The U.S. Structure spells it out clearly in Article II, Part 3: The president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
However the trendy State of the Union tackle — the pageantry, the televised tackle and the agenda-setting message — is a much more current custom.
A take a look at some State of the Union historical past as President Joe Biden prepares to offer his tackle to Congress:
Who delivered the primary State of the Union tackle?
George Washington on Jan. 8, 1790, in New York.
Does it need to be a speech?
No. For his first tackle on Dec. 8, 1801, Thomas Jefferson despatched written copies to each homes of Congress to be learn by every chamber’s clerks. Jefferson wished to simplify what he believed was an aristocratic imitation of the British monarch’s speech from the throne, which he thought ill-suited for a republic. The apply of sending written copies to Congress continued for greater than a century.
Woodrow Wilson later resumed the custom of delivering the annual message in particular person on April 8, 1913. He’s additionally credited with remodeling the speech from a report on govt department exercise right into a blueprint for the president’s legislative agenda for the yr.
When did it turn out to be referred to as the “State of the Union” tackle?
Franklin D. Roosevelt utilized the constitutional phrase “State of the Union” to each the message and the occasion. It turned the favored terminology from then on.
How has the speech been affected by expertise?
Calvin Coolidge delivered the primary speech broadcast on radio in 1923. Harry Truman’s tackle in 1947 was the primary broadcast on tv. Lyndon B. Johnson acknowledged the significance of getting a nationwide viewers when he moved the speech from midafternoon to 9 p.m. in 1965 to draw the most important variety of TV viewers. George W. Bush’s 2002 speech was the primary accessible as a stay webcast on the White Home web site.
Is there a State of the Union speech yearly?
No. Latest presidents — Reagan in 1981, George H.W. Bush in 1989, Invoice Clinton in 1993, George W. Bush in 2001, Barack Obama in 2009, Trump in 2017 and Biden in 2021 — didn’t give an official State of the Union tackle their first yr in workplace. That speech would have come quickly after their inaugural addresses. Nonetheless, lots of them nonetheless gave a significant speech to Congress quickly after their inauguration.
Has it at all times been delivered in particular person since Wilson resumed it?
No. Truman despatched his remaining message in print, as did Eisenhower in 1961 and Carter in 1981. As Eisenhower recovered from a coronary heart assault in 1956, he ready a seven-minute, filmed abstract of the message from his retreat in Key West, Florida, that was broadcast nationwide. Richard Nixon despatched a printed message in 1973; his workers stated an oral message would have come too quickly after his second inaugural tackle.
Which presidents didn’t ship a State of the Union message?
William Henry Harrison, who died 32 days after his inauguration in 1841, and James A. Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881 after 199 days in workplace.
