1976: Deadly Legionnaires' Disease Crashes The Bicentennial Party

By | August 30, 2018

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Left: Members of the Pennsylvania American Legion while waiting to testify before a special congressional inquiry into the cause of the Mysterious Legionnaires Disease. Right: Lung tissue during legionellosis. Sources: Getty Images; Wikimedia Commons

In the summer of 1976, a deadly epidemic made headlines: Legionnaires' Disease. Interrupting the constant and joyful news coverage of America’s Bicentennial celebrations, headlines across the country announced that a mysterious illness has swept through an American Legion convention in Philadelphia, killing 29 people and sickening another 182. As the Center for Disease Control investigated the case, people worried that a new strain of flu was coming. What they found wasn’t the flu, but a newly-identified respiratory disease that became known as Legionnaires’ Disease. 

The American Legion Hosts Its Annual Conference in Philadelphia

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The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in 1976

The three-day long national conference by the American Legion was planned for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to take advantage of the year-long celebration of the American Bicentennial. Many activities and events were slated for Philadelphia, the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The convention, which started on July 21, 1976, took place at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel and was attended by more than 2,000, mostly-male Legionnaires.