Town Meetings – ICA Social Research Center

AI audio on the 5,000 Town Meetings – more than one in every county of the U.S.

Celebrating the

200th U.S. Bicentennial

The Campaign

In 1974 the ICA created a national campaign to support the U.S. 200th Bicentennial by facilitating Town Meetings in each of the 3,142 counties of the country. The Bicentennial Administration in Washington, DC gave recognition for its contribution to the Bicentennial effort in this LETTER.

Staff in each state developed their unique approach to the campaign. In each ICA office county maps were hung where facilitated Town Meetings were tracked by shading the completed county ‘gold’ until all the counties were completed.

The documents that resulted from more than 5,000 Town Meetings are now stored at the Library of Congress and the ICA office in Chicago, Illinois.

PILOT: 36 pilot meeting with 3,000 participants, June 8, 1974
PHASE I Demonstration 7400 participants February 1 – Jully 4, 1975
- - In Philadelphia March 1975, 200 participants reflected Philadephia’s historic role in the Amerian Revolution with the slogan “Take the Chance Again”
  - In Richmond, Virginia 200 inmates and guards at Powhatan Correction Center, ended the meetings singing “I Don’t Know Why I Love You Like I Do” to the guards
  - The President of the Washington, DC Federation of Civic Associations said the organization was “Convinced that Town Meeting ’76 will help build new bonds of unity and bring our common concern into focus within Washington, DC’s diverse neighborhoods.”
  - A coalition of local organizations sponsored the meetings, including local Bicentennial Commissions, Kiwanis, Lions, United Way, the League of Women Voters, the Urban League, churches, labor unions, PTA, YMCA and YWCA.