I am old enough to remember its 200th birthday, being 10 years old in 1976 during the Bicentennial. It was a year full of fireworks, U.S. history, and a sense of renewed hope, faith, and pride in America: Watergate was behind us, there was a huge train that everyone needed to see, and I had my first experience visiting Washington, DC - a city in which I would unknowingly live another 20 years into the future.
Life may not have necessarily been simpler in 1976, but it certainly was cheaper:
- Gas per gallon: $0.59
- First class postage stamp: $0.13
- New house: $48,000 (national average)
- Income per year: $16,000 (national average)
- Monthly rent: $220 (national average)
- Polaroid camera: $28
- Zenith 25" Color TV: $599
- CB Radio: $147
And in other news:
- Unemployment Rate: 8.5%
- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computers
- The first laser printer was created by IBM
- VHS is introduced to compete with Betamax
- In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun and begins a series of attacks that terrorized the city for the next year
- The first $2.00 bill is issues
- Viking 1 and Viking 2 landed on Mars
- Bruce Jenner won the decathlon in The Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada
- The Winter Olympic Games are held in Innsbruck, Austria
- Fidel Castro became the President of Cuba
Popular Films
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- All The President's Men
- The Omen
- Taxi Driver
- The Outlaw Josey Wales
- Rocky
Popular Musicians
- Bay City Rollers
- Elton John
- Barry Manilow
- Diana Ross
- Paul Simon
- The Four Seasons
- Queen
- ABBA
