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Monday 30 April 2018

State of the Union Address

The State of the Union Address is a speech the president of the United States of America gives every year, usually in January. The address is given to a joint session of the United States Congress.

In the speech the president gives a budget message, an economic report of the nation and an outlining of what plans he will be proposing for that year.

The first State of the Union address was delivered by President George Washington on January 8, 1790, in New York City, the then-provisional capital of the United States. He addressed the first session of the newly convened 1st United States Congress at the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall. It was only 833 words long, making it the shortest State of the Union address in history.

George Washington's handwritten notes for the first State of the Union Address,

Two presidents – William Henry Harrison in 1841 and James Garfield in 1821 – didn't live long enough to give any State of the Union Address.

President Warren G Harding was the first president to have his State of the Union Address delivered over the radio waves on December 8, 1922; however, it was broadcast locally, not nationally, as would be the case in the following year with President Calvin Coolidge's address. 

It was Franklin Roosevelt who dubbed the annual message the "State of the Union Address" in 1934. Before then, it was just known as the president's annual message.

President Harry Truman's 1947 State of the Union was the first broadcast on television.

President Lyndon Johnson's 1965 State of the Union Address was the first one given in the evening rather than the then-traditional midday time. The decision was made to deliver the speech in prime time so as to maximize the television audience.


Jimmy Carter's last State of the Union – which was a written message rather than a speech– weighed in at 33,667 words long.

Bill Clinton gave the longest State of the Union address, both in words (his 1995 speech was 9,190 words – and nearly half of them were extemporized) and minutes (his 2000 speech was one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds long.)

State of the Union Address

George W. Bush's 2002 speech (famous for his "axis of evil" line) was the first livecast online.
Source Usnews

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