Jane Pauley hosts CBS special marking America’s 250th anniversary

Jane Pauley will host CBS News Sunday Morning’s June 28 special, “These United States - America at 250,” as the network moves its audience into the final stretch toward the nation’s 250th anniversary. The broadcast arrives eight days before July 4, 2026, when the United States will mark the semiquincentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The special is part of a broader national push to define what the milestone should mean. America250, the bipartisan U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission established by Congress in 2016, describes the anniversary as a nationwide observance and says it is aiming for “350 for 250,” a campaign to engage all 350 million Americans. The Library of Congress says the commemoration is being carried out through federal, state and local initiatives, underscoring how far beyond Washington the anniversary planning now reaches.

That institutional reach is already visible in the federal paperwork surrounding the event. The White House, the National Archives, the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security have each launched America 250 or Freedom 250 pages and related initiatives tied to the anniversary. The National Archives says Freedom 250 is meant to celebrate 250 years of American Independence, while the broader official calendar centers on the July 4, 2026 threshold.

CBS is using its Sunday Morning special to frame that history through culture as much as ceremony. The network has also tied the anniversary coverage to an Essential American Songbook project, asking dozens of notable Americans to name the songs they consider essential by American artists. The result is a list of 250 songs from 90 contributors, a curated canon that places music alongside the Constitution, the Declaration and the machinery of commemoration.

Taken together, the special and the songbook point to the story broadcasters are choosing to tell about the semiquincentennial: a narrative of shared national heritage built around institutions, symbols and a broad cultural archive. The emphasis falls on continuity and common reference points, with America250, federal agencies and CBS each helping to define which histories and songs will stand in for the country’s 250-year memory.