Our Constitution of the United States of America, adopted Sept. 17, 1787, says in Article II, Section 3, that 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.”
So our first president, George Washington, on Jan. 8, 1790, personally delivered the first “State of the Union” address to Congress.
The message was printed widely in American newspapers.
President Thomas Jefferson reportedly felt an address to a joint session of Congress was too “kingly” — the new United States had only recently gotten rid of obeisance to the British king. So President Jefferson followed the Constitution’s direction by writing notes to the House of Representatives and Senate. His successors generally followed his example.
It was not till 1913 that President Woodrow Wilson reinstituted a spoken State of the Union report to Congress. His example has become a custom for most of our presidents ever since.
There was no “personal” report to the people of the nation until 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge’s State of the Union speech was broadcast on radio.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president formally to “name” the president’s annual report the “State of the Union” address, using the words from the Constitution — presenting it personally to Congress, as well as on radio.
His successor, President Harry S Truman (remember, he sometimes didn’t use a period after his middle initial, but sometimes did) was the first president to deliver a State of the Union address not only to Congress but also on television, as well as on radio.
Last night, we had the full text of President Barack Obama’s “State of the Union” report delivered in accord with the Constitution to Congress — and projected throughout the world by newspapers, radio, Internet and television, so all could receive our president’s view of the State of the Union.