What do you remember most about 1976?

Here in the US we were celebrating the Bicentennial of our freedom from the tyranny of the British Crown. Like other responders mentioned it was a fairly tepid affair here in Philadelphia. You would have expected it to be a very big deal, but the mayor at that time, Frank Rizzo scared a lot of people away when he predicted anarchy in the streets where America was born and said that the police would crack down hard on anybody who got out of line. You can imagine what that did to tourism.

Two things I do remember from that year were the Tall Ships visiting a number of cities on the east coast in conjunction with the Bicentennial. They were majestic sailing ships that filled up NY harbor, Philadelphia seaport and the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

The other big event was the presidential election where Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia (along with being a retired Navy officer) beat Gerald Ford from Michigan who was the incumbent. Ford was hobbled by being the VP selected by Nixon before Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal. I remember my mother, a staunch republican said she could never vote for Ford because he pardoned Nixon from his crimes.

The Philadelphia Phillies, my hometown baseball team won 101 games and finished first in the National League East for the first time in 26 years. They were immediately eliminated by the Cincinnatti Reds in the playoffs, but it was a great year to be a Phillies fan.

In 1976, I bought a silver Toyota Corolla hatchback and ran that for 12 years until it was stolen. I still miss that car.

Well here in Britain it was, for once, HOT. Oh what joy. Me and my fiance going to a place called Littlehamton on the coast, roasting away splashing about and making love in the dunes and that was at 6 in the morning. My friend Tony not being able to see two topless girls, because he didn't have his specs on! Then getting sunburn and having to hang out the car window on the way home. I spent six weeks preparing for my exams. I would go to the local indoor swimming pool first thing in morning then revise some more. Then in the afternoon go to the outdoor pool with my books, revise then role into the pool to cool off. And of course Linda and I made love in the woods allot. A magical time. I passed with honors and we got married, sadly now divorced. But we have two wonderful daughters who both gained honors degrees. I have a granddaughter now who is an absolute joy. So 1976 the very best year of my life. Philip

heh. heh. It was a great year for me I suppose. I was in the 4th grade.

I remember all the Red, White and Blue, everywhere were the old style circle stars and stripes flags. I remember seeing my first bicentennial quarter...WOW, two dates under George and a Drummer on the back. :))

Almost everything you saw had 1776-1976 on it (at least from my perspective). In fact, on the front of my house even now, there is a brass eagle with those dates under it. I have actually had people come up and ask to buy it.

As far as politics or cars, I could have not cared less. I was hunting for crawdads, going swimming and fishing with my grandpa, playing little league baseball and hanging around alot of friends that I have not seen since elementary school, and that I probably will never see again.

Good times. I think I'm going to start living my life just like that again!

1976...here I come, where's my fishing pole?

I started the year as president of Colony Marketing Inc in Concord, NH, but lived in Goshen, NY. Had a 1969 Buick Electra, black, parked at a friends house in Palos Verde, CA, and drove a 1976 Cadillac DeVille back and forth from NY to NH -- when I didn't sleep at my office, which was directly across the street from the campaign HQ of one Jimmy Carter. (Who the hell...?) I closed the company in June and flew with my eldest daughter to CA where we picked up the Buick and drove back to Fort Wayne, IN, where I had accepted a job as National Sales Manager of Philips High Fidelity Labs, which introduced the brand Philips into the American market of consumer electronics. Philips was the 14th largest corporation on the planet then, and the parent company was Philips Gloelampenfabriken of the Netherlands.

Moved the family to Fort Wayne and spent the rest of the year getting Philips products on the dealer shelves. First year turnover was $19M. Second year was $31M. Pretty good start. Was disappointed the Jimmy Carter won the election.

Let's see...

I was engaged to my first husband. He drove a 1974 green Gremlin. I was living in Antioch Ca. while taking classes at D.V.C. (Diablo Vally Collage) and playing nanny to my roommate's kids.I remember showing the kids some bicentennial quarters when out doing the laundry. Also that the youngest told her mom about this by saying..."Nanny showed us some bisexual quarters at the store today!" I loved the Big Mac at McDonald's with a diet seven-up. But later in the year I dropped out of school and after Alan and I got married on July 22nd 1976 we lived in a small cottage house next door to a Baptist church as caretakers and janitors of the church. We started going to a little place called Alice's Drive-in where I loved the banana splits.I loved to watch, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman!" My son Jason was born in Jan of 77. so that does it. ~M~

>On the radio, we were listening to Elton John, Diana Ross, Wings, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Lou Rawls, Waylan and Willie, Crystal Gayle, Charlie Rich, and Charley Pride.

You might have, I listened to the Ramones on the John Peel show.

I remember all the fan fare leading up to the Fourth of July that year. Lots of red/white/and blue stuff in stores. I remember one station, CBS maybe, used to air "Bicentennial Minutes" a two minute commercial each evening, in which they would say what happened two hundred years ago that day. I believe it had a different celebrity do it each night. I remember Elton John and KiKi Dee singing "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" on the radio a lot. I remember when Freddie Prince killed himself, very shocking as we used to watch Chico and the Man every Friday night.

I'm English, and in UK 1976 was the year of the Great Drought. All the reservoirs dried up,and the weather was hot and sunny for months,really

unusual for Britain.

The top song was by Donna Summer (can't remember the title) and the Knebworth Rock Festival that year was the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd (last big gig before the plane crash).

I worked in a big hotel all summer, and spent my free time on the beach and got a great tan.

Actually, the things I remember most about 1976 were -

A) The drought.

B) The awesome West Indies team - particularly Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Gordon Greenidge and Michael Holding.

This last won't mean much to Americans, I suspect.

The bicentenial was not a one day thing, in fact not a one year thing, it had gone on for a couple of years. There were things on TV everynight called "Bicentenial Minutes". An actor or celebrity of some kind would do a little history thing about that day in history during the Revolution. They went on for over a year.