The State of the Union
I feel remiss for not blogging on the State of the Union Address. Thats mainly due to the fact that I was unable to watch it last night and hope to do so before it gets to be really old news.
The State of the Union is an annual address given by the President to Congress. The purpose of the address is twofold: 1) to report on the condition of the nation, and 2) to outline the President's legislative agenda. The practice is madated in Article II, section 3 of the Constitution of the United States, which reads:
“He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
The Constitution doesn't require the State of the Union to be a speech. George Washington delivered a speech, but every president beginning with Thomas Jefferson up to the time of Woodrow Wilson simply filed a written report. Since the time of Wilson, the tradition has been that the State of the Union is given typically each January before a joint session of the United States Congress and is held in the House of Representatives chamber of the United States Capitol. Since the advent of radio, and then television, the speech has been broadcast live on most networksand is typically given in the evening, after 9 p.m. Eastern time to reach the largest audience.
Calvin Coolidge's 1923 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio. Harry S. Truman's 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television. Lyndon B. Johnson's address in 1965 was the first delivered in the evening, and Bill Clinton's address in 1997 was the first to be broadcast on the World Wide Web. Since 1966, the speech has been followed on television by a response or rebuttal by a member of the political party opposing the President's party.
For those who, like me were unable to watch President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address last night, you can see it below in the embedded YouTube Video.
The State of the Union is an annual address given by the President to Congress. The purpose of the address is twofold: 1) to report on the condition of the nation, and 2) to outline the President's legislative agenda. The practice is madated in Article II, section 3 of the Constitution of the United States, which reads:
“He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
The Constitution doesn't require the State of the Union to be a speech. George Washington delivered a speech, but every president beginning with Thomas Jefferson up to the time of Woodrow Wilson simply filed a written report. Since the time of Wilson, the tradition has been that the State of the Union is given typically each January before a joint session of the United States Congress and is held in the House of Representatives chamber of the United States Capitol. Since the advent of radio, and then television, the speech has been broadcast live on most networksand is typically given in the evening, after 9 p.m. Eastern time to reach the largest audience.
Calvin Coolidge's 1923 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio. Harry S. Truman's 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television. Lyndon B. Johnson's address in 1965 was the first delivered in the evening, and Bill Clinton's address in 1997 was the first to be broadcast on the World Wide Web. Since 1966, the speech has been followed on television by a response or rebuttal by a member of the political party opposing the President's party.
For those who, like me were unable to watch President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address last night, you can see it below in the embedded YouTube Video.