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by MARK POWELL
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Timing, they say, is everything. Throughout our country’s history, Fate has repeatedly intervened at the perfect time to save our national bacon.
Consider the strangely thick fog that unexpectedly covered New York’s Manhattan Island at precisely the right moment on the night of August 29-30, 1776, allowing general George Washington to secretly withdraw his troops after a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Long Island. For if the Continental Army had been destroyed, the American Revolution would have soon gone belly up.
Then there was that evening in February 1933, when a deranged man emptied a pistol into an open car carrying president-elect Franklin Roosevelt in Miami, Florida. A woman standing beside the shooter pushed his arm, so Roosevelt escaped unharmed (although the mayor of Chicago, riding beside him, was killed). Without FDR, would the U.S. have recovered from the Great Depression and kept Great Britain afloat with Lend-Lease?
Then there was the “Miracle of Midway” in 1942. Just six months into World War II, blind luck enabled U.S. dive bombers to destroy three Japanese aircraft carriers. That victory was so huge that it changed the entire course of the Pacific War in a matter of minutes.
Now, some folks say another fortunate act of timing could come this summer. At least it has the potential to be. Provided history repeats itself.
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If there’s one thing people of all stripes, ideologies, and factions can agree on, it’s that the U.S. is more divided today than at any time in the last half-century. America seems to be descending into an Age of Tribalism, where people are voluntarily segregating themselves into communities of like-minded people, where divergent opinion isn’t tolerated, and anyone who disagrees must be at least silenced and, at worst, destroyed.
Far from “crowning our good with brotherhood,” we often appear on the precipice of tearing each other apart.
That’s a sorry state of affairs for a nation based on our Founding Fathers’ lofty ideals. Yet the legacy of those extraordinary men could come to our collective rescue at just the right time.
In a little over 100 days, the U.S. will celebrate 250 years of independence. If that sounds like an unusual opportunity for a national turnaround, it’s happened before.
When the country began preparing in the 1970s for its upcoming Bicentennial, Americans were in a profound funk. They had just come through a hellish run of bad luck – and equally bad government decisions.
It commenced with President John F. Kennedy’s murder in 1963 and was followed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. The country sank increasingly deeper into the quagmire that was the Vietnam War (a conflict from which nearly 60,000 Americans never came home.)
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There were ugly protests on college campuses. Young men burned their draft cards while supporters of the newly launched feminist movement burned their bras. Cities burned, too, amid rioting sparked by racial unrest. Hippies faced off against the Greatest Generation, arguments acted out every Monday night on TV as ‘Meathead’ sparred with Archie Bunker.
Then, just when things couldn’t get any worse — they did.
What the White House initially passed off as a “third-rate” burglary inside the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in the summer of 1972 morphed into what President Gerald Ford later called “our long national nightmare.” For twenty-six miserable months, America was embroiled in the misery of Watergate, concluding only with president Richard Nixon‘s resignation.
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Oh, and while all that was going on, a nasty bout of inflation was underway, inflicting financial hardship on millions of families. (Sound familiar?)
Just when the skies seemed the blackest, a shining ray of light burst forth, thanks to the calendar.
July 4, 1976, marked the 200th anniversary of America’s declaration of independence from Britain. The U.S.A. went all out, planning a party worthy of the monumental anniversary. A special Bicentennial Commission was formed with affiliates in all 50 states. No town or village was too small for a special event; no city was too big.
Americans embraced the occasion with zest. Everything was splashed in red, white, and blue that year. The phrase “Spirit of ’76” was heard ad nauseam. CBS television did its part by broadcasting a 60-second segment every night from July 4, 1974, to December 31, 1976 emphasizing its importance.
When the big day finally arrived, there wasn’t a flag that hadn’t been unfurled, a firework that hadn’t been shot, nor a busy street without a razzle-dazzle parade. For one brief, shining moment, Americans set aside their differences and came together to mark the important milestone.
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RELATED | PUMP PAIN DEEPENS
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Were all of the country’s problems solved? Were all of its divisions healed? Not hardly. But the Bicentennial was truly a special moment because it marked a national turnaround, beginning a desperately needed refreshing of the American Spirit.
And now, right on cue, comes another opportunity for national renewal. Officially, it’s known as the U.S. “Semiquincentennial,” a fancy way of saying 250th. But that clunky term doesn’t roll off the tongue, so it’s known simply by the more verbally friendly “America250.”
Admittedly, it’s not as huge as the 200th birthday bash of fifty years ago. Because, for some strange reason, Americans don’t get as excited about anniversaries ending in ’50’ as they do those ending in a nice round zeroes. For example: the Civil War’s Centennial in the early 1960s was a major event; its 150th anniversary a decade ago was barely noticed. In fact, the United States’ 150th celebration in 1926 was a muted affair, whereas the Centennial in 1876 was another big blowout.
Be that as it may, America250 does represent the best chance at this particular moment in time for Americans to come together on common ground. It creates an ideal opportunity for folks to set aside, at least for a moment, the things that divide us and to embrace the things that unite us.
“From sea to shining sea.”
The question is: will they?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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