Hands Across America
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Hands Across America was a benefit event staged on May 25, 1986 in which millions of people held hands for fifteen minutes along a path across the continental United States. Participants paid ten dollars to reserve their place in line; the proceeds were donated to local charities to fight hunger and help the homeless. The event was a project of USA for Africa.
- "On the afternoon of Sunday, May 25, 1986, more than five million people joined hands to form a line that stretched 4,152 miles – from New York City's Battery Park to a pier in Long Beach, California. This nationwide event, called Hands Across America, was intended to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness."
Enough people participated to form an unbroken chain across the country if the path were a straight line. However, there were many breaks in the chain (The Simpsons later parodied this). In order to allow the maximum number of people to participate, the path linked major cities and meandered back and forth within the cities.
The Coca-Cola Company and Citibank donated a combined $8 million to fund the event. The event raised $20 million for soup kitchens.
Cities along the route included the following:
- New York City, New York (with Brooke Shields anchoring the George Washington Bridge)
- Trenton, New Jersey
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (the first break in the chain west of New York was reported to be in Maryland)
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Washington, D.C. (with Ronald Reagan at the White House and Tip O'Neill at the U.S. Capitol)
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Columbus, Ohio
- Toledo, Ohio
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Chicago, Illinois (the longest unbroken section of the chain was allegedly in Illinois)
- Springfield, Illinois
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Little Rock, Arkansas (with Bill Clinton)
- Amarillo, Texas
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Phoenix, Arizona (desert areas were mostly empty, dotted with one-mile-long chains of people. Truck drivers driving along the route sounded their horns during the appointed time.)
- San Bernardino, California
- Santa Monica, California
- Long Beach, California
The event was conceived and organized by Ken Kragen. A theme song, entitled "Hands Across America," was played simultaneously on hundreds of radio stations at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time (noon Pacific time) to add to the festive atmosphere of the event.
[edit] Pop Culture References
- The episode "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" of The Simpsons showed a flashback of "Hands Across America" in the Simpson's living room. Marge, Bart, Lisa and Ned Flanders are shown in the line, singing the "Hands Across America" song being broadcast on the television, while Homer (with a partial head of hair) watches admiringly from the couch, sipping a beer.
- Hands Across America was frequently referenced during the popular 2006 film, Beerfest.
- Also in the Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin film, Biodome.
