The Ideals of 1776 Still Resonate, Bush Says

President Bush marked the Fourth of July by praising the founding ideals of the United States and saying the call of freedom still echoes around the world.

“Today, all who live in tyranny and all who yearn for freedom place their hopes in the United States of America ... ,” Bush said. “The ideals of July 4, 1776, still speak to all humanity, and the revolution declared that day goes on.”

Addressing a red, white and blue-clad crowd of about 25,000, Bush said the United States’ military commitments around the world are part of its historic national mission.

“Without America’s involvement in the world, the ambitions of tyrants would go unopposed and myriads would live at the mercy of terrorists,” Bush told the throng at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright perfected their first flying machine. “With America’s active involvement in the world, tyrants learn to fear and terrorists are on the run.”

Independence Day sparked an outpouring of political oratory and patriotic partying around the U.S. and overseas.

Security remained tight in many U.S. cities, although it was eased slightly from last year’s levels, in part due to the budget woes affecting many state and local governments. Foreign countries sent conciliatory messages to the United States, and American troops stationed in Iraq chowed down at Independence Day barbecues.

In the nation’s capital, hundreds of thousands crowded onto the Washington Mall for a fireworks display at nightfall.

U.S. Park Police stationed about 1,500 officers in the vicinity of the Mall, shut down streets and guided visitors through checkpoints to ensure public safety for the celebration.

“Yes, there are some fences, but once inside it’s an open park,” said Teresa Chambers, chief of the Park Police.

Across the U.S., holiday activities ranged from boisterous parades and hot dog-eating contests to solemn oratory about America’s heritage and the meaning of the Constitution.

In Philadelphia, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor accepted the Philadelphia Liberty Medal at the dedication of the National Constitution Center near the Liberty Bell.

“It’s not enough to simply read or even memorize parts of the Constitution,” she said. “Rather, we should try to understand the ideas that gave it life.”

All Americans share the responsibility of upholding the Constitution, O’Connor told a crowd at the new museum, about three blocks from Independence Hall, where the Constitution was drafted in 1787.

“I find the system quite comforting,” she said. “By spreading the responsibility to uphold the Constitution among so many, the Framers enlisted a legion of defenders for their new charter.”

The $185-million center holds the first public printings of the Constitution, an inkwell that President Abraham Lincoln used in the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and exhibits recalling the many controversies that have tested the Constitution in its history.

O’Connor and others on the stage got a scare during the ceremony when a heavy frame crashed down as they pulled ribbons to reveal a mural. Three people, including Philadelphia’s mayor and the museum’s president, were treated for minor injuries.

In Iraq, the U.S. military ordered 3,000 pounds of sirloin for a barbecue at Baghdad International Airport, Associated Press reported. Some of the troops were invited to join Arnold Schwarzenegger for a screening of his latest movie, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”

In Honolulu, thousands of residents, tourists and visiting sailors and Marines -- some on their way back to California after the war in Iraq -- flocked to Ala Moana Park near Waikiki Beach for a day of patriotic festivities, culminating with a fireworks display against the backdrop of famed Diamondhead.

The number and size of Independence Day celebrations in Hawaii has grown so much in recent years that parades and fireworks displays have had to be spread over several days, officials said.

“Hawaiians are rediscovering what it means to be free, especially after Sept. 11,” said James Wilbur, an accountant, surfer and longtime North Shore resident. “No Hawaiians signed the Declaration of Independence, but we would have if we’d been there.”

Nations that opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq seized the Fourth of July as a day to send messages of friendship.

At the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a sign declared: “July 4, 2003, Independence Day, Welcome to Our American Visitors.” Many hotels and restaurants offered their own gestures of conciliation, including complimentary champagne and fruit baskets for American tourists. A group of French World War II veterans and others began placing nearly 70,000 roses on memorials and tombs Thursday to honor U.S. soldiers who fought in France during two world wars.

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, whose country also opposed the war in Iraq, sent a friendly note to Bush in which he lauded Russian-American cooperation as essential to global stability, the Kremlin press service said Friday.

“Russian-American cooperation, not subject to short-term political interests, was and remains a key factor ensuring international security and strategic stability,” Putin said.

At home, Democratic political hopefuls paraded in New Hampshire and did their best to stay in the public eye.

“I’m real happy to be here,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), who marched in two New Hampshire parades -- in Merrimack and Amherst.

“This is about as American as you can be,” said Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) as he darted out from a parade route to shake hands.

Bush left the White House early Friday in jacket and tie but had shed both by the time he took the stage outside the U.S. Air Force Museum here, surrendering to the hot, sunny afternoon by rolling up his sleeves. Several dozen onlookers fainted in the heat in the course of his 20-minute speech.

“Every year on this date, we take special pride in the founding generation, the men and women who waged a desperate fight to overcome tyranny and live in freedom,” Bush said. “Centuries later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any way other than how it came out. Yet victory was far from certain and came at a great cost.

“Those brave men and women were certain only of the cause they served: the belief that freedom is the gift of God and the right of all mankind.”

Flanked by four late-model military aircraft -- a B-1 bomber, an F-16 Falcon, an A-10 Warthog and an F-117 stealth fighter, Bush took pains to praise the performance of current and past U.S. military personnel.

“The men and women of our military have never failed us,” Bush said. “They have left many monuments along the way -- an undivided union, a liberated Europe, the rise of democracy in Asia, and the fall of an evil empire. Millions across the world are free today because of the unselfish courage of American veterans.”

Dayton was the hometown of the Wright brothers, who invented the first human flying machine. Although the first flight took place at Kitty Hawk, N.C., the brothers brought their 1903 contraption back to Huffman Prairie in Dayton, where they improved it and learned how to control its flight. Huffman Prairie, now part of Wright-Patterson, is also where the Wright brothers trained the first generation of U.S. military pilots.

Bush described the base as “the birthplace, the home and the future of aerospace.”

“I wonder what Wilbur and Orville would have thought if they’d have seen that flying machine that I came in on today,” he said.

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Times staff writers Jonathan Peterson in Washington and Tony Perry in Honolulu and Associated Press contributed to this report.