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Bicentennial

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From a healing bicentennial to a polarized era, can democracy endure?
politics15 days ago

From a healing bicentennial to a polarized era, can democracy endure?

The piece revisits 1976, when Ford declared that the ‘long national nightmare’ was over as the US celebrated its 200th anniversary, a moment framed by bipartisan renewal after Watergate. It contrasts that mood with today’s climate under Trump, described as circus-like and threatening to democratic norms, and explores how Nixon’s attempts to control the bicentennial echo current debates over national narrative and power. The article notes the participatory, local-grounded celebrations of 1976 versus today’s centralized, top-down commemorations, suggesting that while past anniversaries have mirrored upheaval, the present era faces unique challenges to democratic institutions and civil discourse.

via The Guardian|
#bicentennial#democracy#nixon
America Turns 250—The Celebration That Fell Short
politics18 days ago

America Turns 250—The Celebration That Fell Short

As the United States marks its semiquincentennial, public mood is notably somber: polls show widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the country and a historically low sense of national pride, while partisan divides surround Trump’s involvement in anniversary events. The official America 250 celebration and rival Freedom 250 efforts have produced a fragmented calendar of commemorations, with lukewarm attendance in Washington and mixed interest at other sites. The contrast with the 1976 bicentennial—when celebrations were more unified and expansive—casts the 250th as a muted milestone, though some venues are seeing upticks for reasons beyond the anniversary. Still, many observers hope the moment can yield a more hopeful, inclusive national dialogue by 2076, aided in part by broader cultural moments like the World Cup offering a different sense of unity.

via CNN|
#bicentennial#donald-trump#national-mood
The Radical Historian Who Made Bicentennial Junk a Treasure
culture2 months ago

The Radical Historian Who Made Bicentennial Junk a Treasure

A Yale Beinecke Library feature spotlights Jesse Lemisch’s Bicentennial Schlock collection—about 100 everyday, inexpensive artifacts from 1976 that captured the era’s over-the-top patriotism and anti-commercial critique. Born from Lemisch’s SUNY Buffalo class, the project pushed a bottom-up view of history and democratized the archival record, culminating in a 1981 donation to Yale. Today items such as a Ben Franklin kite and an all-American novelty condom illuminate how the Bicentennial mix of pop culture and politics shaped scholarship and public memory, even as debates about its meaning continue into the Semiquincentennial.

via The New York Times|
#bicentennial#culture#lemisch