Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilORDA234Dossier“We must not be carried away by t...

Dossier

“We must not be carried away by the thought that this July 4 will be a major milestone in human history”: The Ford Administration and the 1976 Bicentennial

“On ne devrait pas se laisser emporter et penser que ce 4 juillet sera un moment majeur dans l’histoire de l’humanité”: l’administration Ford et la célébration du bicentenaire de 1776
“No debemos dejarnos llevar por la idea de que este 4 de julio será un hito importante en la historia de la humanida”: la Administración Ford y el Bicentenario de 1976
“Não devemos nos deixar levar pela ideia de que este 4 de julho será um marco maior na história da humanidade”: a Administração Ford e o Bicentenário de 1976
Françoise Coste

Résumés

Les commémorations en juillet 1776 du bicentenaire de l’indépendance américaine n’ont jamais été considérées comme une priorité par l’administration de Gerald Ford. Que ce soit pour des raisons politiques, militaires ou économiques, la population des États-Unis n’étais pas d’humeur festive dans les années 1970. Pire encore, les conseillers de Ford ne le pensaient pas suffisamment charismatique pour incarner les célébrations du bicentenaire. Ils se tournèrent donc vers un petit groupe d’intellectuels conservateurs afin qu’ils alimentent la Maison-Blanche en idées de discours. Ces hommes remplirent cette mission avec beaucoup de sérieux et Ford suivit consciencieusement leurs conseils rhétoriques et idéologiques. Bien qu’aucun des discours qu’il fit à l’occasion du bicentenaire ne marqua l’histoire présidentielle, ils illustrent un mode politique aujourd’hui disparu, celui d’un conservatisme modéré, particulièrement sur des sujets comme le rôle joué par l’immigration et la science dans l’histoire de la démocratie états-unienne depuis 1776.

Haut de page

Texte intégral

1Gerald Ford became President of the United States in August 1974, in the wake of Richard Nixon’s resignation at the height of the Watergate scandal. Among the many unexpected items on the to-do list of this relatively unprepared President – who had been appointed to the vice-presidency barely eight months earlier, following Spiro Agnew’s resignation in October 1973 – was the celebration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution, scheduled for July 1976. Commemorations are usually highly normative events, defined by what M. Todd Bennett calls “pre-programmed rituals,” such as “making speeches, dedicating monuments, designating landmarks, and so forth”. From these rituals emerges “a sort of secular religion,” with its saints and holy places, which help give a nation a sense collective identity (Bennett 698). This was exactly what the Centennial of the Revolution had managed to achieve in 1876 – two million people had visited the Centennial Exhibition, organized in Philadelphia, where one of the main attractions had been the arm and torch of the future Statue of Liberty. In the aftermath of the Civil War, white America had decided to turn the page of fratricide violence to display American progress and success to the rest of the world (Kachun 305-307). The Centennial had consequently been a perfect illustration of how “commemorative activities” and “the dramatic exchange of interests” they entail end up shaping a nation’s public memory (Bodnar 13). This process is intrinsically a political one; as John Bodnar explains, commemorations and public memory “involv[e] not so much specific economic or moral problems but rather fundamental issues about the entire existence of a society: its organization, structure of power, and the very meaning of its past and present” (Bodnar 14). The 1976 Bicentennial, and the way the Ford Administration managed it, confirmed how complex these commemorative stakes can be.

2The history of the Bicentennial began in 1966, when Congress created the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission (ARBC). From the get-go, the ARBC struggled with its mission. Its recommendations regarding the upcoming commemorations, which were expected by 1968, were published only in 1970, and its vision was rather lackluster: the Bicentennial should celebrate the past (through the suggested theme of “Heritage ’76”), the present (suggested theme: “Festival USA”), and the future (suggested theme: “Horizons ’76”), through the organization of a new commemorative exhibition in Philadelphia, obviously in the footsteps of what had been done a century earlier (Bodnar 229‑230).

3The Commission’s ideas were scathingly received. Its members were accused of being the corrupt cronies of President Nixon and the planned exhibition’s price tag (estimated at 1.5 billion dollars) was seen as quite excessive, especially after the 1973 oil shock triggered an economic crisis that would last for the rest of the decade (Devine 10-11; Bennett 706). More significantly, grassroots activists launched increasingly visible efforts to criticize and reject the conservative, “chauvinis[tic],” and corporate subtext of the ARBC’s plans: left-wing groups like the National Organization for Women (NOW), the People’s Bicentennial Commission, or the American-Indian Movement strongly condemned the use of private funds to finance the “Buy-centennial” and demanded the inclusion of racial and gender minorities in the upcoming public commemorations of the Revolution (Helgren 105-106; Bennett 706; Bodnar 234). Facing discredit from all sides, the ARBC was finally dismantled by Congress which replaced it in 1974 with a new body, the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA). Under the leadership of John Warner, who had been Nixon’s Secretary of the Navy, the ARBA listened to critics and changed the course of the Bicentennial. No more expensive and self-congratulatory exhibition in one big city; in its stead, the federal government would support decentralized and smaller-scale commemorations in countless local communities throughout the country, allowing for the participation of as many different groups and citizens as possible (Devine 11).

4It is in this very complicated context that Gerald Ford entered the White House in the summer of 1974. To make things worse, the situation seemed to become more chaotic on an almost daily basis, what with the end of the Vietnam War, the aftermath of Watergate, the political storm triggered by his pardoning Nixon, and the difficult economic consequences of the first oil shock. How then would the new and untested President navigate this commemorative minefield?

I/ Early thinking about the Bicentennial

5Ford’s team had to start thinking about the Bicentennial in early 1975, when the President began to receive “a substantial number of requests” to attend events planned for late June-early July 1976. His advisors were immediately annoyed by these invitations as they noticed that “very influential people who feel that they can get commitments of the President’s time” were spontaneously contacting him; the risk was a free-for-all where the President would say “yes” to please his friends (like renowned Evangelical preacher Billy Graham), which would lead to an impossible schedule. So Ford’s team pleaded with him to adopt a more rational approach:

  • 1 Jack Marsh Memo, Feb. 4 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Plannin (...)

It is the feeling of a number of your senior advisors that prior to making irrevocable commitments this far in advance, some general plan should be developed, subject to your approval, on your participation in the Bicentennial ceremonies.1

  • 2 Ron Nessen Memo, Feb. 17, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Plann (...)
  • 3 Warren Rustand Memo, April 29, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range (...)

6If a more streamlined process was put in place, Ford’s advisors felt, then the Bicentennial could actually be helpful for him, it could become “an historic opportunity” to “say something very, very important to the Nation about the past and the future”.2 In so doing, Ford could also “restore the Presidency as the focal point of moral and national leadership” – a tall order after Watergate.3 Interestingly, the view that the Bicentennial could very well have “a tremendous political potential” for Ford was shared by the New York Times, who saw it as “a chance to rebuild the national unity that ha[d] been disrupted by the civil rights revolution, by the war in Vietnam and now by economic and social dislocation” (Apple).

7In the Spring of 1975, the 1st commemorations were held in Concord and Lexington, where the so-called “shot heard round the world” had marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War two centuries earlier. Not only did protests led by the People’s Bicentennial Commission disrupt these ceremonies, but it was also obvious that the Ford Administration had no idea how to go about the Bicentennial (Bennett 695). The New York Times was extremely disappointed by Ford’s speeches in Massachusetts, whose content was clearly not up to the historical significance of the time since the President had relied on boilerplate military history and on a conservative emphasis on “reason” and “order” rather than on the concept of “revolution” itself:

There was strong indication during Mr. Ford’s first Bicentennial trip that he and associates may not have quite grasped all of his, decided precisely the message they want to convey or settled on the means of doing so. (Apple.)

8The Times had correctly sensed something was off as, behind the scenes, trying to organize the Bicentennial had by then become a political and diplomatic headache for Ford’s staffers.

  • 4 Dick Lukstat memo, April 16, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Pl (...)

9Despite working with the National Park Service and with the ARBA, Ford’s team had many more questions than it had answers. How often should the President attend a Bicentennial event? Where: only in the North-East or everywhere in the country? Should he go to small-scale celebrations on top of “major” ones? Should he personally meet with the 40 international Heads of State expected in the US during the Bicentennial, or just with Queen Elizabeth II and the French President (“because of the special role of these nations” as Dick Lukstat, one of Ford’s advisors, put it)? Should he also meet the 50 Governors? Should the First Family participate? Could cabinet members be used as surrogates? Should the President go to Monticello? Only one thing seemed certain: in case of a conflict between a commemorative event and a political emergency, “Bicentennial events w[ould] not drive the schedule.”4

  • 5 Jim Cannon, Bicentennial Themes Memo, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentenni (...)
  • 6 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, (...)

10On top of this evident lack of enthusiasm, there were also doubts, within the White House, as to whether Ford was actually charismatic enough to carry the Bicentennial on his presidential shoulders. As some of his advisors, somewhat harshly, admitted it, Ford was a “doer,” not “a poet” (Martin). If his team, impressed by the historical stakes of the Bicentennial, tried to write “pretentious” speeches for him, then the President would sound “portentous” and he would fail to talk to “all the people,” that is, in their own “language”.5 So the strategy should not be grand at all and Ford’s staffers should not delude themselves into thinking they were making history. After all, as Robert Hartmann, Ford’s main advisor, reminded his colleagues in the West Wing, commemorations do not really matter: “We must not be carried away by the thought that this July 4 will be […] a major milestone in human history. Read some of the junk uttered in 1876.”6 In other words, the Ford’s White House was torn between two paradoxical stances: the Bicentennial was a big deal, with an enormous political potential for the President, but it was not really a priority either.

II/ What to say

  • 7 Schedule Proposal for the President memo, January 9 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folde (...)
  • 8 Maureen W. Brown memo, June 28 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicenten (...)
  • 9 Monticello was Thomas Jefferson’s plantation in Virginia (The President’s Participation in Bicenten (...)

11After almost a full year of hesitations and doubts, the President’s Bicentennial schedule was finally announced in late May 1976. First, on July 1st, Ford would “dedicate” the brand new National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Why this inclusion into the Bicentennial program? Congress had decided to establish a “National Air Museum” in the nation’s capital all the way back in 1946. But the museum’s location had not been selected until 1958; then the museum’s name had been modified in 1966 (to “National Air and Space Museum”) and construction had finally begun in 1972. Admittedly, the construction of the museum had nothing to do with the Bicentennial per se, but all these delays led to a timing coincidence which, in the end, allowed the Smithsonian Institution to “conside[r] this federal project as a Bicentennial event.”7 Then, on July 3rd, President Ford would pay a tribute to the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives and attend the Honor America program at the Kennedy Center. On July 4th, he would go to Valley Forge and then to Philadelphia for his main Bicentennial speech at Independence Hall, after which he would go to New York to review Operation Sail (a parade, in New York harbor, of more than 200 sailing ships, coming from all around the world), before returning to the White House to watch the Happy Birthday USA fireworks.8 Finally, on July 5th, he would go to Monticello to witness a naturalization ceremony for immigrants.9

  • 10 The American Adventure, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentenni (...)
  • 11 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, (...)

12Once this was settled, Ford’s team had a little bit more than a month to decide what the President would actually say in these speeches. They decided that “the overall theme” of these five days would be encapsulated through a new slogan, “The American Adventure,” an adventure that had “brought forth upon this continent not only a new nation, but a new kind of people.”10 Initially, they had considered other concepts, like “the American experience” or “the American experiment,” but they finally settled on “adventure” because the word “convey[ed] a sense of excitement and of continuation,” as in “the best is yet to be”.11

  • 12 Robert T. Hartmann memo, June 8, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 131, Folder Hartmann – memos (...)
  • 13 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, F (...)
  • 14 Charles McCall, Memorandum for Bob Orben, June 18, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder (...)
  • 15 Irving Kristol was a famous New York intellectual of the post-war period, often considered the main (...)

13But what precise words could be used to fit this very vague label? In early June 1976, Hartmann began to discuss his upcoming Bicentennial speeches with the President. Right away, he could feel that Ford was “worried about this project” and was hoping for “outstanding speeches of very high quality”. But Hartmann feared the West Wing was too disorganized, too marred by “conspiratorial game playing” and “destructive child play” to achieve this goal – and the Ford administration is indeed well-known for high levels of dysfunctional infighting (Hartmann 424).12 So Hartmann decided to take the matter into his own hands; he would lead the process and “coordinate” the speechwriting team. This team would include White House staffers, of course, but also, quite interestingly, a group of outsiders, composed of pro-Ford academics and intellectuals, whom Hartmann described as “outstanding historical writers”.13 Four thinkers proved particularly instrumental in this preparatory work: first, Robert A. Goldwin – a former student of Leo Strauss, this political scientist had accepted to become the Ford White House’s “intellectual-in-residence” at the urging of his friend Donald Rumsfeld, Ford’s first Chief of Staff (Brown E.); then, political scientist and historian Martin Diamond (Kirkpatrick 7-31);14 famous neoconservative thinker Irving Kristol;15 and finally Herbert Storing, a renowned political scientist at the University of Chicago (James Madison Program In American Ideals and Institutions 2017; Bessette 2025).

14Interestingly, even though they did not work together, these men were on the same wavelength. In their messages to the White House, they more or less stressed the same priorities – this intellectual proximity being likely due to their sharing very similar profiles, like their ties to Leo Strauss or the University of Chicago. In the reflections they sent Hartmann, they identified five themes the president should discuss in his Bicentennial speeches

III/ Five priorities

  • 16 Martin Diamond, National Archives, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – (...)
  • 17 Irving Kristol, The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, (...)

15The first theme they encouraged Ford to embrace was the link and the continuum between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This was far from a given for the Ford team. Indeed, when the White House had agreed to have the President speak at the National Archives, the ARBA had initially suggested he should center this speech on the Declaration of Independence only. Interestingly, Martin Diamond (who also sat on the ARBA’s National Advisory Council) disagreed and thought it would be a mistake as he was convinced there was an organic link between the Declaration and the Constitution: if the Declaration was “a promise” (“all government […] exists only to secure our unalienable rights”), this promise “needed fulfillment,” and this was precisely “the task of the Constitution” as it gave birth to “the government of a free, strong, orderly, democratic republic.” So Diamond encouraged Ford to present the American Revolution as “not just a single outburst of revolutionary enthusiasm,” but rather as “a decade of brave action and deliberate thought.”16 Kristol fully agreed and he too insisted on the need to celebrate the Declaration and the Constitution together, as two sides of the same coin. As he explained it, the “Declaration provides us with the purpose of government,” which is “to secure the rights of the individual,” while the Constitution “gives us the means to this end,” through a “federal” and “democratic republic” based on the separation of powers.17

16The second theme which Ford should stress was the role played by the government. For Robert Goldwin, the Bicentennial should trigger a larger reflection on the role of government in American life. His assessment was somber as, according to him, by the mid-1970s, American people were suffering under “the mass aspects of modern life: big government, big labor unions, big business, mass education, mass marketing, and mass media.” At the same time, blaming everything on the government and saying, like so many conservatives did, that government is “evil” was a mistake, and it actually amounted to completely misunderstanding the Declaration:

If governments exist to secure our most important rights, as we affirm in the Declaration, then government is not an evil. Government is a necessary good. […] Liberty is in danger when government has too little power… We have always sought government that is not too strong for the liberty of the people, but strong enough to protect the equal rights of all.

  • 18 Robert A. Goldwin, “The Heritage of the Nation,” May 11, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Papers, Box 12, Fo (...)

17This argument is audacious, coming at a time when Conservatives were increasingly claiming their intellectual kinship with the Declaration. But Goldwin was not convinced by small-government Jeffersonianism. For him, when Jefferson chose to write in the Declaration words like “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,” he was actually “pa[ying] government the highest possible tribute.” In so doing, he was the perfect illustration of the exceptionalism of the American Revolution since he was proving the unique way US democracy would take, rejecting the stances of both cynical and pessimistic conservatives (i.e. the “people [who] say grudgingly […] that government is a necessary evil”) and dangerous “Marxists and Leninists” who “foolishly speak of the time when government will wither away”18 – a message that should be repeated more than ever, given the shaky standing of the United States in the Cold War in the wake of its humiliation in Vietnam.

  • 19 Robert A. Goldwin, Notes on the Air and Space Museum Speech, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, (...)
  • 20 Irving Kristol, Notes on the Air and Space Museum Speech, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box (...)

18The next suggestion was less conventional as it regarded the role of science in US history and was inspired by Ford’s upcoming visit to the brand new Air and Space Museum. Including this stop in the President’s busy Bicentennial schedule was an unexpected and original decision, compared to previous commemorations. It led to ambitious reflections, on the part of the White House’s four intellectual advisors, on the connection between, on the one hand, “scientific and technological advances” and, on the other, “political liberty.” Goldwin, for one, reminded Hartmann that “the pursuit of knowledge” had actually been “institutionalized” in the very first Article of the Constitution (“The Congress shall have the power […] to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”). And this, in turn, could not work without free speech since an inventive society is “not afraid […] of what free individuals may write or produce.” As a consequence, the US is a country that “welcome[s] the untried and the unprecedented.”19 Kristol was equally convinced that science and progress do have a political and philosophical dimension, as proven by the American Revolution. Indeed, according to him, believing in the potential of science is in itself a political decision, one based on the “confidence that a free people, freely using their creative talents, can use science and technology to resolve the problems posed by science and technology.” Conversely, if one does not share that belief, “then the argument for freedom itself – freedom of thought, freedom of intellectual enterprise, freedom to innovate – is itself brought into question.”20

  • 21 Robert A. Goldwin, Bicentennial Themes, non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentenn (...)

19The fourth item in the list was, interestingly, the role played by immigration in the making of US society. For Goldwin, President Ford should absolutely include in his Bicentennial remarks a reflection on the multicultural nature of the American people. His suggestion was to use the E Pluribus Unum motto as a starting point to show how “we are striving to become one people out of a great diversity of peoples – a multiplicity of races, ethnic groups, and religious sects.” Admittedly, in the past, many political leaders had railed against “hyphenated Americans”. The Bicentennial could consequently be used to turn that page, and underline instead “the possibility that Americans can be good Americans, proud Americans, patriotic and loyal Americans – and something else.”21 This topic was also foremost in the mind of Irving Kristol. According to Kristol, himself the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, the defining characteristic of the US may well be “the uniqueness of the immigrant experience,” precisely because it was the ultimate proof of the success of the 1776 Revolution:

  • 22 Irving Kristol, The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, (...)

We gambled that we could take in anyone, from anywhere, and that simply by reason of their experience in America these people would become loyal, law-abiding, productive citizens. The gamble worked. And the success of this enterprise reveals […] the universality of the political ideas on which the US was founded.22

  • 23 Robert A. Goldwin, “Bicentennial Themes,” non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicente (...)
  • 24 Herbert Storing, Miscellaneous Points, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeche (...)
  • 25 Herbert Storing, Miscellaneous Points, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeche (...)
  • 26 Irving Kristol, The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, (...)
  • 27 Robert A. Goldwin, “Bicentennial Themes,” non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicente (...)

20Finally, this group of conservative intellectuals all agreed on the paradoxical nature of the Bicentennial. In the words of Goldwin: by “celebrating the 200th anniversary of a revolution,” the Ford Administration would be “glorifying revolution and stability at the same time.”23 Herbert Storing also insisted on the “conservative character” of the American Revolution.24 The key to understanding this paradox was to be found in the wisdom of the Founding Fathers – who should clearly be put on a deserved pedestal, far from the social history fads then spreading like wildfire in academia. If the US experiment was so unique in the world, it was because, as Storing explained, “our fathers” were not like “usua[l] révolutionnaires” (he evidently used the French term on purpose) since “in their very instrument of revolution, the American founders taught law-abidingness, and even a leaning over backward in favor of law and existing institutions”25 – a point shared by Kristol for whom “The American Revolution was a ‘law and order’ Revolution […] And that is one of the secrets of its success.”26 Goldwin could only concur, as he too was convinced that “the leaders of our Revolution” had been “moderate men, not given to excesses, and certainly not bloody-minded.”27

  • 28 Herbert Storing, Miscellaneous Points, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeche (...)

21By the late 1970s, even the Republican men in the White House were aware that such levels of adoring devotion towards the Founding Fathers could be perceived as excessive and problematic in a country that had finally begun to face its tragic racial history thanks to the Civil Rights Movement. As Storing, who was white, had written several texts about Frederick Douglass and black political thought, he was specifically asked by the White House whether the President’s upcoming speeches should mention race; rather tellingly, no one around Ford thought it more relevant to turn to an African-American historian to discuss this point, or to ask a similar question regarding the tragic history of Native Americans. Never doubting his own legitimacy in the matter however, Storing gave an unequivocal answer: Ford should absolutely “acknowledge… American Blacks” and “to omit the matter altogether from the President’s account of the significance of the Bicentennial would be a serious injustice to our past and to our present.” He consequently thought that Ford should stress the fact that, over the centuries, Americans had “significantly improved on the work of our fathers,” while also admitting that “there [was] still much to do” in order to create “a bi-racial political society.”28

IV/ Ford’s speeches

  • 29 Ron Nessen Memorandum, June 16, 1976, James E. Connor Papers, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial Events – J (...)

22So what was the result of this intense brainstorming? Ford did give speeches at every stop of his Bicentennial tour, but their media coverage ended up being more limited than what the White House had hoped for: only his 4th of July speech in Philadelphia aired live on all three networks; the other speeches would be mentioned in the evening news only if the networks judged they had any “news value” at all.29 Popular enthusiasm for what the President had to say was clearly limited. And yet, looking back, his Bicentennial speeches are worthy of being read, if only because Goldwin, Diamond, Kristol, and Storing left their fingerprints all over them.

23For instance, the President did pay tribute to the achievements of American science when dedicating the Air and Space Museum. Noting that “the story of powered flight is an American saga,” he explained that scientific feats actually go beyond science as they “tell us something […] about ourselves.” And what defined America was “a willingness – even an eagerness – to reach for the unknown.” For Ford, this state of mind had shaped the political history of the country through a symbiotic relationship between American science and American institutions. It was precisely because American “men and women” always “try the untried and […] take uncertain paths into the unknown” that they had dared to declare their independence: “Our Bicentennial commemorates the beginning of such a quest.” Conversely, the never-ending breakthroughs of American scientists would not have been possible without the Constitution, since it “promote[s] science […] by rewarding inventors and authors with patents and copyrights.” (Ford July 1, 1976.)

24At the National Archives and in Philadelphia, Ford logically insisted on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As Goldwin, Diamond, Kristol, and Storing had advised, he tried to demonstrate the complementarity between the two founding documents. Evidently, the Declaration had come first, it was therefore “the Polaris of our political order – the fixed star of freedom.” (Ford July 2, 1976.) But it would not make much sense without the Constitution. The Declaration claimed that “the purpose of human government” was “to secure the rights of the individuals against even government itself;” however, it had remained silent on “how to accomplish this purpose” and on “what kind of government to set up” – hence the need for the Constitution, which “translate[d] the great ideals of the Declaration into a legal mechanism for effective government where the unalienable rights of individual Americans are secure.” (Ford July 4, 1976; July 2, 1976.)

25Who precisely were these “individual Americans”? The answer to this question had already been given by “Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, [and] Madison,” but also by “all [the] patriots” who had “laid the foundation for freedom.” These men had built a country “not for themselves alone, but for all who would come to us through centuries.” Indeed, America was the result of “the greatest mass movement of people in all human history,” people who had conquered a continent and enriched American culture with their “precious relics of the worlds they left behind – a song, a story, a dance, a tool, a seed, a recipe, the name of a place, the rules of a game, a trick of the trade.” The United States of the Bicentennial was consequently a proudly multicultural country and this was a sign of strength and confidence, as Ford explained in Monticello, after attending a naturalization ceremony in Jefferson’s home: “We were confident that simply by sharing our American adventure these newcomers would be loyal, law-abiding, productive citizens, and they did” (Ford July 5, 1976) – an almost verbatim quote taken from Kristol’s letter to Hartmann.

26The diversity of the American population and the successful integration of immigrants into the national fabric were “the most magnificent achievement of our 200 years as a nation” in the eyes of President Ford. But he was also aware that “the people of the young United States” had “stubborn blind spots in their lofty vision.” For women, for instance, but also for “blacks,” even though their “forbearers had been American almost as long as theirs.” (Ford July 5, 1976.) And so Storing’s advice about being truthful regarding slavery was heeded. In Philadelphia, on July 4th, Ford reminded all Americans that the freedom that had been won during the Revolution had been won “for all but the black slaves.” This was eminently unfair as Ford also explained, in a rather embellished version of the complex racial dynamics of the War of Independence, that “many of [the slaves had] fought bravely beside their masters because they [had] also heard the promise of the Declaration.” But the Bicentennial was not the right time to dwell too much on this tragic past and Ford quickly pivoted to a more traditional Whig-inspired interpretation of US history by reassuring his fellow Americans about the heroic part they had played in the journey towards racial progress:

It is good to know that in our own lifetime we have taken part in the growth of freedom and in the expansion of equality which began here so long ago. This union of corrected wrongs and expanded rights has brought the blessings of liberty to the 215 million Americans. (Ford July 4, 1976.)

V/ Conclusion

  • 30 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, (...)

27In order to respect the solemn nature of the Bicentennial, Ford’s advisors were very careful about not injecting politics into his speeches while they were being drafted. Hartmann’s instructions to his team of speechwriters were crystal clear: “There should be no campaign code words or partisan insinuations whatsoever.30 And yet, it is impossible to read Ford’s speeches without feeling that he was, in a way, also anticipating the upcoming presidential election of November 1976. This is particularly obvious in his decision to use Goldwin’s analysis on the proper role of the government in the US institutional system:

The Declaration was not a protest against government but against the excesses of government. It prescribed the proper role of government to secure the rights of individuals and to effect their safety and their happiness. In modern society, no individual can do this all alone, so government is not necessarily evil but a necessary good. (Ford July 4, 1976.)

28This was a subtle, but unmistakable, philosophical and political message Ford sent to his own Republican Party, which was about to throw itself into the arms of small-government Reagan conservatives for, at least, the next generation.

2950 years later, this stance may well be the most relevant way to assess Ford’s involvement in the Bicentennial commemorations. Hartmann’s prediction, according to which nothing the President was going to say during these ceremonies would be earth-shattering, was both cruel and accurate. Indeed, Ford, never a great orator to begin with, did not make presidential history in the first days of July 1976. Yet, one could say about his contribution to the Bicentennial what Michael J. Devine, the head of the Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Commission at the time, once wrote about the 1976 commemorations at large: “Although the celebration lost the potential it once had to be a great national experience, it did emerge as a respectable, if not memorable, observance” (Devine 9). And so it is possible to detect in Ford’s speeches, behind the patriotic boilerplate which is to be expected in such circumstances, a few arguments which are worth revisiting. These were admittedly not spontaneous ideas the President had been dying to present to the country. But he was humble and smart enough to ask for advice and the four men he turned to (Goldwin, Diamond, Kristol, and Storing), despite their narrow intellectual profile, actually came up with suggestions that made their way, sometimes verbatim, into the President’s words. This is remarkable for at least two related reasons. First, the fruitful exchanges between the White House and this group of four intellectuals testifies in itself to an interesting quest on the part of political leaders for some type of academic inspiration or validation – something that has become rather atypical nowadays. Second, this opening towards the world of intellectuals illustrates, in retrospect, the last moments of a dying political world, incarnated in the figure of Gerald Ford – that of a moderate strand of Conservatism more interested in building bridges with society at large than in defending a rigid ideological dogma.

Haut de page

Bibliographie

Archival Documents

ANONYMOUS. Honor America Program Memo, Feb. 5, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Box 7, Gerald R. Ford Library.

ANONYMOUS. Overall Theme: The American Adventure, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 Bicentennial Speeches (4), Gerald R. Ford Library.

ANONYMOUS. Schedule Proposal for the President memo, January 9, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 Bicentennial Speeches (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

ANONYMOUS. The American Adventure, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 Bicentennial Speeches (3), Gerald R. Ford Library.

ANONYMOUS. The President’s Participation in Bicentennial Activities, July 1‑5, May 28, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Correspondence and Memos (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

APPLE, R. W. “Bicentennial: A Political Potential for Ford” New York Times. April 21, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Box 7, Gerald R. Ford Library.

BROWN, Maureen W. memo, June 28, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (4), Gerald R. Ford Library.

CANNON, Jim. Bicentennial Themes Memo, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Correspondence and Memos (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

DIAMOND, Martin. National Archives, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Presidential Notebook (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

GOLDWIN, Robert A. Bicentennial Themes, non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

GOLDWIN, Robert A. Notes on the Air and Space Museum Speech, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Presidential Notebook – 2nd Copy (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

GOLDWIN, Robert A. “The Heritage of the Nation,” May 11, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Papers, Box 12, Folder President – Speech Ideas – Bicentennial, Gerald R. Ford Library.

HARTMANN, Robert T. Bicentennial Speeches memo, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, June 10, 1976, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

HARTMANN, Robert T. Hand-written note, June 1 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 Bicentennial Speeches (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

HARTMANN, Robert T. Memo, June 8, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 131, Folder Hartmann – memos – President (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

JONES, Jerry. Memo, February 3, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Gerald R. Ford Library.

KRISTOL, Irving. Notes on the Air and Space Museum Speech, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Presidential Notebook – 2nd Copy (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

KRISTOL, Irving. The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Gerald R. Ford Library.

LUKSTAT Dick. Memo, April 16, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

MARSH, Jack. Memo, February 4, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Gerald R. Ford Library.

MARSH, Jack. Memo, May 9, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

MCCALL, Charles. Memorandum for Bob Orben, June 18, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

NESSEN, Ron. Memo, February 17, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Gerald R. Ford Library.

NESSEN, Ron. Memo, June 16, 1976, James E. Connor Papers, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial Events – July 4 Weekend Planning, Gerald R. Ford Library.

RUSTAND, Warren. Memo, April 29, 1975, James E. Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Gerald R. Ford Library.

STORING, Herbert. Miscellaneous Points, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Corres. + Memos (4), Gerald R. Ford Library.

Journal articles

BENNETT, M. Tood. “The Spirit of ’76: Diplomacy Commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976”. Diplomatic History, September 2016, vol. XL, No. 4, p. 695‑721. https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhw013

DEVINE, Michael J. “The Bicentennial as History: What Have we Learned From Celebrations of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution?”, History News, November-December 1986, vol. XLI, No. 6, p. 8‑14. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42651913

HELGREN, Jennifer. “Finding ‘Hidden Heroines’: Girls’ Organizations, Public History, and the 1976 American Bicentennial”. The Public Historian, February 2021, vol. XLIII, No. 1, p. 102‑122. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2021.43.1.102

KACHUN, Mitch. “Before the Eyes of all Nations: African-American Identity and Historical Memory at the Centennial Exposition of 1876”. Pennsylvania History. A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, Summer 1998, vol. 65, No. 3, p. 300‑323. https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/view/25506

KIRKPATRICK, Jeane J. « Martin Diamond and the American Idea of Democracy ». Publius, Summer 1978, vol. 8, No. 3, p. 7‑31. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3329707

Books

BODNAR, John. Remaking America. Public Memory Commemoration and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.

HARTMANN, Robert T. Palace Politics. An Inside Account of the Ford Years. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980.

Press articles

JAMES MADISON PROGRAM IN AMERICAN IDEALS AND INSTITUTIONS (comp.), In Memoriam. Martin Diamond, 1919‑1977; Herbert Storing, 1928‑1977 [online]. Princeton: Princeton University, 2017. [Consulted 27.10.2025]. https://jmp.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf5371/files/in-memoriam-diamond-storing.pdf.

MARTIN, Douglas. “James M. Cannon, an Advisor to Ford, Dies at 93.” The New York Times [online]. 20 September 2011. [Consulted 07.02.2025]. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/politics/james-m-cannon-an-adviser-to-ford-dies-at-93.html.

Websites

ANONYMOUS. “In Memoriam. Herbert Storing, 1928‑1977”. Princeton University. [Consulted 07.02.2025]. https://jmp.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf5371/files/in-memoriam-diamond-storing.pdf

BESSETTE, Joseph M. “Herbert Storing. Introduction”. Contemporary Thinkers [online], 2025. [Consulted 07.02.2025]. https://contemporarythinkers.org/herbert-storing/introduction/

FORD, Gerald R. “Remarks at Air and Space Museum”. Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum, July 1, 1976. [07/02/2025]. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/sites/default/files/pdf_documents/library/document/0122/1252947.pdf

FORD, Gerald R. “Remarks at Naturalization Ceremonies at Monticello, Virginia”. In WOOLLEY John and Gerhard PETERS, The American Presidency Project [online]. July 5, 1976. [Consulted 07.02.2025]. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-naturalization-ceremonies-monticello-virginia.

FORD, Gerald R. “Remarks at the Bicentennial Ceremony at the National Archives”. In WOOLLEY John and Gerhard PETERS, The American Presidency Project [online]. July 2, 1976. [Consulted 07.02.2025]. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-bicentennial-ceremony-the-national-archives.

FORD, Gerald R. “Remarks of Gerald R. Ford in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Bicentennial Celebration)”. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum [online]. July 4, 1976. [Consulted 27.10.2025]. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/the-fords/gerald-r-ford/key-speeches-and-writings-gerald-r-ford.

Haut de page

Notes

1 Jack Marsh Memo, Feb. 4 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Ford Library; Jerry Jones Memo, Feb. 3, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Ford Library; Honor America Program Memo, Feb. 5, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Ford Library.

2 Ron Nessen Memo, Feb. 17, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning, Ford Library.

3 Warren Rustand Memo, April 29, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Ford Library.

4 Dick Lukstat memo, April 16, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Ford Library; Warren Rustand Memo, April 29, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Ford Library; Jack Marsh Memo, May 9, 1975, James E Connor Files, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial – Long Range Planning (2), Ford Library.

5 Jim Cannon, Bicentennial Themes Memo, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Correspondence and Memos (1), Ford Library; Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (1), Ford Library.

6 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (1), Ford Library.

7 Schedule Proposal for the President memo, January 9 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches (2), Ford Library.

8 Maureen W. Brown memo, June 28 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (4), Ford Library.

9 Monticello was Thomas Jefferson’s plantation in Virginia (The President’s Participation in Bicentennial Activities, July 1-5, May 28 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Correspondence and Memos (1), Ford Library).

10 The American Adventure, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches (3), Ford Library; Overall Theme: The American Adventure, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches (4), Ford Library.

11 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (1), Ford Library.

12 Robert T. Hartmann memo, June 8, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 131, Folder Hartmann – memos – President (2), Ford Library.

13 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (1), Ford Library; Robert T. Hartmann, Hand-written note, June 1, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches (2), Ford Library.

14 Charles McCall, Memorandum for Bob Orben, June 18, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (2), Ford Library.

15 Irving Kristol was a famous New York intellectual of the post-war period, often considered the main architect of the Neoconservative movement.

16 Martin Diamond, National Archives, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Presidential Notebook (1), Ford Library.

17 Irving Kristol, The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Ford Library.

18 Robert A. Goldwin, “The Heritage of the Nation,” May 11, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Papers, Box 12, Folder President – Speech Ideas – Bicentennial, Ford Library.

19 Robert A. Goldwin, Notes on the Air and Space Museum Speech, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeched – Presidential Notebook – 2nd Copy (1), Ford Library.

20 Irving Kristol, Notes on the Air and Space Museum Speech, non-dated, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 185, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeched – Presidential Notebook – 2nd Copy (1), Ford Library.

21 Robert A. Goldwin, Bicentennial Themes, non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Ford Library.

22 Irving Kristol, The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Ford Library.

23 Robert A. Goldwin, “Bicentennial Themes,” non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Ford Library.

24 Herbert Storing, Miscellaneous Points, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Corres. + Memos (4), Ford Library.

25 Herbert Storing, Miscellaneous Points, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Corres. + Memos (4), Ford Library.

26 Irving Kristol, The President’s bicentennial speeches memo, June 7, 1976, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Ford Library.

27 Robert A. Goldwin, “Bicentennial Themes,” non-dated, Robert A. Goldwin Files, Box 1, Folder Bicentennial (1), Ford Library.

28 Herbert Storing, Miscellaneous Points, Robert T. Hartmann Files, Box 4, Folder Bicentennial Speeches – Corres. + Memos (4), Ford Library

29 Ron Nessen Memorandum, June 16, 1976, James E. Connor Papers, Box 7, Folder Bicentennial Events – July 4 Weekend Planning, Ford Library.

30 Robert T. Hartmann, Bicentennial Speeches memo, June 10, 1976, Robert T. Hartmann Papers, Box 184, Folder 7/1-5/76 – Bicentennial Speeches – Activities Background (1), Ford Library.

Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence électronique

Françoise Coste, « “We must not be carried away by the thought that this July 4 will be a major milestone in human history”: The Ford Administration and the 1976 Bicentennial »L’Ordinaire des Amériques [En ligne], 234 | 2025, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2025, consulté le 15 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/orda/11895 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15kn6

Haut de page

Auteur

Françoise Coste

Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès
francoise.coste@univ-tlse2.fr

Articles du même auteur

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-SA-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont susceptibles d’être soumis à des autorisations d’usage spécifiques.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search