Today’s Americans appreciate a more festive celebration, presidential historian Craig Shirley said. \u201cWe like it as a big event because it\u2019s grown on us.”<\/p>\n
As the United States gets ready to celebrate a milestone anniversary this summer, here\u2019s how past presidents marked the nation\u2019s biggest birthdays.<\/p>\n
For the 1976 Bicentennial, then-President Gerald Ford attended a tall ships celebration and a massive July 4th fireworks display in New York, and welcomed Great Britain\u2019s Queen Elizabeth II.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFord, of course, was locked in a tight race with former California Governor Ronald Reagan for the Republican (presidential) nomination, so he effectively used the bicentennial trappings to drape himself in patriotism,\u201d presidential historian Craig Shirley said.<\/p>\n
It was a big bash. But just 50 years earlier, at the nation\u2019s 150th anniversary, President Calvin Coolidge wanted fewer parades and less pomp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really wasn\u2019t his style,\u201d Shirley said. \u201cA coin was cast in Coolidge\u2019s image on it, but it didn\u2019t have the expansive nature that the 200 or 250th anniversary had. By comparison \u2026 it was pretty tame.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shirley, who has written several books about the presidents, said today\u2019s Americans appreciate a more festive celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like it as a big event because it\u2019s grown on us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The United States\u2019 100th Independence Day, in 1876, arrived as the nation was recovering from the Civil War. But Ulysses S. Grant\u2019s presidency managed to mark the occasion with a day of Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a Civil War cast to it \u2026 with\u00a0a lot of Civil War veterans marching and parades in Washington, and of course, fireworks\u00a0and things like that, and barbecues, and banquets,\u201d he said. \u201cThe White House was opened up to\u00a0people to come and greet the president, and it was significant, but it didn\u2019t again have the momentous events that we associate today\u00a0with the 250th anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presidential parties were not always about celebrating the nation\u2019s independence. Shirley said one of the most memorable White House events happened during the Andrew Jackson administration.<\/p>\n
Jackson was gifted with a 1,400-pound cheddar cheese wheel by New York farmers. In 1837, he opened the people\u2019s house on George Washington\u2019s birthday and served it to everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, it spilled all over the floor, and the White House actually reeked for months thereafter,\u201d Shirley said.<\/p>\n