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40 Years of Senate Television on C-SPAN2

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June 2, 2026

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June 2, 1986, was Day One — the moment the U.S. Senate opened its chamber doors to television cameras for the first time, and C-SPAN2 was there to carry every word, gavel-to-gavel, without commercial interruption.

This June 2nd is the 40th anniversary of that historic broadcast, and CSPAN is marking the milestone with a special website featuring highlights and top moments from the Senate floor over four decades.

We encourage you to explore C-SPAN's anniversary collection — video, images, and summaries spanning 40 years of history — in the hope it jogs your own memories of consequential, dramatic, or even entertaining Senate floor moments, and sparks potential reporting on this milestone anniversary.

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