President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation in the first
live, coast-to-coast television broadcast. (AP)

On September 4, 1951, President Harry S. Truman’s opening speech before a conference in San Francisco was broadcast across the nation, marking the
first time a TV program was broadcast from coast to coast. The speech
focused on Truman’s acceptance of a treaty that officially ended America’s
post-World War II occupation of Japan.

According to the CBS television network, the broadcast, via then-state-of-the-
art microwave technology, was picked up by 87 stations in 47 cities.

U.S. President Truman addresses the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco.