This year’s America 250 celebrations are the biggest national celebration since the Bicentennial. We’re a much different nation than we were back then. Even a few years after Watergate and President Richard Nixon’s resignation, the urge to politicize everything just didn’t dominate people’s minds.
I was only three in the summer of 1976, so my memories of the Bicentennial aren’t all that vivid. I remember seeing the logo everywhere and hearing people talk about it, but the only specific memory I have is seeing the parade of the tall ships on television. My mom said that the parade of ships is her only strong memory of the Bicentennial because it was such a busy summer for our family, with my aunt getting married a couple of weeks before and my grandparents getting ready to move from suburban Atlanta to a more exurban area.
Other family members shared their memories of the Bicentennial with me. My aunt Lori said, “I remember the merch! I still have Daddy’s red, white, and blue tie with 1776-1976 on it. Everybody loved America at that time. Plus, I got married that year. I didn’t wear a red, white, and blue wedding dress, though. 🇺🇸”
“I graduated high school in ’76,” my cousin Karol told me. “My aunts gave me 76 $2 bills for graduation. The two-dollar bill was introduced that year. Not many still in existence. That’s all I got!”
Side note: According to ChatGPT, $152 in 1976 (76 $2 bills) would be worth “about $889.61 using the latest 2026 CPI figure available.” Of course, they’d be worth even more if Karol still had them in pristine condition.
Other friends of mine shared their Bicentennial stories. My friend Andrea told me, “I was 6, I lived in Michigan, and patriotism ruled the day, and so did long lines at the gas pump. But it was fun and helped me start out loving this country. 🇺🇸”
“I remember watching the Fourth of July parade in Atlanta from my father’s office at the National Bank of Georgia and seeing computer punch cards,” said my friend Chris.
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My friend Greg said:
I remember there being months of lead-up to July 4, and everyone was excited about it happening. There were decorations everywhere months in advance. Everything was red, white, and blue. The level of patriotism was off the chart. I remember it seeming like such a huge event, a once-in-a-lifetime event that everyone was making sure was special and would be remembered forever. I don’t remember ever hearing a single person say something negative about what was happening. Everyone was excited and felt blessed to be alive to see the Bicentennial happen.
“I vaguely remember. I was just shy of 3,” my friend Dianne told me. “I think this is my first memory or the first memory associated with a date. My family was visiting family in Jacksonville, Fla. There is a picture that was taken of me and my siblings, and I have a mean look on my face because I had a tricorn hat on, and I remember thinking I was a pirate, not a founding father.”
My friend Paula (yes, that Paula) said:
I was in 6th grade in 1976. Among other things, I was in a fife and drum corps (tri-corner hat and all), and my class took a field trip to see the Freedom Train when it passed through Cleveland. We sang patriotic songs at school all year long, and even painted a map of the United States on the playground there. The songs I remember singing at school were: “This Is My Country,” “Which Way America,” and, interestingly, “No Man Is an Island.”
Also, my hometown, Bedford, Ohio, was the town where Archibald Willard, painter of “The Spirit of ’76,” was born, so we really made a big deal of it!
“I remember everyone being excited about it. It crossed all cultural divides,” said my friend Tim. “Although it occurred in the summer, we celebrated it all spring in school.”
I also asked members of the PJ Media team for their memories of the Bicentennial. Matt Margolis said that he didn’t have any memories of it because he wasn’t born then. Kids these days, amirite?
“I was four. I remember my mom standing in our kitchen talking about what a big deal the bicentennial was,” said Amy Denton, one of our newest team members. “I also remember going to see the fireworks. Our church was on a hill that overlooked where the fireworks came from. My sister climbed some of the statuary to get a better look.”
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Eric Florack told me:
I had actually graduated from high school the year before the bicentennial. The fireworks displays (plural) were staggering. I took the girl I was dating at the time to a spot south of Rochester in Henrietta called Methodist Hill. There are a lot of radio towers up there, and I had a friend who was maintaining one of those sites, so we were able to park on the hill. From there, we were able to see the displays for miles around. Rochester, Webster, Fairport, Gates, Chili, and one in Henrietta itself. You hardly knew where to look.
There were other displays as well, one of which involved the Southern Pacific daylight locomotive number 4449, which was painted in red, white, and blue, as were the passenger cars that were pulling.
Victoria Taft said:
I was alive and remembered that everyone who’s anyone in Hollywood was doing network TV spots doing historical vignettes about the founders for 1976. And by the way, this was RIGHT AFTER Watergate — that CIA op against Nixon — and Gerald Ford, a man who had never been ELECTED to the presidency, was in office. He PARDONED Nixon, and though that was a HUGE faux pas to those who read the Washington Post, Hollywood ponied up, manned up, and cut those vignettes about ‘Merica for the Bicentennial.
“I was a kid during the Bicentennial, and I remember all year the historical cartoons that ran on Saturday mornings,” Jennifer Rust shared. “It was part of Schoolhouse Rock. One of my favorites was about the Constitution… now, everyone my age, sing along!”
Jennifer added:
On the actual Independence Day that year, we had a block party with sparklers for us kids. At the end, our hostess suggested we sing a song. Everyone gathered around her as she held her young daughter holding a sparkler, and we all sang God Bless America. I’m glad I got to be a kid in such a happy time!
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Athena Thorne told me:
I was a kid (Gen X for the win!), and I still say that 1976 was the best summer of my childhood. The patriotism and joy and pride were palpable. I remember all things colonial were in vogue, from flags to furniture. But my favorite memory of all was that my tiny town mustered up a parade (we didn’t have those), and we lived on the parade route, so I had a front-row seat. I was shocked and proud to see my school bus driver leading the volunteer firemen, carrying a big American flag. As a kid, I had no idea a bus driver could also be something other than a bus driver. I remember I yelled his name and waved, and he saw me and waved back, and I felt so cool.
When the summer ended, I was so sad that I wouldn’t be around for the tricentennial. I did the math and figured I’d still be alive for the country’s 250th birthday, but I was going to be “too old to have any fun.” Little did I suspect that I’d be perfectly capable of having fun at this ripe age, but that half the country would be incapable of it.
“I was 21 that year,” related Charlie Martin. “I’d just attempted to enlist — didn’t pass the physical — but I honestly don’t remember much.”
Robert Spencer said:
I was 14 and living in D.C. It was very exciting. There didn’t seem to be a hint of the disunity that is everywhere today. The National Mall was a big fair where I hung around day after day; every state had a booth touting its glorious wares. The only one I remember in particular was that Mississippi was offering some delicious fried catfish.
There was somewhere a cool machine like a teletype machine that would clatter out info taken from the Social Security system (if I recall correctly), that would tell you how many people in the United States had your surname. Believe it or not, this drew long lines.
Greg Byrnes shared:
Almost everyone in the United States participated in some bicentennial activity in 1976. I was doing photography work at the time and went down to Lower Manhattan to “feed the file” with stock pictures of Operation Sail. These were the tall-masted sailing ships maintained by navies across the world. They showed up with uniformed sailors on the yardarms and in the crow’s nests to celebrate America’s 200th. Crowds gathered on a huge sandy beach that had been cleared to build what would later become Battery Park City. The majestic ships were a sight and put on a great show. The Kodachrome has faded. The photos have long been consigned to some corporate dumpster. But the memories are good. Like our country, they’ll endure.
Happy 250th anniversary of our last day as colonists. And Happy 250th birthday tomorrow, America!
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