{"id":3731,"date":"2026-07-04T15:05:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3731"},"modified":"2026-07-04T15:05:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:05:57","slug":"leubsdorf-from-ford-to-trump-a-contrast-in-anniversary-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3731","title":{"rendered":"Leubsdorf: From Ford to Trump \u2014 A contrast in anniversary celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What a difference a half century has made.<\/p>\n

Fifty years ago, the nation celebrated the 200th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence amid an outburst of patriotism and good feeling after surviving the 20th Century\u2019s greatest threat to the efficacy of its democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

Read more Did the milk expire? California bans \u2018sell by\u2019 food labels to cut food waste<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bicentennial\u2019s main events included the visit of Britain\u2019s Queen Elizabeth II, a Washington parade with famed singer Johnny Cash as grand marshal, and events at Revolutionary War sites like Valley Forge. It was exemplified by the visit to New York harbor of a fleet of historic, tall-masted ships that invoked the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Presiding was Gerald Ford, a modest man who declared, upon becoming president, that the \u201clong national nightmare\u201d of the Watergate scandal was over and sought in his brief term to restore faith in our democratic institutions. The tone and words of his bicentennial speeches made clear he understood the celebration was about country, not self. And on July 4 at Philadelphia\u2019s Independence Hall, he hailed the fact that \u201cin our own lifetime we have taken part in the growth of freedom and in the expansion of equality which began here so long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altered era<\/h4>\n

In 2026, the vibes and themes are entirely different \u2013 and far less appropriate.<\/p>\n

Multiple liberties including that \u201cexpansion of equality\u201d Ford celebrated are being reversed and the nation\u2019s institutions are under siege by a self-aggrandizing presidential despot who has hijacked the country\u2019s 250th anniversary and turned it into a celebration not of country, but of himself.<\/p>\n

It was hardly surprising that President Donald Trump chose his own 80th birthday to begin the official observance of the nation\u2019s semiquincentennial with a garish spectacle of human combat that despoiled the White House South Lawn. And he is keynoting an expanded version of the capital\u2019s traditional July 4th fireworks display with one of his trademark political rallies, featuring his own musical playlist and what bids to be a lengthy, partisan speech by \u201cyour favorite president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than something appropriately patriotic, this year\u2019s anniversary has been inadvertently exemplified by the green algae that bubbled up amid peeling blue paint from his costly but inept effort to refurbish the Reflecting Pool that spans the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.<\/p>\n

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It came at a time when Trump, who fancies himself as a great builder because of his checkered career as a real estate mogul, is trying to impose his own grandiosity on this beautiful capital.<\/p>\n

Acting on no other authority than his own belief that presidential prerogatives are unlimited, he has already poured what The New York Times estimated at $1.2 billion into nearly three dozen projects. While some cleansed and restored local fountains and parks, they also included the Reflecting Pool fiasco and a massive White House addition meant to house a large ballroom, one of several unilateral changes its current tenant is making to the presidential mansion.<\/p>\n

He gilded the Oval Office with golden statues and other garish bling, paved over the historic Rose Garden to resemble the patio at his south Florida Mar-a-Lago estate and installed presidential portraits along the adjoining West Wing Colonnade, complete with his own sometimes insulting assessments.<\/p>\n

And when he keynoted this year\u2019s festivities last week on the Mall, Trump gave a nakedly political speech, similar to but far shorter than those he gives at political rallies, likening his administration to \u201cthose patriots of 1776\u201d and presenting an array of exaggerated or misleading claims about its record.<\/p>\n

Read more Word Game: July 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s laughing at us anymore,\u201d he proclaimed, though his domestic and international approval levels have cratered. He described the stalemated war against Iran in glowingly positive terms and declared that \u201cEvery day of my administration, we\u2019re delivering one historic victory after the next for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump blamed vandalism by unnamed \u201cthugs\u201d for the Reflecting Pool\u2019s problems, though experts cited the heat on its dark surface after a purification system was turned off. And he urged supporters to turn out in massive numbers July 4, noting, \u201cif we have two empty seats\u2026 the fake news is going to say he didn\u2019t fill out the arena.\u201d<\/p>\n

No politics<\/h4>\n

Unlike Trump, Ford deliberately avoided anything overtly political, though he was in the midst of the campaign to extend his lease on the presidency.<\/p>\n

A memo from presidential adviser Robert Hartmann cautioned that, while the president\u2019s speeches would \u201cof necessity deal with political and economic principles and institutions, there should be no campaign code words or partisan insinuations whatsoever,\u201d adding, \u201cAny whiff of pomposity or pretentious elegance must be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

His administration chose historic venues from Valley Forge to Jefferson\u2019s home at Monticello. And, in Washington, they included the Capitol, the newly opened Air and Space Museum and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the memorial to the slain president that Trump lately sought to rename after himself.<\/p>\n

Anticipating the 250th anniversary, Congress in 2016 created America250, a bipartisan committee mandated to \u201cstrengthen our love of country and renew our commitment to the ideals of democracy\u201d with projects like preserving historical sites and landmarks along with larger events like anniversary concerts.<\/p>\n

But Trump took control of the celebration by creating his own group, Freedom 250, with himself as chairman and focused the narrative more on himself and his administration than on the nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Future historians will likely note the contrast, one that captures the essential difference between the United States of 1976 and the one of 2026.<\/p>\n

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News. \u00a92026 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Digital artist Rhonda Holberton working to keep women in the picture<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifty years after a unifying milestone, the semiquincentennial has been hijacked by one man<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nLeubsdorf: From Ford to Trump \u2014 A contrast in anniversary celebrations - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3731\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leubsdorf: From Ford to Trump \u2014 A contrast in anniversary celebrations - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fifty years after a unifying milestone, the semiquincentennial has been hijacked by one man\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3731\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-04T15:05:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Leubsdorf: From Ford to Trump \u2014 A contrast in anniversary celebrations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-04T15:05:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731\"},\"wordCount\":981,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9791d09c1d66f97734b0959804093154.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3731\",\"name\":\"Leubsdorf: From Ford to Trump \u2014 A contrast in anniversary celebrations - 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