Q. David Bowers
The Year 1976 in History
President Gerald Ford created a board on February 17, 1976, to oversee foreign and United States intelligence operations overseas, and the next day he placed limits on surveillance of United States citizens by government agencies. His administration accomplished many good things, but being Republican, it suffered from the backlash of Watergate, and in the election in November, Ford and his running mate, Senator Robert J. Dole, were narrowly defeated by Jimmy Carter and Walter F. Mondale.
The economy was worrisome, inflation was rampant, and unemployment seemed to be getting worse. In Carter, people saw an attractive alternative. Ford left politics and moved to Rancho Mirage, California, where he played golf, entertained visitors, and consulted in various matters.
Americans were treated to "live" photos from the surface of Mars, beamed back to Earth by the Viking I spacecraft. On February 4 it was revealed that Lockheed Aircraft Corporation illegally paid tremendous bribes and payoffs to agents to secure aircraft sales overseas. Conrail, set up by the government, took over the operation of six railroads in the Northeast. On April 21, 1976, the last Cadillac convertible left the assembly line, the last open-top vehicle to be made in quantity in America until the concept was revived in the 1980s. Some 800 cadets at West Point were implicated on April 22 in cheating or violation of the honor code. The Concorde started supersonic service between the United States and Europe on May 24. Barbara Walters signed a five-year contract for $5 million with NBC on April 22nd, becoming the first anchor woman on a major network news program. During the summer, 29 people staying at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia died of an unknown illness later named Legionnaires' disease.
In the previous year, 1975, The Republic of South Vietnam fell after decades of bitter warfare, and the victorious North Vietnamese armies renamed Saigon, the former capital, calling it Ho Chi Minh City. Shortly thereafter, Cambodia fell to communist rebel forces. In 1976, a strong anti-war, antiViet Nam sentiment persisted, causing emotional problems for many returning veterans who faced an unappreciative welcome back home in America.
In England, Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister, while Indira Gandhi of India was found guilty of election fraud and forced to leave office. President Gerald Ford made his first trip to Moscow, and fugitive heiress Patty Hearst was located.
The Suez Canal was reopened after eight years. It had been closed by Egypt in 1967 as a result of the Six Days War with Israel With this move, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat opened the way for peace negotiations with Israel In an historic bit of cold war diplomacy, American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts docked their spaceships and exchanged information and observations and actually lived with the "enemy" for a few days. In the world of sports, Muhammad Ali was still the heavyweight champ of the boxing world.
Sylvester Stallone's low-budget movie Rocky was released, and quickly became one of the most popular films in history. The novel Roots by Alex Haley was published as non-fiction, and was subsequently moved to the fiction category in theNew York Times best seller list when it was revealed that certain details were contrived. However, the volume still held wide acclaim as a view of the African ancestry of American blacks. Later, a dramatization of Roots broke television viewership records.
The 1976 Bicentennial of American Independence was duly commemorated on coinage but was largely overlooked on the national scene. Local July 4th bicentennial celebrations were staged around the country, and in New York harbor more than a dozen tall ships and many military vessels were on display. A grand exposition had been suggested for Philadelphia, but before serious planning could get underway, critics maintained that the money could better be used to fight poverty and for welfare. Thus, the city that had hosted the 1876 Centennial Exhibition had no 1976 counterpart.
The coin marketwas alive and well, with emphasis mainly on the investment angle. Many dealers who had entered the field in the 1970s were telemarketers and promoters, with little traditional interest in numismatics.
In the spring of the year before, 1975, Mint Director Mary Brooks announced a date freeze for the three largest denomination coins; no quarters, half dollars, or dollars would be minted with the 1975 date. Instead, these coins would be "pre-struck"in 1975 bearing the date 1776-1976.
Two monthly Amos Press publications, World Coins and Numismatic Scrapbook were merged into the weekly publication Coin World. Numismatist Aaron R. Feldman of "buy the book before the coin" fame passed away on March 16 at the age of 81. When the estate of former Treasury Secretary George C. Cortelyou was made public, two MCMVII Extremely High Relief double eagles were found, one in gold, and a previously unknown variety in white metal. In addition, a regular MCMVII High Relief double eagle in white metal was also found. These coins were probably given directly to Cortelyou by President Theodore Roosevelt.