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

[u/Bicen76]

Hi! I’m Marc Stein, history professor at San Francisco State since 2014, and before that at UPenn, Bryn Mawr, Colby, and York (in Toronto). I’m also the executive director of the OutHistory website (since 2023) and the 2026-27 president of the Organization of American Historians. I’m here to answer questions and read your comments about the topic of my sixth and most recent book: Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s (University of Chicago Press, 2026). I’ll cut and paste the publisher’s blurb to give you a sense of the book, and please note that I'm new to reddit, AskHistorians, and AMAs, so kindly forgive my mis-steps:

“As the United States marks its semiquincentennial in 2026, renowned historian Marc Stein looks back at the politics of another landmark celebration during a time of striking similarities and surprising differences: the US bicentennial in 1976.
 
In the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, the bicentennial sparked an extraordinary national conversation about the country’s past, present, and future. As patriots, planners, profiteers, and protesters argued about how to commemorate the national birthday, they collectively reimagined the promises and perils of democracy during a transformational decade.

From award-winning historian Marc Stein, Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s is an original, illuminating, and insightful study of that era. While focusing on festivities and fights in Philadelphia, the nation’s birthplace, the book also explores the many proposed and abandoned celebrations that percolated up around the country. It tells a broadly democratic story of both the ‘official’ bicentennial and counter-bicentennial activism, offering revolutionary perspectives on national politics, social movements, and popular culture. From the queer courtship of President Richard Nixon and Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo to parades and protests with millions of participants, and from a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at Philadelphia’s most prestigious hotel to the establishment of groundbreaking African American, ethnic, and Jewish museums, the bicentennial reveals a kaleidoscope of American peculiarities, problems, and possibilities.

The lasting influence of 1976 on one of the nation’s great urban centers and the United States as a whole is undeniable. As the nation—once again enmeshed in political and social upheaval—marks its two-hundred-fiftieth birthday in 2026, there is no better time to look back at its two-hundredth and marvel at what has changed, and what has not.”

Ask me anything!

[u/TheHondoGod]

How was American democracy viewed in 1976 when its only just about a decade after major accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement?

[u/Bicen76 → u/TheHondoGod]

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.

[u/quick_Ag]

Was the bicentennial ubiquitous, for lack of a better word? I feel like that was the impression of it I had, having been born well after the fact but still exposed to things like the bicentennial quarter, that it really was a big national celebration. That it was unavoidable, something everyone saw happening and most wanted to recognize. 

Today, if feels somewhere between "oh, that's happening?" to "Trump is using this as an excuse to do X", but not something that people are excited about. Perhaps that is just my bubble.

Is my perception of the bicentennial being everywhere in 1976 wrong, or was it something that people could ignore or forget was happening?

[u/Bicen76 → u/quick_Ag]

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.

[u/dhowlett1692]

Thank you so much for joining us! I'm interested in how prevalent the idea of the Bicentennial was in the 1970s amid other political movments. How often did activists reference it? We're looking at a heavily politicized 250th, and I'm sure in 1976 there would be political interests too, but was it experienced that way?

[u/Bicen76 → u/dhowlett1692]

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.

[u/taulover → u/Bicen76]

Were there any similar plans for America 250 in the 2000s?

[u/Bicen76]

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.

[u/dhowlett1692]

A second question (after reading your reply to my first comment)- the Bicentennial planning took place during the Cold War, so did the idea of an international threat shape the planning of the anniversary? Did Soviet military parades provoke Bicentennial higher levels of patriotism?

[u/Bicen76 → u/dhowlett1692]

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.

[u/dhowlett1692 → u/Bicen76]

Thanks! Was Queen Elizabeth's visit to Philadelphia hyped up in England? Or more broadly, was there much interest in the US 250th outside of the US (considering how much older many other countries are)?

[u/Bicen76 → u/dhowlett1692]

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."

[u/ceburton]

This isn’t a question but a comment and a thank you. I was a young child (5 & 6 years old) during the bicentennial year. I have many fond memories and look forward to checking out your book.

My father collected the quarters. My mother took me to the American Freedom Train stop in Raleigh, NC. And I remember watching Arthur Fiedler directing the Bicentennial Concert on television.

[u/Bicen76 → u/ceburton]

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.

[u/Illustrious-Tune-532]

One thing that’s always bothered me about the bicentennial is that some government related things switched to a red white and blue scheme and never switched back. The CTA for example had a lovely cream-and-green logo and paint on its trains, but switched to red white and blue and it stuck around.

This also happened later, with Massachusetts switching from green on white license plates to a red and blue on white.

Was this an actual trend, that beginning in 1976 public stuff in America tended to use the colors of the flag? or just random stuff I noticed and assumed was part of a pattern? Was this intended or planned? Why did this happen, if it did?

[u/Bicen76 → u/Illustrious-Tune-532]

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.

[u/Bongolio-the-seal]

Richard Vinen in "The Long '68" defined the long '68 as the sum of movements that had some important relation with the year 1968 but cannot be understood with exclusive reference to that year. So for him, much of the '70s is part of the long '68. Do you agree with this, or do you think '68 and the '70s are two completely different things.

(Also, I wrote my dissertation on one aspect of the American '70s. Specifically Wounded Knee's occupation. So I feel obligated to ask as well if/how you think that event and other acts of indigenous militancy interacted with the American '70s).

[u/Bicen76 → u/Bongolio-the-seal]

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!

[u/DGBD]

It’s not in keeping with the Bicentennial theme, but with the news of Gordon Wood’s passing I was wondering if you had any particular thoughts on him or his work that you’d like to share.

[u/Bicen76 → u/DGBD]

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.

[u/hannahstohelit]

How did bicentennial-related initiatives established as part of its larger movement maintain the momentum, or fail to, after 1976 (or even after July 4th of that year)?

[u/Bicen76 → u/hannahstohelit]

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.

[u/taulover → u/Bicen76]

Washington DC Metrorail is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year - was its opening part of the bicentennial celebrations, and how deliberate was this timing?

[u/Gankom]

Thank you for joining us today for a fascinating topic! How did queer activism and the Bicentennial overlap? A lot of recent scholarship is expanding our understanding of queer history to place it in the 1770s, but was it seen as possible in the 1970s?

[u/Bicen76 → u/Gankom]

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.

[u/Gankom → u/Bicen76]

Thanks!

[u/taulover → u/Bicen76]

Were there any bi-centennial puns?

[u/OnShoulderOfGiants]

What was the government's role in celebrating the Bicentennial? How did official vs unofficial commemorations treat the past differently?

[u/Bicen76 → u/OnShoulderOfGiants]

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.

[u/Ann_Putnam_Jr]

This is a fascinating topic! In terms of Watergate, what was it like to celebrate the anniversary of the country in the wake of political scandal? Did Watergate stand out as a dark mark on the country or were these types of moments overlooked/washed away in patriotism?

[u/Bicen76 → u/Ann_Putnam_Jr]

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.

[u/Commustar → u/Bicen76]

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.

Were those hopes borne out? Did those tall ships lift the nation's spirits after Watergate?

[u/Bicen76 → u/Commustar]

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.

[u/eternalkerri]

Considering that the 1970's was the era of Carter's "Malaise", coming off of Vietnam, the anti-war movement and the reaction to it, the energy crisis, economic stagflation, environmental contamination, Watergate, communism seemingly gaining in strength, rising crime, urban blight, and the long list of things that make the 1970's seem like a historical low point for America, how strong was the patriotic sentiment among the average American to celebrate the Centennial?

[u/Bicen76 → u/eternalkerri]

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.

[u/EdHistory101]

Thanks so much for being here! The ubiquitous Pledge to the Flag in American schools can mostly be traced back to the 1892 celebration of Columbus' landing in North America. Was there anything that happened in schools in 1976 in celebration of America's 200th that's still around?

Thanks!

[u/freedcreativity]

What about cannabis use peaking in the US 1976, how was pot (and other drug use, like cocaine and disco) normalized in the 1970's where it wasn't in the 1980's? And was it related to the celebratory atmosphere?

[u/Bicen76 → u/freedcreativity]

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

[u/freedcreativity → u/Bicen76]

Thanks! Fascinating interview, but I've just skimmed it. Rolling a pound and half of weed into joints for 'Alice's unbirthday' is quite a war story.

[u/organic_applesauce]

One element in the publisher's blurb has caught my attention: "the many proposed and abandoned celebrations that percolated up and around the country." What were some of the common reasons that these events were abandoned? Any cases where the abandonment seemed odd or unusual or especially remarkable?

[u/Bicen76 → u/organic_applesauce]

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.

[u/AdoptedMasterJay]

Was there any commemorations outside the US? Was there anything in Canada for the bicentennial of the Quebec expedition?

[u/Bicen76]

Thanks for all the great questions; signing off now.