Much has changed since America celebrated its bicentennial anniversary 50 years ago. But as we observe our 250th birthday as a nation this Fourth of July, there are notable parallels, which are no cause for pride.
Back then, the American people were recovering from a lost war, suffering from rising prices, feeling the trauma of sordid White House scandals and saddled with an unpopular president. Today, ditto.
Despite Vietnam, Watergate and the malfunctioning economy, the 1976 celebration provided a moment of patriotic good cheer. “Nation and Millions in City Joyously Hail Bicentennial” was the banner headline in The New York Times. The event provided hope that the great American experiment would not only survive but also thrive.
President Gerald Ford, not famous for his oratorical brilliance, rose to the occasion. On July 5, he went to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home to address around 100 newly naturalized Americans in a heartfelt tribute to diversity.
“‘Black is beautiful’ was a motto of genius which uplifted us far above its intention,” this white, conservative Republican said. “Once Americans had thought about it and perceived its truth, we began to realize that so are brown, white, red, and yellow beautiful.”
He went on, telling these new Americans: “You came as strangers among us and you leave here as citizens, equal in fundamental rights, equal before the law, with an equal share in the promise of the future.”
The contrast with President Donald Trump’s sentiments could not be more vivid. He is contemptuous of diversity, racial or otherwise, and hostile to immigrants, legal or not. He thinks that undocumented migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” He denounced legal Somali immigrants as “garbage.”
That’s just one of the ways in which Trump has betrayed the promise of the Bicentennial. It followed President Richard Nixon’s abuses of power, which prompted Congress to act with bipartisan resolve. Measures were passed to guard against ethical abuses, prevent the FBI and CIA from violating the rights of Americans, curb the president’s power to take the nation to war and uphold the integrity of the Justice Department. The Supreme Court had ordered Nixon to turn over White House tapes that proved his guilt.
None of these achievements stopped Trump from abusing his office to enrich himself, unleashing federal goons on peaceful protesters, starting wars on a whim and turning the Justice Department into his personal attack machine. The congressional Republicans who demanded that Nixon go have been replaced by GOP members whose servility to Trump has no limits. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has granted him a license to commit crimes.
In 1976, the United States was becoming a freer, fairer country. Black people, who had led the dismantling of segregation, won full voting rights. Women gained protections against discrimination and the right to abortion. More than a dozen states had repealed laws that criminalized homosexuality.
The immigration system, which once overwhelmingly favored people from Western and Northern Europe, was now open to arrivals not only from Southern and Eastern Europe but also Asia, Africa and South America.
But yesterday’s advances have given way to a dismal retreat today. The administration has worked to eliminate the Black-majority districts previously required by the Voting Rights Act — and the Supreme Court has agreed. Trump has targeted companies and universities for policies that strive to overcome racial inequities.
The court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, putting the health and lives of pregnant women in jeopardy.
The administration has launched an all-out war on transgender people — banning them from the military, forcing them to enter on their passports the sex assigned to them at birth, depriving them of protection against discrimination and barring federally funded hospitals from providing gender-affirming care to minors. Republican state legislators have pushed measures to overturn same-sex marriage.
Diversity is a dirty word to this regime. Trump has acted to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians, with the full blessing of the Supreme Court. The administration has drastically reduced the admission of refugees — while promising to give most of the remaining slots to white South Africans. He even tried to repeal birthright citizenship, which even for this court was too much to tolerate.
Trump’s use of the 250th anniversary to celebrate himself and politicize the occasion epitomizes his rejection of the unifying spirit of 1976.
Back then, a left-wing group, the People’s Bicentennial Commission, tried in vain to assert ownership over the occasion. This time, it’s the president who has attempted the hijacking. His effort has been a resounding failure, but it has largely extinguished public enthusiasm for what could have been a proud milestone.
But it’s a good metaphor for the ruin he has visited on the institutions, values and norms that have distinguished America for the past two and a half centuries. We are left to wonder if, 50 years from now, there will be anything left to celebrate.
Steve Chapman was a member of the Tribune Editorial Board from 1981 to 2021. His columns, exclusive to the Tribune, now appear the first week of every month. He can be reached at stephenjchapman@icloud.com.
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