Bicentennial Memories
L. Sutton
Do you all realize that this July 4th will be the 20th year since the
Bicentennial?
Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
My family went to San Francisco to see the spectacular fireworks display
planned for the event (off Alcatraz), only to have the fog roll in 20
minutes before.
Bill
ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
How about those cheap plastic bi-centennial tubes that you put items
in, buried in the ground, then hoped someone would dig up in 100
years? They probably all disintegrated 10 years ago!!!
Bill
P.S. I do still have my bi-centennial (1976) quarters, though.
smithboy
ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
>Do you all realize that this July 4th will be the 20th year since the
>Bicentennial?
>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
>My family went to San Francisco to see the spectacular fireworks display
>planned for the event (off Alcatraz), only to have the fog roll in 20
>minutes before.
I graduated from High School in 1976. Was there a graduating class
anywhere that didn't have the class colors as Red White and Blue?
Rhonda Rubin
In article <4pqi0g$c...@nntp.pe.net>, sy...@pe.net (Bill) wrote:
>ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
>
>
>>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
>>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
>
>in, buried in the ground, then hoped someone would dig up in 100
>years? They probably all disintegrated 10 years ago!!!
>
>Bill
>
>P.S. I do still have my bi-centennial (1976) quarters, though.
When my grandmother died, my mom found two Bicentennial $2 she'd gotten in
'76. Mom gave one each to my brother and me. Mine is in my wallet.
Other memories:
* Painted fire hydrants
* Our elementary school painted the steel garbage
cans with various patriotic red, white & blue,
"Spirit of '76" themes.
Rhonda
--
"The dew fell with a particularly sickening thud this morning."
Jon A. Egger
Graduated in '76 also. We even had red, white and blue tassels on our
graduation caps...
Jon A. Egger
--
Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than
people who are most content.
---Bob Dylan
Dave Stallard
Do you all realize that this July 4th will be the 20th year since the
Bicentennial?
Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
My family went to San Francisco to see the spectacular fireworks display
planned for the event (off Alcatraz), only to have the fog roll in 20
minutes before.
As I remember, the Bicentennial celebrations were quite muted. Nobody
seemed very proud back then - Watergate and Nixon's resignation were
very recent memories, and the last helicopter flight from the roof of
the US embassy in Saigon was only the year before. Public patriotism
was in general out of fashion in the 70s, at least until towards the
close of that decade. It goes along with the hippy-lite triumphalism of
the period. Of course they didn't realize what was coming at them in
just a few short years.
I think that's partly why people went so crazy (at least here in the
NE) over the Statue of Liberty Centennial in '86 - because they had
missed the opportunity earlier, when they would have been held (perhaps
even by themselves) as squares for their enthusiasm.
Dave
Robert J. Cooper, III
In article <4pqb1l$f...@usenetw1.news.prodigy.com>, ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
>Do you all realize that this July 4th will be the 20th year since the
>Bicentennial?
>
>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
>
coming into NY Harbor. If you read Randy Shilts wonderful book "And the Band
Played On," he talks about how that event--with sailors from all over the
world coming to America--may have quietly sparked the AIDS epidemic.
Dixon Hayes
Rhonda Rubin wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
> >>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
> >
> >in, buried in the ground, then hoped someone would dig up in 100
> >years? They probably all disintegrated 10 years ago!!!
> >
>
> When my grandmother died, my mom found two Bicentennial $2 she'd gotten in
> '76. Mom gave one each to my brother and me. Mine is in my wallet.
>
> Other memories:
>
> * Painted fire hydrants
>
> * Our elementary school painted the steel garbage
> cans with various patriotic red, white & blue,
> "Spirit of '76" themes.
>
Here's one--does anyone remember ARBA, the Bicentennial Eagle? He was
this cheap-looking puppet who appeared in all the PSA's that aired on
TV back in the mid-1970s.
Did anyone subscribe to the Bicentennial newsletter? It told what the
Bicentennial Committee was up to. I remember Gerald Ford appearing in
it a lot.
Other memories:
*Spirit of 76 train set by Tyco (mentioned that in an earlier post)
*Commemorative bottles from our local Pepsi-Cola bottler
*Coca-cola's "Look Up, America" jingle (yes, it was for the
Bicentennial)
*The tall ships
*The little 70's looking Bicentennial "star" that appeared everywhere
(there's still one at the entrance of Vulcan Park in Birmingham, AL)
...and does anyone remember an episode of "The Jeffersons" where
George put on a white wig? Seemed like he made some connection to
*Thomas* Jefferson. Very funny episode.
--Dixon Hayes
12 when America was 200--and tacky
gardenia
ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
>Do you all realize that this July 4th will be the 20th year since the
>Bicentennial?
twenty years?!?!? ACK!
Being in Orlando, where else would someone go for a special time in
1977? Why, Disney, of course! Mom worked at the Contemporary Hotel
and we parked there, heading over to the hills overlooking the 7 Seas
Lagoon (all man-made, of course!).
Sitting on the tender grass, feeling the sweat dripping down our faces
and backs, we watched as the sky darkened and Disney began its
specialty... being incredibly flamboyant!
There were dozens of hot air balloons that spewed fireworks...
fireworks over the lagoon, over Cinderella's castle, behind us over
Fort Wilderness' lagoon... the sky was bright! light as day and
infinately more beautiful.
I remember shivers, continual and mesmerizing, knowing that what I was
experiencing *was* history and absorbing every moment I could... to
tell my kids (and you all, apparently!).
Thanks for allowing the remembrance :)
Barb
aka gardenia AND BarbWire <who plans on being on the same slope on
December 31, 1999>
gardenia
RRu...@uh.edu (Rhonda Rubin) wrote:
>Other memories:
>* Our elementary school painted the steel garbage
> cans with various patriotic red, white & blue,
> "Spirit of '76" themes.
I was in 6th grade in 72-73 and I remember painting garbage cans as
well! It was some sort of beautification project... would be called
art class today (isn't that sad?).
Thanks for reminding me :) I'd totally forgotten that one.
Barb
aka gardenia AND BarbWire <who fell in love for the first time while
painting a trash can>
Gwen Orel
Well what about the designs on the back of 7up cans that when you put them
together made big patriotic pictures?
We did projects all year long in 6th grade called T for C, which
was technology for children, but meant putting together models
of old Boston!
Gwen
smithboy wrote:
: ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
: >Do you all realize that this July 4th will be the 20th year since the
: >Bicentennial?
: >Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial Minutes
: >on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
: >My family went to San Francisco to see the spectacular fireworks display
: >planned for the event (off Alcatraz), only to have the fog roll in 20
: >minutes before.
: I graduated from High School in 1976. Was there a graduating class
Rhonda Rubin
In article <31c2f5aa...@207.17.118.2>,
zk...@ttacs.ttu.edu (Vic Moore) wrote:
>On Sat, 15 Jun 96 01:15:42 GMT, so...@winternet.com (Robert J. Cooper,
>III) wrote:
>
>>>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial
Minutes
>>>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
>>>
ships
>>coming into NY Harbor. If you read Randy Shilts wonderful book "And the
Band
>>Played On," he talks about how that event--with sailors from all over the
>>world coming to America--may have quietly sparked the AIDS epidemic.
>
>"epidemic."
OK. Stop it. Right here. Right now. Let's not get into this here. I, for
one, am sick of hearing this argument in every newsgroup I enter. It's not
relevant here. Please, take it outside or to a more relevant newsgroup.
Thanks,
Rhonda
Marjie
In celebration of the bicentennial my fifth grade class (along with the
6th graders) painted a mural along a long hallway in the basement of
our elementary school. (it had George Wash., the Liberty Bell etc)
Now when I go into the same school to vote, I like to walk down that
hall because they still have it up. Our township also buried a time
capsule.
In <4profm$lhg...@news.uh.edu> RRu...@uh.edu (Rhonda Rubin) writes:
>
>In article <4pqi0g$c...@nntp.pe.net>, sy...@pe.net (Bill) wrote:
>>ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Wow! Remember all the hype that went with that year? Bicentennial
Minutes
>>>on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
>>
>>How about those cheap plastic bi-centennial tubes that you put items
>>in, buried in the ground, then hoped someone would dig up in 100
>>years? They probably all disintegrated 10 years ago!!!
>>
>>Bill
>>
>>P.S. I do still have my bi-centennial (1976) quarters, though.
>
>When my grandmother died, my mom found two Bicentennial $2 she'd
gotten in
>'76. Mom gave one each to my brother and me. Mine is in my wallet.
>
>Other memories:
>
>* Painted fire hydrants
>
>* Our elementary school painted the steel garbage
> cans with various patriotic red, white & blue,
> "Spirit of '76" themes.
>
Carl Ratner
At that time I was living in New York City in a large Greenwich
Village apartment high above the Hudson River. Well I gave a big Bicentennial
party the day the parade of tall ships came up the river. We ate and drank and
smoked and drank and smoked and smoked and....
... Carl
SunnyDeb
In article <4q482u$ka0...@news.uh.edu>, RRu...@uh.edu (Rhonda Rubin)
writes:
> If you read Randy Shilts wonderful book "And the
>Band
>>>Played On," he talks about how that event--with sailors from all over
the
>>>world coming to America--may have quietly sparked the AIDS epidemic.
>>
>>Actually, promiscuous homosexual sex sparked and perpetuates the AIDS
>>"epidemic."
>
>OK. Stop it. Right here. Right now. Let's not get into this here. I, for
>one, am sick of hearing this argument in every newsgroup I enter. It's
not
>relevant here. Please, take it outside or to a more relevant newsgroup.
>
>
I wholeheartedly agree!
Deb
joh...@sprynet.com
> stal...@bbn.com (Dave Stallard) writes:
> In article <4pqb1l$f...@usenetw1.news.prodigy.com> ZBP...@prodigy.com (L. Sutton) writes:
>
> Bicentennial?
>
> on CBS, all the red, white & blue clothes.
> As I remember, the Bicentennial celebrations were quite muted. Nobody
> seemed very proud back then - Watergate and Nixon's resignation were
> very recent memories, and the last helicopter flight from the roof of
> the US embassy in Saigon was only the year before. Public patriotism
> was in general out of fashion in the 70s.....
The bicentennial stuff was anything but muted down in my neck of the woods.
In addition to some of the other things that have been mentioned, there was
somewhat of a contest among the men to see who could grow the best beard
during the bicentennial year. This was going on everywhere down here, and
even the local Sheriff's Office suspended their uniform code rules regarding
beards so the deputies could do it too (but only during 1976). Our Sheriff even
sported a beard for the first and only time. Lots of men from most all professions
were into the bicentennial beard growing thing.
High school art students in my home town painted every fire hydrant in town to
look like some important figure in our nation's history (using lots of red, white, &
blue paint, of course). There were hydrants painted to look like American flags,
Ben Franklin, George Washington, etc. Kind of friendly cartoon-ish looking things.
Sweet Home Alabama
Elliott
>>>>
Gerspachi
Rhonda Rubin wrote:
> When my grandmother died, my mom found two Bicentennial $2 she'd >gotten in '76. Mom gave one each to my brother and me. Mine is in my >wallet.
This reminds me of a bicentennial gift from my grandmother. She gave my
brother and I each a special card that held $10 worth of bicentennial
quarters (with the drummer boy). I remember, at the time, my parents
said, "Hold onto those they will be worth a lot someday." I didn't. Due to the
advent of the famed first video game, "pong", I found that this collection of
quarters had a different priority! :)
*Gerspachi*
Gerspachi
Gerspachi
Gerspachi
L. Sutton
So many people hoarded the Bicentennial quarters and $2 bills from that
year, that the treasury continued making them for the rest of the decade.
The Susan B suffered the opposite fate; so many people complained that it
was just like a quarter that the production though contiued was very
limited. See what happens when a woman is commemorated on money?????????
Dave Ranson
Oh, I don't know, L. Look at places like the UK, Canada, Australia, and
a lot of other places--they get Queen Elizabeth II on most of their
currency. I believe the UK also has Florence Nightingale on the
ten-pound note.
Seriously, something like hoarding commemorative coins and bills is to be
expected, I think. You can still find a few Canadian "Mountie" quarters
of 1973 in circulation, but the "Ten Provinces" quarters of only a few
years ago seem to be only available in coin stores now.
I recall being in the US only a year or so after the Bicentennial, and
only getting one Bicentennial quarter in my change. And none of the $2
bills. They all went fast.
D.
Dagny
I was stationed with the U.S. Navy in Okinawa Japan for the
Bicentennial. The Navy had a huge blow out celebration at a base
called White Beach. I had only just arrived in Japan about 6 days
before and didn't know a soul. Met and fell in love with my first
husband that day and got the sunburn of my life!!!! (Before sunblock).
Best fireworks I've ever seen, in more ways than one!!!
Dagny (pinn...@gnatnet.net)
"Who is John Galt?"
Terry
US flag all over in and said "1776-1976." Anyone know which brand it was? I
wish I could remember more, but hey, I was born in November of 1972! :)
While the 80's is my favorite decade by far, the memories I remember of the
70's were quite good as well.
Dave Ranson
I remember a Pepsi-Cola can from the Bicentennial that read, "200 years
of people feelin' free." I have no idea why they sold Pepsi in this can
in Canada (which, at the time, was only 109 years old), but they did.
D.
Terry
Michele Scheel
I grew up (and still remain) in Vancouver, WA. We have always had a major
hoopla surrounding the 4th of July...we all like to think it's the biggest
fireworks display "west of the Mississippi" (I have no idea if it really
is, but someone said that once, and it became a source of perverse
pride...<sigh>). Anyway, I remember 1976 mostly for the celebration on
the 4th. What was (and remains) a major draw of people -- picnicing,
bands, craft booths, military planes, etc. -- was the most amazing and
surreal gathering that year. I'd never seen such HUGE lines for a billion
outhouses, scattered throughout the park! (as a kid of 15, this was really
something) My little brother got "lost" that evening (trauma for him as
well as my parents!), and I'd never seen such a large bunch of drunk,
fireworks-crazed people in all my life.
And I think that's the year I got really sick of things being red,white
and blue in color....wasn't EVERYTHING???
Michele
Terri A Novak
Who remembers the series of Seven Up cans that you collected to make a
huge picture out of?. I believe the theme had something to do with the
Bicentennil.
Gwen Orel
Terri A Novak (no...@alpha2.csd.uwm.edu) wrote:
: Who remembers the series of Seven Up cans that you collected to make a
: huge picture out of?. I believe the theme had something to do with the
: Bicentennil.
I do! I do!
It was definitely bicentennial, and there was more than one design, too!
Gwen
Keith Helmink
or...@stu.beloit.edu (Gwen Orel) wrote:
>Gwen
It would make a picture of Uncle Sam. It took 52 cans, each one with a
different state on it, and two others, one with the whole U.S. and one
with instructions. I remember the commercial promoting it, showing the
cans marching into formation and fireworks when the wole picture came
together. The commercial looked like something by Peter Max.
I managed to collect about 45 different cans before the promotion
stopped. For some reason I remember having six or seven Vermonts.
keith
Warren Errington
khel...@nando.net (Keith Helmink) wrote:
>or...@stu.beloit.edu (Gwen Orel) wrote:
>
>>Terri A Novak (no...@alpha2.csd.uwm.edu) wrote:
>
>
>>: Who remembers the series of Seven Up cans that you collected to make a
>>: huge picture out of?. I believe the theme had something to do with the
>>: Bicentennil.
>
>>I do! I do!
>
I remember that, now that you reminded me.
My strongest bicentennial memory is of that covered wagon train that
they had. I think they had at least one wagon from every state and
they descended on Valley Forge park, where they camped and lived like
the early settlers. They also had a lot of demonstrations on life in
the revolutionary times at Valley Forge, and at Independence Mall in
Philadelphia (it seemed like my mother dragged us to every one of
them).
Warren
"The best way to save face is to keep the lower half shut!"
Quote on a sign at a service station