Tensions all over America were high in the summer of 1970. The Nixon administration’s bombing of Cambodia and the continued war in Vietnam were seen by a vocal section of the population to be murderous disasters. Outraged students raised their voice, and in May, the National Guard killed four of them at Kent State and two others at Jackson State. It appeared to some as if the country doubled down on its sins, adding the blood of its own citizens to the mix.

A month later, a group of wealthy and prominent Americans assembled to do something about the national divide. Their mission was not to address the problems behind it, but to invigorate a broad and vague spirit of appreciation for the United States of America. They called it Honor America Day: a massive, entertainment-filled ceremony, to be held in Washington DC on the Fourth of July. For a day, Americans could swap their discontent for waving flags, live music, and old-fashioned pride.

That wasn’t exactly how it went down.

Leading the Honor America committee was J. Willard Marriott, head of the eponymous hotel chain and friend of President Nixon. Honorary members of the committee came to include former first lady Mamie Eisenhower and former presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. Vince Lombardi and astronaut Frank Borman joined as well. Bob Hope was to be the master of ceremonies. Politicians such as Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, endorsed Honor America Day in their own region. The hope was for a thoroughly bipartisan, inoffensive, and well-meaning event, even if it meant very little in the end.

Organizers deliberately avoided mentions of the country’s major issues, like Vietnam, racism, and drugs. This was supported by a crowd-pleasing roster of A-list names and public figures, such as Red Skelton, Jack Benny, and Kate Smith. The committee aimed for diversity, and the event included musical performances from young country star Glenn Campbell and singer Teresa Graves, a black performer who appeared on Laugh-In. Organizers expected a staggering attendance in excess of 400,000 strong. “The biggest crowd that has gathered for any show,” said Bob Hope.

Many politicians, including Nixon’s presidential challenger Hubert Humphrey, supported the barely objectionable in the event. But Honor America Day’s critics found it impossible to separate the rose-colored “nonpolitical” spirit of Honor America Day from the national crises it seemed to want to ignore, even obfuscate.

And while the event was ostensibly apolitical, The New York Times noted that committee members almost unilaterally supported Nixon’s campaigns in Southeast Asia. Critics, like protest organizer Rennie Davis, latched on the publicity of the ceremony, which was covered in newspapers practically every other day from mid-June onward. Davis publicly urged that Honor America Day needed to better “represent the young, the black, and other repressed minorities,” and even made a list of demands, including a request that Allen Ginsberg lead the morning interfaith service alongside Rev. Billy Graham.

Given the national and international situation, a counter protest was inevitable. And it was a doozy.

Perhaps the most inflammatory was a Fourth of July smoke-in on the National Mall by anti-war and pro-legalization protestors, slated to compete with the more wholesome Honor America Day activities. “Before this is over,” joked Bob Hope, “I may need some of that stuff myself.”

On the other side of the political spectrum, neo-Nazis and conservative groups also turned out to represent their causes.

Some 10,000 people attended the interfaith service led by Billy Graham on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at 10:30. But protesters appeared at the same time, with the audience cheering as security ejected those who broke past the line. Billy Graham’s speech was the most explicitly political part of the sanctioned event. Using the weaving of the flag as a metaphor, Graham urged listeners to “check the stitches of racism that still persist in America. Let’s check the stitches of poverty that bind some of our countrymen,” while emphasizing a robust commitment to God and warning against permissiveness, decadence, and drug use.