The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances held during the mid-1970s to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was a major commemoration of the American Revolution. Official Bicentennial events began in April 1975 and culminated on July 4, 1976, the 200th anniversary of the Declaration's adoption by the Second Continental Congress.

Planning began in 1966, when the United States Congress established the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. The Commission initially proposed a single exposition in either Philadelphia or Boston, but Congress later replaced it with the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, which coordinated a decentralized national program of commemorations. Between March 1975 and December 1976, tens of thousands of events and projects were held in the United States and abroad. Major observances included the American Freedom Train, commemorations of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Operation Sail, and thousands of locally sponsored events, including parades, historical reenactments, and fireworks displays.

The Bicentennial inspired numerous commemorative works, including television programs and films such as the Bicentennial Minutes, the Schoolhouse Rock! series "America Rock", and John Huston's short film Independence. It was also commemorated through redesigned coinage, postage stamps, exhibitions, sporting events, and commercial products. Other major Bicentennial observances included the Festival of American Folklife, the opening of the new National Air and Space Museum building, international participation in Operation Sail, state visits, and gifts from foreign governments. Its official symbol was a widely used red, white, and blue star logo designed by Bruce Blackburn.

Background The United States has historically commemorated the founding as a gesture of patriotism and, at times, as an argument in political battles. Historian Jonathan Crider points out that in the 1850s, editors and orators, from both Northern and Southern states, claimed their region was the true custodian of the legacy of 1776, as they used the Revolution symbolically in their rhetoric.

The plans for the Bicentennial began when Congress created the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission on July 4, 1966. Initially, the Bicentennial celebration was planned as a single city exposition (titled Expo '76) that would be staged in either Philadelphia or Boston. After 6½ years of tumultuous debate, the Commission recommended that there should not be a single event. Congress dissolved it on December 11, 1973, and created the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA), which it charged with encouraging and coordinating locally sponsored events. This change appealed to both conservatives and American left; as for conservatives, it gave them local control over events, and for those on the left, it promoted a more inclusive celebration.

David Ryan, a professor at University College Cork, notes that the Bicentennial was celebrated only a year after the Fall of Saigon in 1975 and that the Ford administration stressed the themes of renewal and rebirth based on a restoration of traditional values, giving a nostalgic and exclusive reading of the American past.

Logo

Bruce N. Blackburn, co-designer of the modernized NASA insignia, designed the logo. The logo consisted of a white five-point star inside a stylized star of red, white and blue. It was encircled by the inscription American Revolution Bicentennial 1776–1976 in Helvetica Regular. An early use of the logo was on a 1971 US postage stamp. The logo became a flag that flew at many government facilities throughout the United States and appeared on many other souvenirs and postage stamps issued by the Postal Service. NASA painted the logo on the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in 1976 where it remained until 1998 when the agency replaced it with its own emblem as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations.

1973 events Boston Oil Party

In 1973, on the shores of Boston Harbor, activists and history enthusiasts recreated the Boston Tea Party. Participants and spectators boasted signs and effigies in an effort to promote "environmental protection, racial justice, an end to corporate profiteering, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon." Several people threw packages and oil barrels labeled "Gulf Oil" and "Exxon" into Boston Harbor in symbolic opposition to corporate power, in the style of the Boston Tea Party. This reenactment later was termed as the "Boston Oil Party", and roughly 10,000 people witnessed the dumping of oil conglomerates, as well as the hanging of an effigy of President Nixon.

1975 events

The official Bicentennial events began April 1, 1975, when the American Freedom Train launched in Wilmington, Delaware to start its 21-month, tour of the 48 contiguous states.(1) (2) (3) (4)

On April 18, 1975, President Gerald Ford traveled to Boston to light a third lantern at the historic Old North Church, symbolizing America's third century. The following day, April 19, he delivered a major address in Concord, Massachusetts at the Old North Bridge where the "shot heard round the world" was fired, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord which began the military aspect of the American Revolution. According to the New York Times "more than 2,000 spectators were on hand" as cannons were fired and a Paul Revere reenactor rode through announcing the arrival of British regulars.

On December 31, 1975, the eve of the Bicentennial Year, Ford recorded a statement to address the American people by means of radio and television broadcasts. Presidential Proclamation 4411 was signed as an affirmation to the Founding Fathers of the United States principles of dignity, equality, government by representation, and liberty.

1976 events 1976 festivities included elaborate fireworks in the skies above major US cities. President Ford presided over the display in Washington, D.C., which was televised nationally. Celebrations in cities and towns across the nation opened into full effect including celebrations such as Operation Sail (Op Sail), a large international fleet parade of tall-masted sailing ships gathering first in New York City on Independence Day and then in Boston about one week later. Other large-scale events, such as reenactments, parades, and booms in commercialized commemoration, spread across the nation as the year went on.

New York In addition to the presence of the 'tall ships', navies of many nations sent warships to New York Harbor for an International Naval Review held the morning of July 4. President Ford sailed down the Hudson River into New York Harbor aboard the guided missile cruiser to review the international fleet and receive salutes from each visiting ship, ending with a salute from the Royal Navy guided-missile destroyer . The review ended just above Liberty Island at around 10:30 am.

Washington, D.C.

Johnny Cash served as the Grand Marshal of the US Bicentennial parade.

The event was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The royal couple made a state visit to the United States, toured the country, and attended other Bicentennial functions with President and Mrs. Ford. Their visit aboard the British royal yacht HMY Britannia included stops in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

The Smithsonian Institution opened a long-term exhibition in its Arts and Industries Building replicating the look and feel of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, including artifacts from earlier exposition. The Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife, a collaboration of the Smithsonian with thousands of national and international scholars, folk artisans, and performers, hosted programs in the western part of the National Mall five days a week for twelve weeks in the summer of 1976. The Smithsonian also opened the new home of the National Air and Space Museum on July 1, 1976.

Government celebration

George Washington was posthumously appointed to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by the congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 passed January 19, 1976, with an effective appointment date of July 4, 1976. This restored Washington's position as the highest-ranking military officer in US history.

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 planned for Viking 1 to land on Mars on July 4, but delayed the landing to July 20, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. On the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, NASA held the rollout ceremony of the first Space Shuttle (which NASA had planned to name Constitution but was, instead, named "Enterprise" in honor of its fictional namesake on the television series Star Trek).

Delaware crossing reenactment

On November 20 and 21 of 1976, participants immersed themselves in the era by donning period-accurate uniforms and equipping themselves with the tools and weaponry characteristic of that Christmas night over two centuries prior. The reenactment unfolded as a grand spectacle, featuring a flotilla of boats navigating the icy currents of the Delaware River.

Since then, the Crossing the Delaware reenactment has occurred every year to relive and recognize this moment.

Philadelphia

While in Philadelphia on July 6, 1976, Queen Elizabeth II presented the Bicentennial Bell on behalf of the British people. The bell is a replica of the Liberty Bell, cast at the same foundry—Whitechapel Bell Foundry—and bearing the inscription "For the People of the United States of America from the People of Britain 4 July 1976 LET FREEDOM RING."

Los Angeles Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World presented America on Parade, an elaborate parade celebrating American history and culture, and featured the Sherman Brothers' song "The Glorious Fourth". The parade featured nightly fireworks and ran twice daily from June 1975 to September 1976.

Los Angeles observances included the Bicentennial Parade of 1976 on Wilshire Boulevard, and the Los Angeles City Schools Bicentennial Pageant at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, broadcast as part of Happy Birthday, America (NBC), hosted by Paul Anka, Pacific 21, a bicentennial exhibition and conference center, and Knott's Berry Farm bicentennial celebration.

Professional sports celebrations The overall theme of the entertainment of Super Bowl X, held on January 18, was to celebrate the Bicentennial. Players on both teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys, wore a special patch with the Bicentennial Logo on their jerseys; the Cowboys also added red, white, and blue striping to their helmets throughout the 1976 NFL season. The halftime show, featuring the performance group Up with People, was entitled "200 Years and Just a Baby: A Tribute to America's Bicentennial".