# Five Years Until the US Semiquincentennial **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 3, 2021, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592 "2021-07-03T11:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/1 "2021-07-03T11:29:45Z")
This makes me feel old. I graduated high school in 1976. Now we are staring the [Semiquincentennial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Semiquincentennial) in the face. Probably time to start planning. The tour of the founding documents (by train last time) was a big hit. I bet a podcast starting now tracking the road to independence day by day would be interesting. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/2 "2021-07-03T15:58:27Z")
How about this podcast include all the truth about the origins of this country, the good and the bad and the mixed, not just the glorious legends? Not hammering our history into the ground, just the whole truth\*. It would be refreshing, and eye-opening I suspect. \*Recognizing that any account has to pick and choose, because it is impossible to include everything, I would hope that the main criterion for inclusion would be the greatest impact and/or importance to the greatest number of human beings in the United States-to-be. p.s. I no longer feel old even though I am apparently 9 years older than you. I am not old, I just am. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/3 "2021-07-03T21:00:55Z")
I think I like the idea of a completely redesigned set of banknotes. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/4 "2021-07-03T23:58:42Z")
Fifty years ago, the [Bicentennial Commission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bicentennial#Background) was already five years old, having been established on July 4, 1966. If we were running at the same pace, it would have been established in Obama’s last year in office and operated all through the Trump administration. Although I can’t imagine that Trump would have cooperated with _anything_ established during the Obama administration. I was only ten during the Bicentennial but I remember some of it, particularly the [Freedom Train](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Train#The_1975%E2%80%9376_American_Freedom_Train), which we saw in person, the visit by the Queen to Connecticut (apologies to her for surely the most boring place she’s ever been) and the Tall Ships in New York Harbor. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/5 "2021-07-04T00:12:53Z")
Same here. US currency is both boring and ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/6 "2021-07-04T00:26:20Z")
What I remember most about 1976 is learning the metric system. I never thought I’d have a fifty year jump on the rest of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/7 "2021-07-04T00:27:16Z")
We could agree to close this puppy down. It’s about time, I think. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/8 "2021-07-04T00:44:19Z")
The quarter was redesigned for 1975 and 1976, with a dual date 1776-1976 (and the dollar and half-dollar too, but they don’t circulate). There was also a redesign to the back of the $2 bill that no one ever sees either. I don’t think there are any similar plans for 2026. I expect the date will be barely recognized and acknowledged, unlike 1976. I’m more looking forward to the next solar eclipse in 2024. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/9 "2021-07-04T00:45:09Z")
I was born in 1968 and 1976 was the first year (the date that is) I can recall paying attention to, all because of the bicentennial foofaraw. Even at 8 I was cynical enough to think it was all a bit overdone 😉. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/10 "2021-07-04T06:15:14Z")
It seems incredible that the time that’s passed since Y2K is equal to all my years of preschool, school and college. People who voted for the president, can’t remember livin a house without internet access. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-until-the-us-semiquincentennial/945592/11 "2021-07-04T06:32:54Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > I don’t think there are any similar plans for 2026. There are. The Mint is (AFAIK) authorized to change all of the coins for 2026, and there will specifically be five quarters (one commemorating a woman). There are five quarters nearly every year, though, so changing the coins will be less noteworthy than it was in 1975 and 1976.