How a Radical Historian Saved the Schlock of ’76

Key Points:

• Historian Leonard Lemisch, a left-leaning scholar and "terminal Bicentennial freak," viewed the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial celebrations as both politically significant and a commercial spectacle, collecting and analyzing the era's pervasive "schlock" memorabilia.
• Lemisch, influential in the 1960s-70s history wars, challenged traditional elite-focused narratives of the American Revolution, advocating for a "history from below" that included marginalized groups often ignored in mainstream historical scholarship.
• His unique approach involved instructing students to gather cheap, mass-produced Bicentennial items, preserving what he called a "deeply embarrassing heritage" for future generations, highlighting the commercialized and top-down nature of the celebrations.
• While Lemisch saw the Bicentennial schlock as a cynical, imposed patriotism disconnected from genuine popular sentiment, contemporary historians view the event as a complex cultural moment that fostered new scholarship and popular engagement with history.
• Comparisons with the current 250th anniversary reveal less enthusiasm and commercial excess, possibly due to political polarization and changes in consumer culture, with Lemisch's unresolved question about the meaning of Bicentennial schlock remaining relevant today.