Editor's Note: Remembering the Bicentennial

I was in Boston on July 4th 1976, on the nation's 200th birthday

Fifty years ago, on America’s 200th birthday, New York proudly hosted Operation Tall Ships—a harbor filled with historic vessels festooned with billowing sails. As regal as that armada was, New York’s celebration was dwarfed by the Bicentennial Celebration in Boston, where 400,000 gathered to hear a free live concert by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops, capped by fireworks. [Photo above of the Boston Pops performing on July 4, 1976 courtesy of the Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images]