The singular star of the 1976 bicentennial celebration in the nation’s capital was the founding document that formally declared America’s independence two centuries earlier.
Everyone willing to stand in line for hours got a chance to see the Declaration of Independence on display at the National Archives. Thousands did, and listened to a reading of the text. The loudest cheers came at the end, with the names of the signatories from the various states that had joined to make a union.
More cheers came as the chief archivist, James Rhoads, cut a five-tier birthday cake with a gleaming sword from the Navy archives. The one guest of honor there, and at celebrations across America that day, was America itself. Trying to capitalize on its anniversary would have been like attending a birthday party to make yourself the focus of attention. That would cheat both the honoree and the guests, which in this instance would be all Americans.
President Gerald Ford had his 63rd birthday coming up in 10 days, but he had made no effort to tie it to the nation’s. He kept the focus on America as he quietly began the bicentennial at the church across the street from the White House, then helicoptered to Valley Forge. That visit was solely about the first president, not the 38th. George Washington had wintered there with his troops when it seemed all might be lost.
Ford proceeded on to Independence Hall in Pennsylvania, where the truly sacred Declaration was signed. He flew from there to the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in New York harbor. He was lame enough to inspire the famous newspaper headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” eight months before, when he denied New York a bailout amid a fiscal crisis. But he would never even have considered marking the nation’s 200th year by putting his face on a $200 bill. He also would not have sought to enrich himself and his family by trademarking “Ford 200” for merchandising, as our current president has with “Trump 250.”
At 2 p.m., Ford rang a bell 13 times aboard the USS Forrestal, one for each of the colonies. The same was done simultaneously at events from coast to coast, with Ford not taking the lead, but simply joining them.
Ford ended the bicentennial by swearing in 100 new citizens at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia.
“We need more encouragement and protection for individuals,” he told the latest Americans. “The wealth we have of cultural, ethnic, religious and racial traditions are valuable counterbalances to the overpowering sameness and subordination of totalitarian societies.“
He was able to speak without irony as he quoted Jefferson, saying, “Men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.”
Ford then said, “This was the most revolutionary idea in the world at the time. It remains the most revolutionary idea in the world today.”
Ford had come into office only because he was vice-president when President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal in 1974. He was running for a full term that year and he hosted a state dinner for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip three days after the bicentennial. He proved not averse to drawing attention to himself when appropriate, allowing PBS to televise the event.
But when he celebrated his 63rd birthday a week later, he made no effort to peg it to being in the same year as America’s 200th. He celebrated his 63rd birthday by attending a baseball All-Star Game in Philadelphia and having dinner with his wife at a French restaurant back in Washington, D.C., where the other diners sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
Ford’s numerous failings led to his defeat by Jimmy Carter that November. But he departed the White House having demonstrated that he knew how to let America have a big birthday without making himself the guest of honor.
Our current president has been taking every opportunity to make himself the center of attention. He is even seeking to conflate his birthday with America’s bicentennial by holding a “UFC Freedom 250” mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House when he turns 80 on June 14.
By doing all that, President Trump is cheating all of us in the 250-year-old country he professes to love.
