The Freedom Train: Citizenship and Postwar Political Culture 1946-1949

Abstract

The Freedom Train, a touring exhibit of 133 historical documents and memorabilia including the Mayflower Compact, the Bill of Rights, Washington ' s copy of the Constitution, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the United Nations Charter and the Iwo Jima flag, setoff from Philadelphia in September 1947 during the 160th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, traveled through New England and the South, headed for the West Coast in the spring of 1948, then arrived in Washington, D.C., during the January 1949 inauguration of President Harry S. Truman.During the 413-day tour it had visited 322 cities and three-anda-half million people had walked through the exhibit, an average of 9,000 people per day.The American Heritage Foundation, which planned and directed the exhibit, estimated that fifty million Americans-one in every three-took part in Freedom Train program activities, a response one foundation representative proclaimed "staggering." 1 Crowds were large and lines were long at the exhibition sites (Fig. 1,2), where one could take the "Freedom Pledge," sign the "Freedom Scroll," and purchase official and unofficial souvenirs while waiting to enter the train.The "Spirit of 1776" locomotive pulled seven white cars with red, white and blue stripes running the length, and a golden eagle with wings spread or three-foot high gold letters spelling FREEDOM TRAIN appeared on alternating cars. 2 The greenish-blue interior of the three exhibit cars twisted in an accordion fashion so one could step out of the center aisle to observe the documents in their recessed cases (Fig. 3).The first exhibit car housed early American history documents, the second contained memorabilia and exhibits about famous American men (Lin-