Anyone remember the Bicentennial?...

[misanthrope]

...And how "social studies" became en vogue. History was everywhere. Everyone was hip to politics. Americans elected Jimmy Carter partially as a result of the heightened civic awareness.

Seems as if a similar gestalt is alive right now.

I just hope Americans, their culture and society haven't been ravaged so much in the interim that they can sustain this in some fashion.

[Shardik]

1. You and me both.

The RW has been trying to replace both history and science with bullshit.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. History is so cool now, there's even YouTube videos about it ...

... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqzUI1ihfpk

NSFW language.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Yep.......

I just referred to it an earlier post.

It's now cool to be smart, to know lots of stuff, to have good manners, and to work hard.

It's cool to be like the Obamas.

The children of today are getting the most wonderful role models. I am overjoyed about this. Our country will be so much better. Chimpy and company have so cheapened and coarsened what it meant to be an American.

That party is OVER!

[rusty quoin]

4. Everyone was hip, but then Reagan happened.

But now things will change.

[misanthrope]

7. Well, it was a combination of Beltway intransigence...

...and the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

I'm hoping this will a big, big nail in the Reagan coffin.

One of my favorite moments from the We Are One concert was Mellencamp singing "Pink Houses" because it was a retort to Reagan's brand of patriotism.

[rusty quoin]

13. Mellencamp was my favorite part of that concert.

It wasn't just that I like the song, but that was used, back then, in the 80's along with Springsteen's, Born in the USA, to push patriotism without thought.

[misanthrope]

21. Reagan used it a few times in '84 and Mellencamp told him to stop...

...as did Springsteen with his tune that year.

The thing I really liked about Springsteen was that after his tete a tete with Reagan, Mondale started using it and Springsteen asked him to stop as well.

The song's author felt the subject matter was not only created by both parties, but was above something as petty as election year politics. Hats off to Bruce for that one!

[Horse with no Name]

5. I was a pretty good student and I was selected to go visit the Freedom Train

when it was in Phoenix. It was a spectacular tribute to history and certainly put a tangible meaning to the Bicentennial celebration for me.
I will never forget it...or my softball team that I played on that year--The Bicentennial Boychasers.:D

[misanthrope]

9. I went on the Freedom Train when it stopped in Birmingham...

...It's an enduring memory.

I also remember ringing bells at noon on July 4 along with churches and people across the nation.

Remember the Bicentennial Minute that aired on CBS nightly starting in 1975?

[liberalmuse]

6. What I remember most is the vast commercialism and...

the vanilla ice cream with red, white and blue candies in it. Fuck, everything edible had red, white and blue shit in it.

[Bonobo]

8. I sure do. I was 10! I was so worried when Carter said we would have to learn metric!!!

Memories...

[Horse with no Name]

10. ....

:spray:
Gawd I had forgotten about that...and I was terrified of the "evil meter" too!

[Bonobo]

12. Yeah, they announced the metric thing over the school speaker.

Man, I was freaked.

I also remember lots of bicentennial school projects. 4th grade. Wow.

I sure wish bell-bottoms would come back. I want to grow my hair and beard too, but my wife says no...

I'm feeling so nostalgic.

Back then, on the night of the inauguration, Hunter Thompson and others smoked dope on the WH roof (or so he says...) What a day. What a day tomorrow will be. Man, I am happy (but still in semi-disbelief).

[EFerrari]

11. I remember we drank a lot of 7Up that year so we could build

the Bicentennial Uncle Sam with the cans! Oh, and that was the year we got married, too. :silly:

[pinto]

14. Yep. Good point. There was a lot of historical reference and reflection then, as now.

I moved to DC for a while just after that and all the public buildings had been steam cleaned, the bridges over the Potomac were immaculate. Surface stuff, but you got a sense of appreciation for what it all meant. And how it's worth the attention.

[Mind_your_head]

15. Yes, but I sorta remember "social studies" at that time teaching us that

everything america did was totally "above board".

My dad bought and read the book, "bury my heart at wounded knee". Because of that reading, he taught me to consider that, for as great as america is/was...not everything was done "above board".....and that the 'victor writes the history books'.

There are at least two sides to every story. The 'loser' in a conflict very rarely gets to tell their side of the story in entirety.

[misanthrope]

22. That doesn't mean we can't believe in the ideals**nm

**

[Mind_your_head]

26. I DO believe in the ideals!

That's why I'm here, that's why I'm voicing my opinion.

And I'm happy to see that there are "considerable souls" willing to read/listen.....and beyond!

Peace,
M_Y_H :hi:

[Urban Prairie]

16. I remember

Sitting on the beach on northern Lake Michigan on the 4th of July reading Time Magazine with a back section chock full of mailed (no email of course) Bicentennial well-wishes from people all over the world. The only one I can quote with clarity now was from a woman in Australia who wrote "Happy Birthday to big beautiful America on her 200th birthday!!

I also recall the tall ships in the harbors of cities on the East Coast.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. I remember the bicentennial.

[Norrin Radd]

18. I was three.

[Zookeeper]

19. Yep! I went to Philly to participate in the Anti-Bicentennial march..

Rizzo's riot police looked ready to rumble, I slept in a church basement in a sketchy area of town and visited the Liberty Bell the following day. My home state of Michigan was already beginning to falter economically, civil rights, gay rights and equal rights for women was a great concern. I wasn't feeling particularly celebratory.

Aside from the debacle of the "Republican Revolution" and the Bush years, I'm feeling more optimistic than in 1976.

[The empressof all]

20. I lived in Philadelphia during the Bicentennial

I was a Bicentennial Aide placed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a wonderful Summer. I was dating 4 different men and I learned all about Man Ray. I visited the Barnes Foundation Collection at least once a week and fell in love.

[merh]

23. Do they still teach Social Studies in schools these days?

:shrug:

[Beregond2]

24. I spent that July 4 at the Lenoardo Da Vinci hotel

outside Rome. All expatriate Americans were invited, and we went, expecting some kind of big affair. We got a lousy picnic in a field of dried-out grass nearby, and some lame fireworks that set the field afire. Thanks, U.S. Embassy!

[Mind_your_head]

27. sourpuss!

I mean REALLY!!!!

You're a spoiled brat!

[InvisibleTouch]

25. I remember it.

I was about 8 or so. Mostly it was the fireworks and the cool Bicentennial quarters that stick in my mind. I still have a fondness for Bicentennial quarters, and expended it into collecting all the state quarters from recent years. I only still need, of all things, Alaska.

[Mind_your_head]

28. Seems like you and Beregond2 are working a tag-team n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

29. I remember it

I went to Boys' State that year. The same Boys' State that Bill Clinton had attended several years before. But almost no one knew about Bill then, because he had lost his first election 2 years before and no one really seemed to be paying attention to the upcoming state elections that were 5 months into the future (Bill would run for state attorney general in that one, and win). We got to visit the Governor's office, but the Governor wasn't there. And the people in charge of the program kept reminding us of how lucky we were to be Bicentennial Boys' Staters!

Then there was the half-assed Bicentennial Commemorative Coin program, where, instead of making new designs, they just changed the reverse designs of the quarter, half dollar, and Eisenhower dollar and double-dated the coins (1776-1976) for two years in a row (1975 & 1976). But the half dollar and Eisenhower dollar didn't really circulate, so the only commemorative coin most people really knew about was the quarter.

The Post Office also joined in the Bicentennial celebrations with a 4-year program that culminated with, I believe, a state flag series (50 flags which fit quite nicely into the standard 50-stamp sheet format), and Bicentennial souvenir sheets that featured famous paintings of the American Revolution.

Of course, there were also Bicentennial collector plates, and Bicentennial cigarette lighters, and Bicentennial ashtrays, and all sorts of other Bicentennial kitsch.

Then there was some Bicentennial program on TV hosted by some British stuffed shirt actor which poked irreverant fun at 200 years of American culture.

And the Today Show did a feature on each of the 50 states, and when they came to Arkansas, they devoted nearly the entire time to some hillbilly fiddler. I'm surprised they didn't have him take a swig of moonshine in-between "airs".

[Skittles]

30. I was an airman in the Air Force back then

yes INDEED

[Ani Yun Wiya]

31. Sure do.

Went to Concord, Mass.(The People's Bicentennial) and protested against the presence of Ford.
The Tall Ships in NYC.
And getting to photograph Carter on his Inaugural Walk down Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.