary of the adoption of the
Declaration of Independence.
Coins
In October 1973, the Treasury announced an open contest to select suitable designs for the quarter, half dollar, and silver dollar. Over 1,000 designs were submitted. The quarter dollar featured a colonial drummer and a torch encircled by thirteen stars, designed by Jack L. Ahr. The half dollar has
Independence Hall on it, designed by Seth G. Huntington. On the silver dollar, designed by Dennis R. Williams, was the
Liberty Bell superimposed over the Moon. These coins bore the date "1776-1976". The
U.S. Postal Service issued several postage stamps to commemorate the 200th anniversary of various national events connected to the U.S. Bicentennial. It was also the first time in the history of the United States Postal Service that they provided service at select post offices throughout the country on a Sunday.
Flag
A special Bicentennial Flag, with a white background and the official Bicentennial Star Emblem, was also displayed or flown as part of honor guards and flag poles throughout the United States during the Bicentennial era, usually to the left or below the American Flag.
Events
Official Bicentennial events actually began more than one year earlier. On April 1, 1975 the
American Freedom Train opened in Wilmington, DE to start its 21 month, 25,388 mile tour of the 48 contiguous states. On April 18, 1975
President Gerald Ford came to
Boston to light a third lantern at the historic
Old North Church, symbolizing America's third century. The next day he delivered a major speech commemorating the 200th anniversary of the
Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, which began the
American Revolution against British colonial rule. A "US Bicentennial" postage stamp featuring a painting of the battles by
Henry Sandham (1842-1912) was issued that same day to commemorate the milestone.
Festivities included elaborate
fireworks displays in the skies above major American cities. Those in
Washington, D.C. were presided over by President Ford and
televised nationally. A large international fleet of tall-masted
sailing ships gathered first in
New York City on the
Fourth of July and then in
Boston about one week later. These nautical parades, witnessed by several million observers, were named
Operation Sail (Op Sail) and this was the second of five such Op Sail events to date (1964, 1976, 1986, 1992 and 2000). The vessels docked and allowed the general public to board the ships in both cities, while their sailors were entertained on shore at various ethnic celebrations and parties.
As the celebration of the
Boston Tea Party happened in Boston, a large crowd gathered for the "People's Bi-Centennial". Several people threw packages labelled "
Gulf Oil" and "
Exxon" into
Boston Harbor in symbolic opposition to corporate power.
Queen Elizabeth II of
United Kingdom and her husband,
Prince Philip, made a special state visit to the USA to tour the country and attend Bicentennial festivities with President and Mrs. Ford. Their visit aboard the
Royal Yacht Britannia included stops in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Local observances included painting mailboxes and fire hydrants red, white, and blue. A wave of patriotism and nostalgia swept the nation and there was a general feeling that the irate era of the
Vietnam War and the
Watergate constitutional crisis of 1974 had finally come to an end.
In Washington, D.C., the
Smithsonian Institution opened a long-term exhibition in its
Arts and Industries Building that replicated the look and feel of the 1876
Centennial Exposition of the United States. Many of its museum belongings actually dated from the 1876 World's Fair exposition in Philadelphia that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the independence of the USA. The Smithsonian also opened the permanent exhibition hall for the
National Air and Space Museum on July 1, 1976.
NASA commemorated the Bicentennial by staging a science and technology exhibit housed in a series of geodesic domes in the parking lot of the
Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) called
Third Century America. An American flag and the Bicentennial emblem were also painted on the side of the VAB; the emblem remained until 1998, when it was painted over with the NASA insignia. NASA originally planned for
Viking 1 to land on Mars on July 4, but the landing was delayed to a later date.
Many commercial products were marketed in packages tying them to the Bicentennial, usually distinguished by red, white, and blue coloring. The official Bicentennial star emblem was trademarked and only allowed to be used on products by paid license.
Disneyland temporarily replaced the
Main Street Electrical Parade with
America on Parade and featured the
Sherman Brothers' song "
The Glorious Fourth". The parade featured nightly fireworks and ran twice a day from 1975-1977.
John Warner, later elected to the
United States Senate from
Virginia, was director of the Federal office coordinating observances of the Bicentennial.
The State of
New Jersey ran a special "Bicentennial Lottery". The winner was awarded $1,776 a week (before taxes) for 20 years (A total of $1,847,040).
The
USOC initiated two American bids to host both the 1976 Summer and Winter Olympic Games to celebrate Bicentennial.
Los Angeles bid for the
1976 Olympics but lost to
Montreal, Canada.
Denver was awarded the
1976 Olympic Winter Games in 1970, but due to rising costs, the state of
Colorado voted to back out of its organizational commitments and the
IOC rewarded the
1976 Winter Olympics to
Innsbruck, Austria, host of 1964. As a result, there was no American Olympics in 1976 (however
Lake Placid would go on to host the
1980 Winter Olympics, and
Los Angeles would eventually be awarded the
1984 Olympics.
As site of the
Continental Congress and signing of the
Declaration of Independence,
Philadelphia was selected to host the
1976 NBA All-Star Game, the
1976 National Hockey League All-Star Game, the
1976 NCAA Final Four, and the
1976 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at which President Ford threw out the first-pitch.
On this day, in the City of Rome, Georgia (USA), the U.S. Air Force inducted a "bicentennial" flight of new airmen into federal military service. The ceremony was held at the Rome City Auditorium, and concluded with the flight of inductees boarding a charter bus, bound for the Atlanta Airport, and continuing on to San Antonio, Texas, where their military career would begin. This group of young airmen were from Rome, Rockmart, Cedartown, and other surrounding areas.
The Bicentennial on television
Related network television programs aired July 3-4, 1976
- Glorious Fourth (NBC), 10 hour coverage
- Happy Birthday, America (NBC), hosted by Paul Anka
- Bob Hope's Bicentennial Star-Spangled Spectacular (NBC)
Saturday morning Bicentennial programs
In the months approaching the Bicentennial,
Schoolhouse Rock, a series of educational
cartoon shorts running on ABC between programs on Saturday mornings, created a sub-series called "History Rock," although the official name was "America Rock." The ten segments covered various aspects of American history and
government. Several of the segments, most notably one dealing with the preamble of the Constitution put to music, have become some of
Schoolhouse Rock's most popular segments.
And in 1975, CBS did its bit on Saturday morning with a new animated
Archie series,
The U.S. of Archie; unfortunately, that version was unsuccessful, and was off the air by September 1976.
Gallery
Image:Amerigo_vespucci_1976_nyc_aufgetakelt.jpg|Italian tall ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor during the celebration.
Image:Santa Fe SD-45-2 5704.jpg|A Santa Fe Railroad locomotive painted in Bicentennial colors in 1976.
Image:VAB aerial 1977.jpg|NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building in 1977. Dark circles mark where domes stood for Third Century America.
See also
