Gathering in Praise of America

IT was a festival of flags and fireworks, of fun and fundamental verities --an effort to rise above the divided present by a conscious return to the litanies and liturgy of the American past. By the thousands, Americans responded to the invitation to an old-fashioned U.S. birthday, trooping to the center of Washington carrying their miniature Old Glorys and their campstools, their sandwiches and their thermos bottles. They gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where so many others have assembled in protest, to bear witness that it was their country too, a country more right than wrong. Inevitably, a few hundred protesters came as well, but they did not succeed in marring the simplicity of Honor America Day.

The ceremonies began in steamy 90DEG sunshine with a religious service on the steps beneath Lincoln's massive statue. Some 25,000 people filled the calm and lovely setting below the steps and around the Reflecting Pool. Pat Boone sang the national anthem, Frank Borman gave a prayer, Kate Smith sang God Bless America. The speaker was Billy Graham, who called the nation to God and pleaded that it "stop the polarization before it is too late." At appropriate moments, or just for the fun of it, the children in the crowd waved their flags.

Wholesome Melange. Some adults in the gathering carried placards: GOD, GUTS AND GUNPOWDER MAINTAINS LIBERTY and AMERICA WILL SURVIVE TRAITORS, TRASH AND PANTYWAIST POLITICIANS. Behind them, some 300 youthful protesters waded into the Reflecting Pool with shouted slogans, mostly obscene, of their own. For the most part the audience took their antics cheerfully. When police headed off some dissenters making for the speaker's stand, the crowd cheered, leading one protester to say: "My God, they would like to see my head cracked." Nonsense, retorted a bystander: "Just your mouth shut."

Then came a procession to the Ellipse, where letters had been marked out in white sand on the grass. Thousands planted more small flags in the sand until they waved like poppies, spelling U.S.A.

The evening belonged to Bob Hope, his one-liners and his entertainers, a wholesome melange drawn from the golden age of radio and present pop. Jack Benny played his violin, Red Skelton clowned, Dinah Shore, Dorothy Lamour, Miss Black America and Glen Campbell sang. The crowd was far larger this time, perhaps 350,000, and dissenters were in an uglier mood, hurling bottles and rocks at police and the fringe of the crowd. Fred Waring led everyone into a finale of the Battle Hymn of the Republic as the sky erupted in fireworks over the Potomac. Two Americans who came to Honor America were Dorothy Hill and Hazel Gay from Memphis. Said Mrs. Gay: "We were there early to hear Dr. Graham. It nearly broke me up. I could feel victory. Like we all felt victory and a united feeling at the end of World War II. Remember? I felt a spiritual uplift. When they raised that big flag I got goose bumps."

Bipartisan Support. The announced purpose of the celebration's sponsors --to "rekindle" the spirit of patriotism and respect for individual rights and to demonstrate love of country while conceding its problems--seemed hardly one to call forth controversy. Yet controversy there was, despite the ban on speechmaking and the roster of bipartisan political figures and national leaders, including Hubert Humphrey, Senator Hugh Scott and Senator George McGovern. who lent their names to the day. On the right, the Rev. Carl McIntire denounced the ceremonies as a Hollywood-style ballyhoo dishonoring America's Viet Nam dead. From the satirical left came several "demands" that were politely shrugged off by the sponsors: equal time for Poet Allen Ginsberg to appear with Graham in the religious service, a Washington Monument painted in washable psychedelic colors. The left had more serious requests as well. A radical group, headed by Rennie Davis, one of the Chicago Seven defendants, wanted runners heading from Kent State in Ohio, and Augusta, Ga., where students and blacks were slain, to match the flag-bearing runners heading to Washington from Philadelphia, Valley Forge and Williamsburg, Va., as part of the celebration. From the Rev. Douglas Moore, leader of Washington's Black United Front, came an attack on the rally as a "white racist carrousel of bawdy jingoism."

Fighting the Enemy. The committee leaders themselves have close ties to President Nixon. Graham is a personal friend, and it was during his recent Knoxville, Tenn., crusade that Nixon made one of the few public speeches of his presidency. The rally's executive chairman was Hotelman J. Willard Marriott, also a close friend, who arranged Nixon's inaugural ceremonies and who employs Nixon's brother Donald as a vice president of the Marriott Corp. Marriott, in a press conference held before the rally, returned often, if indirectly, to the country's inner divisions and the war. "We shouldn't be fighting each other," he said, "we should be fighting the enemy." Graham himself insisted, "This is not a prowar rally, or an antiwar rally. If it became a pro-or antiwar rally, I'd pull out. I've never taken a stand on the war. This is not a political event. Let's sing a little, let's wave the flag, let's rejoice in all that's best in our country. We know America has its faults. But there are good things about America. It has not gone to the dogs. Let's be happy on our birthday." Still, the event occurred in the context of deep national division over those faults. There were those who felt that an issue-free day of national togetherness and praise for the flag was only a ritualistic diversion from a more meaningful way of expressing love and respect of country.

The thousands who came to Washington took part in an unusual Fourth of July celebration, but across the nation more traditional observances contributed to one of the most fervent Independence Day celebrations in years. At exactly 11 a.m., whistles, bells and church carillons sounded in unison in towns and cities. In Philadelphia, the Declaration was read at Independence Hall, where it was first adopted.

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