When did CBS’s Bicentennial Minutes first begin airing?

CBS’s Bicentennial Minutes first began airing on July 4, 1974, as short nightly broadcasts commemorating American history.

Each segment lasted about one minute and presented a brief historical fact or reflection connected with the American Revolution and the nation’s development. CBS produced the series as a public-education feature during the approach to the 1976 Bicentennial.

The program was originally scheduled to end on July 4, 1976, the anniversary’s main day, but CBS extended it through the end of that year. This means the series began two years before the Bicentennial climax rather than during 1976 itself.

Bicentennial Minutes are sometimes confused with one-time anniversary programs or with the Bicentennial celebrations that began in 1975. They were instead a recurring television series, broadcast nationwide on CBS and sponsored initially by Shell Oil Company.