How America has celebrated milestone birthdays, from world fairs to the World Cup

The 1876 American Centennial Exhibition, held in Philadelphia, showcased innovations ranging from steam engines to the telephone to soda water. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Hulton Archive/Getty Images America's big birthdays can't escape the times they're in. This year's 250th celebrations come at a tumultuous moment for the country, between economic uncertainty, foreign conflicts and political polarization. And they have faced accusations of politicization , in large part because President Trump — in addition to using the anniversary to push for controversial construction projects — created his own planning committee to bypass an existing bipartisan one. Marc Stein, a history professor at San Francisco State University and the author of Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History Of The 1970s , sees some "eerie parallels" between 2026 and the last big birthday in 1976. Crowds filled a pier at New York Harbor to see an international parade of tall ships as part of the bicentennial celebrations in July 1976. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Hulton Archive/Getty Images "We're, quote-unquote, 'celebrating' in the aftermath of impeachment proceedings, in the aftermath of major Supreme Court decisions about executive authority and presidential leadership," he told NPR . …