Jun 15, 2026 · 44 min · 11 segments
As the U.S. approaches the 150th anniversary of The Declaration of Independence, FTR70 looks back to Episode 31, which examines 1976 and state of the nation -- and pop music -- in that bicentennal…
Gerald Ford.
He is the only person in United States history to serve as both vice president and president without being elected to either office.
He was president of the United States of America as its 200th birthday approached.
That Ford was president on the occasion of America's bicentennial seems oddly appropriate for America in 1976.
Ford was the living symbol of both the chaos that the decade had brought, much of which was baggage from the '60s, as well as America's attempt to move on.
He was popular, not controversial in the slightest, and he wanted the nation to turn the page.
If he thought pardoning Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed, and this pardon occurred on September 8, 1974, exactly a month after Nixon resigned.
If he thought that that was going to help the nation turn the page, he may have miscalculated on that.
Saying that America's long national nightmare was over did not make it so, and for many Americans in 1976, they were still pissed at Ford for what they perceived as letting Nixon off the hook for his role in Watergate.
And they were going to show it at the ballot box because 1976 was an election year.
Less than two years out from Watergate and Nixon's resignation, uh, we were less than a year out from the fall of Saigon.
We were smack dab in the middle of a shaky economy, much of that because war is very expensive.
We were in the midst of the women's liberation movement.
We were trying to figure out what it meant to live in the post-Civil Rights era and actually live within the legislation that had been passed in the '60s.
For all these reasons, celebrating our nation's 200th birthday was complicated.
Not everyone felt like we had much to celebrate or that we even should celebrate.
What did America's bicentennial mean to those who descended from slavery and still lived with racial discrimination? What were Native Americans to think of this celebration? There's no set answer to these questions.
For African Americans, some sided with Jesse Jackson, who said that Black Americans were still not free, and called for a boycott of bicentennial events.
Some sided with the widow of Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, and got actively involved in bicentennial planning.
Some activists in the Red America movement celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn, which you might recall is where General George Armstrong Custer met his maker and died in South Dakota.
And then some Native Americans joined in local Fourth of July celebrations.
I bring this up because the Fourth of July and Independence Day might mean one thing to you and another completely different thing to your neighbor.
That was definitely true in 1976 when for some people, it just felt inappropriate to have a big blowout celebration given everything that had happened in the nation over the previous years.
To others, a giant birthday party and hosting the Winter Olympics in Denver, Colorado, seemed like just what we needed.
Now, some of you might be racking your brains trying to remember the 1976 Winter Olympics and what? The Olympics were in Denver? Well, no.
Gerald Ford.
He is the only person in United States history to serve as both vice president and president without being elected to either office.
He was president of the United States of America as its 200th birthday approached.
That Ford was president on the occasion of America's bicentennial seems oddly appropriate for America in 1976.
Ford was the living symbol of both the chaos that the decade had brought, much of which was baggage from the '60s, as well as America's attempt to move on.
He was popular, not controversial in the slightest, and he wanted the nation to turn the page.
If he thought pardoning Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed, and this pardon occurred on September 8, 1974, exactly a month after Nixon resigned.
If he thought that that was going to help the nation turn the page, he may have miscalculated on that.
Saying that America's long national nightmare was over did not make it so, and for many Americans in 1976, they were still pissed at Ford for what they perceived as letting Nixon off the hook for his role in Watergate.
And they were going to show it at the ballot box because 1976 was an election year.
Less than two years out from Watergate and Nixon's resignation, uh, we were less than a year out from the fall of Saigon.
We were smack dab in the middle of a shaky economy, much of that because war is very expensive.
We were in the midst of the women's liberation movement.
We were trying to figure out what it meant to live in the post-Civil Rights era and actually live within the legislation that had been passed in the '60s.
For all these reasons, celebrating our nation's 200th birthday was complicated.
Not everyone felt like we had much to celebrate or that we even should celebrate.
What did America's bicentennial mean to those who descended from slavery and still lived with racial discrimination? What were Native Americans to think of this celebration? There's no set answer to these questions.
For African Americans, some sided with Jesse Jackson, who said that Black Americans were still not free, and called for a boycott of bicentennial events.
Some sided with the widow of Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, and got actively involved in bicentennial planning.
Some activists in the Red America movement celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn, which you might recall is where General George Armstrong Custer met his maker and died in South Dakota.
And then some Native Americans joined in local Fourth of July celebrations.
I bring this up because the Fourth of July and Independence Day might mean one thing to you and another completely different thing to your neighbor.
That was definitely true in 1976 when for some people, it just felt inappropriate to have a big blowout celebration given everything that had happened in the nation over the previous years.
To others, a giant birthday party and hosting the Winter Olympics in Denver, Colorado, seemed like just what we needed.
Now, some of you might be racking your brains trying to remember the 1976 Winter Olympics and what? The Olympics were in Denver? Well, no.
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