Party in the USA: The 1976 Bicentennial in Boston
In 1976 Boston saw the bicentennial celebrations of the United States as an opportunity to revitalise the city.
In 1776 the Founding Father John Adams stated that future commemorations of the United States’ independence ‘ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, and from this time forward, forevermore’. In proposing plans for the 1976 bicentennial celebrations, Boston’s Finance Commission was more fiscally minded: ‘In order to justify such expenditures – especially when a good portion of these expenditures must come from the public sector – the end result must be something more than a gigantic party.’
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