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The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading to the creation of the United States. The Bicentennial culminated on July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and was the country’s most broadly celebrated anniversary.

The planning for the event began as early as 1966, when Congress established the American Revolutionary Bicentennial Commission (ARBC). In 1972, when ties between the agency and the administration of Richard Nixon came to light, many called to replace the commission leading Congress to establish the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) in 1973.

With no grand event, the national committee focused on supporting local celebration. Communities registered their projects and, if approved, could display the official tricolored star logo that represented the bicentennial. ARBA catalogued over 66,000 events. Corporate sponsorship made possible for two American Freedom Trains containing artifacts of American History, a covered-wagon train would make stops in all fifty states. Souvenirs such as ashtrays, belt buckles and teddy bears that recited the Pledge of Allegiance were sold to commemorate the event.

The national celebrations culminated during the Fourth of July weekend in 1976. Sixteen tall-masted ships traveled to New York harbor for a naval review. In Washington, D.C., participants ate from the world’s largest birthday cake. Other local celebrations held parades, rang bells, or covered water towers and fire hydrants with red, white, and blue. Bicentennial events continued after the fourth of July and even after 1976. World leaders and royalty visited the United States and gave bicentennial gifts.

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Radio station WGHP first went on the air in Detroit, Michigan in 1925. After being purchased by Kunsky-Trendle Broadcasting in 1930, it was renamed to WXYZ. The station, playing at a frequency of 1270 kHz, mostly played local network programming, but made the transition to the Top 40 format in 1958, instead featuring a wide variety of music genres. Although the Top 40 model was successful for a decade, rating began to decline in the mid 1970s, so the station completely ceased playing music in favor of an all-talk format in 1978. This led to the station changing names to WXYT, with the "T" standing for "talk." Maintaining the all-talk format, WXYT underwent yet another change in 2000, when it switched focus to become a sports radio network and acquired the broadcast rights for the Detroit Tigers baseball and Detroit Red Wings hockey teams. The station briefly reverted back to talk radio format in September 2011, but returned to sports talk in January of 2013, which they continue today. 

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Ick, a lonely monster composed of the pollution on a desolate beach, befriends a boy that he meets there and takes him home to meet his family. The Story of Ick by Fred Gwynne  uses the Ick character to raise awareness of beach pollution. The author Fred Gwynne was also an American actor best known for roles in Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters as well as later acting roles. The Story of Ick was published by Windmill Books in 1971 and is currently out of print.

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Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 American film written and starring Spalding Gray. Originally developed as an autobiographical monologue for the theater, the film focuses on a role Gray had in the 1984 film “The Killing Fields” where memories of political unrest and turmoil in Southeast Asia are uncovered. Spalding Gray began his theater career in the 1960s and continued his success through similar autobiographical monologues that were adapted to film such as Monster in a Box and Gray’s Anatomy. 

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William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright in the 16th and 17th century. He produced 39 plays,154 sonnets, two narrative poems, and verses that have led to him being regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His widely popular works, including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth have been translated into every major language and performed as live plays and movies consistently since their creation. His contributions to literature and English culture were so great that a funeral monument was erected and currently stands in Westminster Abbey in London, England. 

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Mr. President was a board game released in 1967. This two-four player game simulates campaign events to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. The players choose their candidates for their respective political parties, and weigh each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.

A more recent game shares a similar name: Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020. This is a solitaire resource management game in which the player role-plays as the elected President. The player must develop alliances and advisors, compromise agendas, and navigate through a chaotic sequence of events.

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Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis and was first published June 19, 1978. The comic focuses on the adventures of the cat Garfield, Odie the dog and their owner Jon. Garfield the cat is commonly depicted as a lazy, lasagna-loving narcissist who hates Mondays and diets. Since the comic's initial release, Garfield has been adapted into an animated series, television specials, and two movies. As of 2013, it held the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip. National Garfield the Cat Day is celebrated each year on June 19 as a celebration of the comic strip.

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Actor Mel Gibson portrayed the titular character in the 1979 Australian film Mad Max. The film takes place in a dystopian future, where highway patrol officer Max Rockatansky clashes with a violent motorcycle gang. While the movie was not initially well received, it won three AACTA Awards and has garnered a wide cult following. It also spawned three sequels, Mad Max 2, Beyond Thunderdome, and Mad Max: Fury Road. Gibson reprised his role as Max Rockatansky for the second and third installment, while Tom Hardy portrayed the character in the fourth. 

Vestron Video, a home video company, was just one of the studios to release the film on VHS. The company went bankrupt in 1991 and has since been purchased by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. 

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Theodore Cleaver is the titular character from the American sitcom Leave It to Beaver. The show was created by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher and premiered in 1957. The show is about Theodore also known as “The Beaver” and his adventures growing up in a middle-class American household. Today Leave It to Beaver is considered an iconic show and was placed on Time Magazine’s “100 Best TV Shows of all time” list.  

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Sandra Boynton's illustrations have featured on millions of greeting cards since she began selling her designs in 1973 to help pay for college. The "classical holiday" image was originally featured in Boynton's Animal Farm collection of postcards produced in 1981, after Boynton signed on with Recycled Paper Greetings. Boynton helped the company's value grow from $1 million to $100 million within five years. Today, Boynton has written more than fifty books featuring her animal characters, most famously Barnyard Dance, The Going to Bed Book, and her comedy for adults, Chocolate: The Consuming Passion.