Do You Remember ‘Hands Across America?’ [VIDEO]

25 years ago today nearly 7 million people joined hands to form a line that stretched 4,152 miles from New York City's Battery Park to the RMS Queen Mary pier in Long Beach, California. This nationwide event, called Hands Across America, was intended to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.

The event ended up raising 34 million dollars and also triggered the release of $800 million in aid from the Federal government that had been approved by Congress, but had yet to be released by President Reagan.

The very unique event also had music ties. A theme song, titled "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. The actual song "Hands Across America" that was playing while everyone was holding hands was written by Marc Blatte and John Carney for Look and Company, a music production house in NYC. The lead vocalists were Joe Cerisano and Sandy Farina who at the time were the top session singers in America.The backing band was Toto. The song peaked at #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.

Many celebrities also participated in the event incluing Michael Jackson, President Regan, Walter Peyton, Bob Seger, Yoko Ono, and Harry Belafonte.

Although the event went off almost perfectly, there were a few folks upset. In Hawaii actor Tom Selleck and Sen. Daniel Inouye led a counter Hands Across Hawaii program that was held to remind mainlanders that "Hawaiians are Americans, Too!"

Personally I think America should do this again. What a fantastic idea that can be used to make a ton of money for a worthy cause!

Now take a trip down memory lane courtesy of Youtube!