In my opine the ungodliness of America..The culture has gone to 💩.Kids dont even grow up anymore..They pop out and almost immediately a phone is shoved in there face...To many things are wrong but id never want to live anywhere but here in America..Our leaders have failed us and especially the current occupant.@@roberthevern6169
Same....born in '65....what a great summer that was....Six Flags, roller rink, days at the pool....and actually popping fireworks in the street out front with all the other kids. The music too....
You are exactly right! That was a time that I wish I could go back to, mainly because all those I loved were alive and well. Never even dawned on me at that time a day would come when the majority of my family and friends would be gone. That's the part of getting older that I hate.
Many thanks, Fred. Brings back a wonderful time in my life, and a great time for the country. I wonder if any time remotely like it will ever come again.
Those Kodak commercials always got me right in the feels. Still do. “🎶Good morning yesterday, you wake up and time has slipped away…remember the times of your life.🎶”🥹
I hated Paul Anka's guts! That sappy, slurring voice, and all his other songs were dirty. That punk was a millionaire at the age of 16. That'll do bad things to your character.
That song was the theme song for the prom when I was a sophomore in the spring of ‘78. I was lucky enough to be chosen as a waitress. The waiters & waitresses did a skit acting out various scenes from school life as that song played. It was a wonderful time!! And yes, that song always makes me tear up.🥲
Things were anything but "wholesome" back then. Pick up any big city newspaper from that era. You'll see stories of murder, rape, violence of all description, drug addiction, to say nothing of out control inflation, interest rates and gas prices. I was there, I remember...
@@JohnReitz-ps2ct I agree with you, John, to a point. Yes, I wouldn't use the word "wholesome" either, but, I was there as well, and I would go back in a HEARTBEAT, given the chance! Interest rates had come down, gas prices had come down from their high during the oil embargo of '73-'74. America was united because of our Bicentennial and we were feeling good about ourselves as a young nation at that point. The only other time we ever felt that way was during the Reagan years - when we KNEW were great and weren't ashamed to say it out loud!
@@Nunofurdambiznez don't get me started on 'The Great Communicator'... IMHO with his deregulation of everything and 'trickle down' theory, he is the reason for our disparity in household net worth today!
It IS gone. I worked in two different Sears stores in my youth. There are only two left, and they have nothing left to sell. Sad. Very sad. In 1965, Sears, all by itself, was one per cent of the Gross National Product. One in every 207 Americans worked for Sears.
Morning in July, 1976. "The Great American Birthday Party" is on TV in the living room and burgers are on the grill in the front yard. I'm a bright-eyed and red-blooded American young man, and to serve my country is still the highest honor I can think of. Things like "being President." Not because I want to change America, but because I love America and want to uphold her ideals. I'm sure my dad doesn't feel the same way though. I'm sure my dad isn't a fan of trippy psychedelic 4th of July promos. But from where I stand as a young man, we live in a time of great pride in American tradition.
We buried a Bicentennial time capsule at my school in 1976 and opened it in 2001. There was "Happy Days" and "Welcome Back Kotter" memorabilia among other items.
@@misterwhipple2870 I never worried about any of that stuff. He dated women and men and came out as bisexual. A lot of 70s rock stars either came out as bisexual or eluded to it. Elton got married to a woman in the 80s and the marriage lasted about three years. He’s now married to a man. I like his music he’s always been one of my favorite celebrities regardless.
@@RJS1974 Elton is a good singer and I like his music. I never worried about it either, I was being a smart-ass. But Bru- uh, I mean Caitlin is a big-mouth and I hate the a-hole!
Thanks Fred for these 2 Bicentennial videos. Our house was in a Bicentennial Parade of Homes that year. My mother had purchased a home that was built in the late 1800s and refurbished the inside with antiques from the late 1700s, 1800s & early 1900s. It was pretty cool being a part of history.
I remember this July 1976 I was 13 and I would be 14 that year. We, my parents and I just came back from having gone up to Alaska for the 2nd time. So many memories it does make me snicker about these ads. Thank you
I was born that year 1976 bicentennial birth certificate im 48 now. I have that magazine that has man on the moon on the front cover. I collect old vintage magazines for years.
The ABC Monday Night Movie featured looks like a precursor to Robocop that would come out 11 years later - I was 5 in 1976 and vaguely remember celebrating the Bicentennial going to an outdoor drive in theater with my family with snacks and watching fireworks
My grandma (1900-1981) always thought Will Rogers Jr. was ripping off his dad's name. Every time he appeared in commercials (which was a lot when I was 10 or 12), she'd say "Oh, shut up!" I mutter the same phrase often in tribute.
I remember a news channel would have a "200 yrs ago today" segment every day throughout the year. I had to pause on the ad for the Blue Oyster Cult concert with special guest Rush. I wish I could've seen Rush back in those days.
I watched part 2 first because this one didn't pop up in my queue. Both excellent. Wow, that concert add! BOC and Rush! Holy moly, I wish I'd seen that show!
I can remember when the catchphrase "flicking your Bic" became a popular expression! Even JJ on Good Times said it once! Haha! Dan Rather is still with us at the amazing age of 92 as of today!
Being English I had to portray King George 111 in the Bicentennial play at Dubai Petroleum COmpany American Community School . . . I was stereotyped!!!
I can recall vividly with fondness -Kiss Spirit of '76 Tour poster on my wall, Bicentennial logo shirt and stickers, excited about the Summer Olympics, the MLB National League Centennial Baseball season, Pittsburgh Pirates and others wearing "pillbox hats", The All Star Game in Philadelphia. Mark "The Bird" Fydrich for the American League vs Randy Jones and the NL stars, as well as cool songs on the radio. Playing outside..... Beautiful
My favorite memory of the bicentennial was....and remember it was almost 50 years ago so this was TOTALLY new....Baskin Robbins had vanilla ice cream with red white and blue candies in it! I was sooo impressed and got it every trip all summer! Not long after my favorite became daiquiri ice but for the summer of 76' I must have had 30 red white and blue cones as sadly twas gone by Summer's end!!!😂😂😂
Find it ironic that in 1976 the most American of years that the Olympics were held in Canada (Montreal) That ABC Sunday/Monday night theme brings back so many memories BTW the song I'm Easy is from the movie Nashville released the year before and had recently won the Oscar. However the single may have been released in July 76. Either way, it;s a great song.
oh yeah man. even as a young lad i remember the pride we all felt back then. i also noticed two references of will rogers, though the first one was second hand through his son whom i had totally forgotten about. he sounded and looked like his old man. thanks again sir. now for part two.
I was 17 in July of 1976. I turned 18 in August. This was the summer between my 11th grade and 12th grade high school experience. I graduated from high school in June of 1977. Hard to believe that that was almost 50 years ago now
Who else got contact lenses when they first came out in the 70's? They weren't the soft lenses they have today that work so well. No, these were hard lenses that sometimes were a real pain in the butt. Also note one of the key selling points on the Dodge Colt was the "locking gas" lid. Yes, people stealing gas from your car was a big problem.
I was 10 years old, and I remember my mother going to the disco and leaving me and my two brothers at home. I would beg my brothers to stay awake until our mother came( usually 2am). we watched the honeymooners, but they always fell asleep, I was scared waiting for my mom to return 😢.
We can only hope the Semiquincentennial will be so grand. With 2026 being a Winter Olympics year, we need Dorothy Hamill to come back and help us kick the year off right.
I missed all of this because I was at Parris Island in bootcamp. Graduated on July 19 so all of the celebrations were over. Hard to believe how much time has passed
We are approaching the Sestercentennial (250 years). It would be nice if Americans could put aside their petty differences and show the kind of Patriotism we had back 1976. I remember the Tall Ships in the Hudson, the Fireworks ... I agree with the other comments. It wasn't a perfect time in our history... but I would go back in a heartbeat and leave today's insanity behind.
Wow!! I thought the song (I'm Easy) @ 11:24 sounded like Keith Carradine. Turns out it is (I didn't remember him singing). It's from the 1975 film Nashville.
Yes those were the good old days growing up I was 11 years old and I remember everything thing was bicentennial red white and blue some one even painted a fire highdrant those colors
8:16 Bic lighter commercials. Yesterday at the grocery store, I had to get in line at customer service to buy lighters. *Man* do I miss the 70s. Great stuff as always, Fred.
Bic is the name of my butane I love to flick its dependable flame It comes in all the colors of the rain-ee-yaaa-en-yaaain-bowww Of all the lighters you can pi-iick There's only one that's called a Biiic You can count on the flick Of a Biiiiiic Oh, of a Biiiiiic
I was down on the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade that 4th of July weekend. At 19 I wanted to take it all in. Tall ships, the whole bit. I remember it being a particularly hot summer in Boston that year.
I'd forgotten about "I'm Easy" by Keith Carradine. It might have been a hit but I'm glad Keith stuck to acting because that song just didn't resonate with testosterone filled teenage boys, and don't think I could have taken anymore. It was bad enough we had James Taylor, but this was piling on!
The month after I graduated high school. Even my friends and I who were too cool for everything fell under the Bicentennial spell. It was a fun event and distracted us from the unknowns we would face at the end of that summer. David Brinkley truly was the dullest man on the planet back then, wasn’t he? He should have been the spokesperson for sleep aids like Sominex.
And yet, if you go back and watch the interviews he gave during the last years of his life, he was smiling and animated and was clearly happy, not dull in the least.
was a 16 yo dishwasher in a restaurant. Learned how to mop floors correctly. Got my drivers license. Drove like a jerk sometimes. and they "Flicked your Bic inside an airplane"?! Yep!
2:06 Was this the time that the Polish delegation showed up on July 9th? LOL! Maybe I'm thinking about some other U.S. birthday bash year where that occurred. Kinda funny!
I remember that year. I was a teenager and didn’t understand why the bicentennial was so major when the soldiers returning from Vietnam were being treated like child rapists.
Nice job, Fred! All I remember from Sunday, July 4, is going to church in a place called Freedom, NH (near my grandparents' summer cabin). 6:39 - I think the boy was child actor David Hollander, who was on shows like WHAT'S HAPPENING! and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE through the 1980s. 11:32 - Louise Lasser made a disastrous summer SNL hosting appearance this month. Another episode the next week was hosted by Kris Kristofferson. 13:05 - A rare announcement mistake, as the Dem convention began Monday, July 12 (not July 11).
The 'second oldest major continuing nation in the world' I think Mr Reasoner was referring to our system of government. Our mother nation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the oldest. There are many nations older than the U.S. and our mother nation, the United Kingdom. The 'catch' is the the system of government. Unlike France and Germany, we don't have Second Reichs and Third Republics. Our stability is based upon the stability of our mother, the United Kingdom.