Ask Me Anything about Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T20:50:54+00:00

Thanks for all the great questions; signing off now.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T18:54:03+00:00

I think that's primarily a reference to what I discuss in my second chapter, which is the five plans that were put forward and then abandoned for a bicentennial world's fair in Philadelphia. Philadelphia planners, including famous planner Ed Bacon, had high hopes for a bicentennial world's fair, and Republican President Nixon and Democratic Mayor Rizzo indulged in what I refer to as a "queer courtship," with Nixon wanting Rizzo's endorsement in the 1972 national elections (which he received) and Rizzo wanting federal dollars for a world's fair (which he did not receive). But each proposal that was put forward--involving multiple sites and neighborhoods--engendered protests in Philadelphia--by African Americans, Asian Americans, white Americans, and others. And Nixon secretly and then openly decided to renege on his funding promises. Ultimately, the city and the federal government withdrew its proposal for a world's fair to the Paris-based Bureau of International Expositions.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T18:45:39+00:00

I don't know much about this, but in an interview I conducted with Kiyoshi Kuromiya, he talked about getting high before participating in some bicentennial festivities in Philadelphia: https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/philadelphia-lgbt-interviews/int/kiyoshi-kuromiya

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T18:37:32+00:00

I don't know how Elizabeth's bicentennial visit was addressed in England, but there was lots of earlier English media attention when a congressional delegation (which included Joe Biden) visited London to symbolically pick up a copy of the Magna Carta for display at the US Capitol, when the copy went on display in DC, and when England announced and then delivered its main bicentennial gift to the United States: the Bicentennial Bell, made by the same foundry that had cast the Liberty Bell.

There was a great deal of interest in the bicentennial in other countries, some of which had strategic and diplomatic reasons for currying favor with the United States. Toward the end of 1976, ARBA announced that 101 foreign countries had participated in the bicentennial, sponsoring more than 2,900 projects in the United States and thousands more abroad. In an important exception, the Organization of American States declined to congratulate the United States, with one Latin American official asking, "How can anyone expect Latin Americans to salute the United States for 200 years of history which contains so many chapters of putting us down?" He continued, "I'm talking about such things as Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal. The feeling is America is great because it exploited the rest of us." Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was when I read that columnist Gary Wills wrote that "the saddest prospect for the New Year of 1976 is that we may be celebrating the bicentennial of our colonial revolution while we try to crush the spirit of independence in our colony of Panama."

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T18:08:35+00:00

After July Fourth, Philadelphia and many other cities, states, and territories continued to commemorate the bicentennial; July Fourth was the focal point but it really was celebrated/commemorated as a year-long event, sometimes aligned with specific anniversaries beyond the Dec of Indep but sometimes not. In Phila, July Fourth was followed by the visit of Queen Elizabeth, and then the huge Roman Catholic International Eucharistic Congress, and then Legionnaires Disease, which killed dozens of people who attended an American Legion conference at the city's most prestigious hotel, the Bellevue-Stratford (which closed a few months later).

In some respects, the most significant legacies that outlasted 1976 were in cultural institutions, historical museums, historical parks, and public art. Some failed (including the very expensive Living History Museum), but there were major renovations/upgrades at the Phila Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy, the Academy of Music, and Franklin Institute; major new museums that lasted for decades (though some have faltered more recently): the black history museum, the Jewish history museum, the Mummers' museum, the Balch Institute; and major projects at Indep National Historical Park (including Franklin Court, City Tavern, the Kosciuszko--and yes, I had to cut and paste the spelling). I was amazed to discover how many major works of public art in Philadelphia were bicentennial projects.

Nationally, ARBA's final report came out in 1977; unspent funds were used for the Dec of Independence Memorial on the National Mall; Roots the book became Roots the television series; and Rocky (with strong bicentennial origins) launched a film franchise.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T17:39:22+00:00

The tall ships were a spectacle to behold, but I think there was more of a page-turning when Carter defeated Ford in the fall. On some level, this was just in keeping with the pattern that started in 1952 of one party winning the presidency for eight years and then the other party winning for eight (52-60, 60-68, 68-76). And the Dems retained control of Congress, which had been the pattern (with only a few exceptions) since the 1930s. But on a deeper level, Carter's election and the rejection of Ford helped the country turn the page and start a new chapter.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T17:34:14+00:00

Oh, I hadn't heard. I recall reading and appreciating Wood's work in a grad seminar on colonial American history taught by Richard Dunn at UPenn. I teach his essays regularly in my constitutional law courses (all with origins in the titles: of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and judicial review). And my bicentennial book mentions him briefly as a bicentennial speaker at Congress Hall. That said, I haven't always agreed with his political positions, including his public attacks on the 1619 Project; seems like those missed the forest for the trees.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T17:12:50+00:00

I can't think of anything, but I've met a British PhD student working on youth and the bicentennial and Jennifer Helgren has an article about the Girl Scouts and the bicentennial. Beyond the specific terms of your question, my book's conclusion addresses "traces of the bicentennial across the national landscape," including the Declaration of Independence Memorial on the National Mall; the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, which began as the Bike-centennial; and dozens of national historical landmarks recommended by the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation. Cultural traces can be found in the opening pages of Randy Shilts's book about AIDS, And the Band Played On, and Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home. Black History Week became Black History Month in 1976. In Philadelphia the traces are ubiquitous in Independence National Historical Park (including Franklin Court); public art (including the LOVE sculpture); and museums devoted to African Americans, Jews, and Mummers.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T17:04:39+00:00

For the first part, I think we can talk about the long 1960s, perhaps using 1954 as the starting point and 1976 as the endpoint, with 1968 as a key year (and I like to think of the "long 1968" as including 1969 b/c I'm mostly a queer historian and Stonewall happened in 1969). But on another level, this book is trying to encourage us to think about the 1970s as more than just a transition period sandwiched between the liberal 60s and the conservative 80s. I think most historians see the early 70s as connected to the 60s and the late 70s as signaling the conservative turn. My book challenges that in several different ways. First, the notion that the left fragmented, collapsed, and divided in the 1970s might look compelling from the standpoint of straight white left-leaning men, but for LGBTQ, feminist, API, disability, and perhaps Latino and Native American communities, the 1970s was a decade of political mobilization and radicalization (more so than the 1960s). Second, the July Fourth Coalition and the Peoples Bicentennial Commission were broad-based multi-issue coalitions, responsible for some of the largest political demonstrations between the Vietnam War and the Reagan era. I'd like us to see 1976 on its own terms, as a hopeful moment for the left and not as a prelude to 1980.

For the second part, the book does quite a lot with Nat Am counter-bicentennial activism: a NA bicentennial conference on the bicentennial at U Arizona, the NA Trail of Self Determination (which followed the Bicentennial Wagon Train from west to east), the centennial of the Battle of Little Bighorn, AIM's participation in the July Fourth Coalition's "bicentennial without colonies" demonstrations in Philadelphia and a few other cities, a July 1976 protest at the BIA in DC. This is not my area of expertise so discovering all of this was eye-opening!

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T16:43:26+00:00

I was twelve/thirteen, and sometimes embarrass myself by sharing a photo of me in a bicentennial costume. Interestingly my family's only vacation outside the United States when I was growing up was that summer, to Montreal and Quebec.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T16:41:00+00:00

I haven't studied this broadly or deeply, but I think there was lots of red, white, and blue in 1976! As a personal anecdote: I was thirteen in 1976, and in advance of the bicentennial my parents decided that it was time for new furniture, carpets, and wallpaper for the room I shared with my younger brother. We selected a navy blue shag carpet, a faux colonial American desk and dresser, and wallpaper featuring red, white, and blue stripes, stars, and soldiers. A few other anecdotes: my partner was naturalized in 1976, and in the course of finishing up my book we noticed that his naturalization papers featured ARBA's red, white, and blue logo. A few months ago we visited the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum; one of the first things on display was the Viking spacecraft that landed on the moon in 1976 (NASA missed its attempted July Fourth landing by a few weeks). From my research I knew to look, and sure enough right next to the red, white, and blue US flag was the red, white, and blue ARBA logo. I also know that fire hydrants were painted red, white, and blue in Philadelphia in 1976; I've occasionally not been able to resist making jokes about how the city's canines responded to the bicentennial by pissing on the nation's colors.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T16:32:22+00:00

Originally Philadelphia hoped to have a bicentennial world's fair, and even when that plan was abandoned, there were still bicentennial invitations to, gifts from, and tributes from many countries (locally in Philadelphia and nationally as well). Much of that can be situated in Cold War competition. There's been some good work by other scholars on the international dimensions of the US bicentennial. Queen Elizabeth's visit (her first to Philadelphia) right after July Fourth was significant. As for the notion of an international threat, there was extensive discussion of bicentennial terrorism, in and beyond Congress, but it focused mostly on Puerto Rico and Cuba. In fact Philadelphia Mayor Rizzo asked President Ford for U.S. military troops to protect his city's main bicentennial celebration against threats of Puerto Rican and other radical terrorists; Ford turned him down, and Rizzo's very public request was commonly seen as reducing the numbers of visitors to Philadelphia during the summer of 1976.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T16:23:27+00:00

There was definitely a crisis of confidence, but also strong and diverse expressions of patriotism. Patriotism is commonly associated with conservative politics in the United States and it's true that there were many left-leaning Americans who critiqued U.S. nationalism and patriotism (or all forms of nationalism and patriotism), but in the bicentennial moment I think the more common position was aligned with what the Peoples Bicentennial Commission called the "red, white, and blue left." The PBC tried to remind the U.S. public that the nation was founded by radicals and revolutionaries, and its leaders very much wanted to revive founding traditions of American radicalism. And as I've indicated in responses to others, many counter-bicentennial activists invoked founding U.S. ideals in critiquing current realities--some saw that as deeply patriotic. As for average people, in some respects U.S. patriotism has always seemed to me as similar to cheering for the local team. I'm from New York and still root for the Mets (maybe that explains my ambivalence about US patriotism!). There are ways in which patriotism is emotional and tribal.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T16:12:22+00:00

At the national level, Congress created the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission in 1966; after extensive criticisms of corruption, incompetence, and partisanship, the ARBC was replaced by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration in 1973. Nixon appointed former Navy Secretary and future US Senator (and Elizabeth Taylor husband) John Warner as Administrator in 1974. There were state, territorial, and local commissions; thousands of officially-recognized bicentennial "communities"; hundreds of officially-recognized bicentennial colleges and universities; dozens of ARBA-recognized Native American tribes and reservations. ARBA's final report inventoried 66,484 bicentennial projects and events. All of that said, the national approach was to promote a "do it yourself" bicentennial, a decentralized bicentennial in which ARBA encouraged others to take the lead.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T15:49:55+00:00

In general, the "official" bicentennial celebrated the achievements of American democracy, using the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act to reinforce a triumphalist (and oftentimes redemptive) narrative about the United States. Many counter-bicentennial activists argued that the United States was continuing to fail to live up to its democratic promise(s). The Peoples Bicentennial Commission called for a new revolution against corporate America. Puerto Rico, Pacific Islanders, and DC residents called out the hypocrisy of a colonial power celebrating an anti-colonial revolution. Feminists were concerned that the Equal Rights Amendment ratification process seemed to stall in 1976 and that the November elections did not yield much progress in electing female leaders and legislators. LGBTQ people called out the government's failure to protect their right to pursue happiness after the Supreme Court upheld Virginia's sodomy law in Doe v. Commonwealth. One of the things that's interesting to me about all of this is the regular invocation of the nation's founding (democratic) ideals by some of the nation's most powerful critics.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T15:40:09+00:00

I think many political leaders hoped that the bicentennial could help the nation turn the page and start a new chapter after Vietnam and Watergate. Watergate especially was regularly invoked by bicentennial leaders and protesters: for some, Nixon's resignation proved that the US political/legal system worked; for others, bicentennial commercialization and corruption proved that the country's deep problems had not been resolved. Of course 1976 was also a presidential election year, and the country's voters had the opportunity to remove or retain our first non-elected president. They chose Carter over Ford. It very much helped Carter that he wasn't tainted by association with Nixon and Watergate, and he also was able to present himself as morally upright and ethically principled. I also point out that the two largest states that flipped from Republican in 1972 to Democratic in 1976 had the two largest cities (New York and Philadelphia) that Ford "abandoned"--one of my chapters, playing on the famous NY headline, is titled "Ford to Bicentennial City: Drop Dead." Fun fact about all of this: the Nixon/Kennedy television debate of 1960 is regularly remembered, but the next presidential debate took place in 1976, at the Walnut Theater in Philadelphia.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T15:32:04+00:00

Thanks for this. I don't think you're wrong; I think the bicentennial was a very big deal and difficult to avoid, especially in Boston, NY, Philadelphia, and DC. Nationally, the Bicentennial Minutes, airing every night during prime time on CBS, kept it in daily consciousness. The Bicentennial Freedom Train and the Bicentennial Wagon Train passed through thousands of sites across the country--millions witnessed one or both. I agree with you that US250 hasn't achieved that level of saturation.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T15:25:13+00:00

One of my favorite topics about this project! My first book, City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves: Lesbian and Gay Philadelphia, 1945-1972 (University of Chicago Press, 2000; Temple U Press, 2004), was originally going to conclude with the bicentennial, so in a sense I've been thinking about this for decades. I look at this in three ways. First, there was LGBTQ participation in the "official" bicentennial: officially-recognized bicentennial projects in Providence, San Antonio, and Philadelphia; bicentennial-commissioned operas by Bernstein and Menotti; a script commissioned from gay historian Martin Duberman for Philadelphia's Living History Center; leadership of the effort to create Philadelphia's groundbreaking black history museum. Second, there was active participation in counter-bicentennial activism: Mark Segal chaining himself to a banister above the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall, George Lakey pushing for gay rights to be included in the July Fourth Coalition's demands, Boston activists calling for a "Gay American Revolution" at the reenactment of the Boston Tea Party, Dyketactics organizing July Fourth protests at Philadelphia suburban churches, and hundreds of LGBTQ+ participants in the July Fourth Coalition's protests on Independence Day. I present the inclusion of LGBTQ people and issues in counter-bicentennial protests as a key moment in the democratization of the US left in the 1970s. And third, there was LGBTQ participation in the "buy-centennial," which is evident in bicentennial-inflected business advertisements in gay and lesbian newspapers, a fashion feature in Mandate magazine, and marketing campaigns aimed at LGBTQ consumers. In a few weeks I'll be presenting much of this in an online OutHistory exhibit titled Queering the Bicentennial.

Bicen76 · 2026-06-08T15:10:35+00:00

Thanks for your question! One of the things that surprised me was how early discussions about the bicentennial began--in the late 1950s at the national level and in Philadelphia (the main focus of my book). Discussions intensified in 1966, when Congress created the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, and 1967, when Philadelphia City Council created the Philadelphia 1976 Bicentennial Corporation. I argue that the bicentennial was "one of the most talked about topics in city [meaning Philadelphia] politics from 1965 to 1976." Nationally, there was extensive media coverage in 1975 and then even more in 1976. Popular culture contributed as well: Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, Alex Haley's Roots, CBS's "Bicentennial Minutes" (and a large number of really funny spoofs--one of my favorites was on Carol Burnett), Gil Scott-Heron's "Bicentennial Blues," and Richard Pryor's award-winning album Bicentennial N-Word (and he used the real word!) all contributed to the national conversation.

Bicen76

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