Editing State of the Union (section)

==History==
[[File:Washington - State of the Union.djvu|thumb|upright|[[George Washington]]'s handwritten notes for the first State of the Union Address, January 8, 1790. [[:File:Washington - State of the Union.djvu|Full 7 pages]].]]

[[George Washington]] delivered the first regular annual message before a [[Joint session of the United States Congress|joint session of Congress]] on January 8, 1790, in [[New York City]], then the provisional U.S. capital. In 1801, [[Thomas Jefferson]] discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as too monarchical (similar to the [[Speech from the Throne]]). Instead, the address was written and then sent to Congress to be read by a clerk until 1913 when [[Woodrow Wilson]] re-established the practice despite some initial controversy, and an in-person address to Congress has been delivered nearly every year since. However, there have been exceptions to this rule, with some messages being given solely in writing, and others given both in writing and orally (either in a speech to Congress or through broadcast media).<ref name="app">{{cite web |title=State of the Union Messages |publisher=[[The American Presidency Project]] |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php|archive-date=September 9, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909105909/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/annual-messages-congress-the-state-the-union|editor-first1=John|editor-last1=T. Wolley|editor-last2=Peters|editor-first2=Gerhard|first1=Gerhard|last1=Peters|first2=John|last2=T. Woolley|access-date=September 25, 2006}}</ref> The last president to give a written message without a spoken address was [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1981, days before his term ended after his defeat by [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name="AppSou" />

For many years, the speech was referred to as "the President's Annual Message to Congress".<ref name="CRS FAQ">{{cite web|first1=Maria|last1=Kreiser|first2=Micheal|last2=Greene|first3=Michael|last3=Kolakowski|first4=Thomas H.|last4=Neale|name-list-style=amp|title=History, Evolution, and Practices of the President's State of the Union Address: Frequently Asked Questions|publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]]|date=January 29, 2024|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44770.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44770.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|access-date=April 28, 2021}}</ref> The actual term "State of the Union" first emerged in 1934 when [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] used the phrase, becoming its generally accepted name since 1947.<ref name="CRS FAQ" />

{{listen
| title=State of the Union (Four Freedoms)<br>(January 6, 1941)
| filename=FDR's 1941 State of the Union (Four Freedoms speech) Edit 1.ogg
| description=[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s January 6,<br>1941 State of the Union Address,<br>
  introducing the theme of the<br>[[Four Freedoms]] (starting at 32:02)
| image=[[File:FDR in 1933.jpg|alt=Franklin Delano Roosevelt headshot|100px]]
| pos=left
}}
Prior to 1934, the annual message was delivered at the end of the calendar year, in December. The ratification of the [[Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution|20th Amendment]] on January 23, 1933, changed the opening of Congress from early March to early January, affecting the delivery of the annual message. Since 1934, the message or address has been delivered to Congress early in the calendar year.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Speech: Where and When|url=https://history.house.gov/Institution/SOTU/Where-When/|archive-date=September 9, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909110452/https://history.house.gov/Institution/SOTU/Where-When/|publisher=Office of Art and Archives, [[Office of the Historian]]}}</ref>

The Twentieth Amendment also established January 20 as the beginning of the presidential term. In years when a new president is inaugurated, the outgoing president may deliver a final State of the Union message, but none has done so since [[Jimmy Carter]] sent a written message in 1981. In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the outgoing president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president. Since 1981, in recognition that the responsibility of reporting the State of the Union formally belongs to the president who held office during the past year, newly inaugurated presidents have not officially called their first speech before Congress a "State of the Union" message.<ref name="CRS FAQ" />

[[File:President Ronald Reagan's First State of the Union Address 1982.gif|thumb|left|upright|The text of the first page of [[Ronald Reagan]]'s first State of the Union Address, given January 26, 1982]]

[[Warren Harding]]'s 1922 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio, albeit to a limited audience,<ref name="CNN 2013-02-11">{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/11/politics/state-of-the-union-firsts/index.html|archive-date=September 9, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909062100/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/11/politics/state-of-the-union-firsts/index.html|title=State of the Union firsts|first=Robert|publisher=[[CNN]]|last=Yoon|date=February 12, 2013|access-date=September 29, 2017}}</ref> while [[Calvin Coolidge]]'s [[1923 State of the Union Address|1923 speech]] was the first to be broadcast across the nation.<ref name="CNN 2017-02-27" /> President Roosevelt's address in [[1936 State of the Union Address|1936]] was the first delivered in the evening,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-first-evening-Annual-Message/|archive-date=September 9, 2024|url-status=live|publisher=[[Office of the Historian]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909110829/https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-first-evening-Annual-Message/|date=January 3, 1936|title=The First Evening Annual Message|website=history.house.gov|language=en|access-date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> but this precedent was not followed again until the 1960s. [[Harry S. Truman]]'s 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television. In 1968, television networks in the United States for the first time imposed no time limit for their coverage of a State of the Union address. Delivered by [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], this address was followed by extensive televised commentary by, among others, [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] and [[Milton Friedman]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |title=1968: The Year That Rocked the World |url=https://archive.org/details/1968yearthatrock00kurl |url-access=registration |year=2004 |publisher=Ballantine |location=New York |isbn=0-9659111-4-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/1968yearthatrock00kurl/page/44 44]}}</ref> [[Bill Clinton]]'s [[1997 State of the Union Address|1997 address]] was the first broadcast available live on the [[World Wide Web]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/Joint_Meetings/100tocur.html#31|title=Joint Meetings, Joint Sessions, and Inaugurations|author=[[Clerk of the United States House of Representatives|Office of the Clerk]]|publisher=[[United States House of Representatives]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110118033531/http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/Joint_Meetings/100tocur.html|archive-date=January 18, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[1986 State of the Union Address|1986 State of the Union]] Address was the first to have been postponed. He had planned to deliver the speech on January 28, 1986, but it was delayed for a week following the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]] that morning.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Ronald Reagan Presidential Library]] |url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm |title=Address to the nation on the ''Challenger'' disaster |access-date=July 4, 2006 |archive-date=February 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219124528/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm |date=January 28, 1986 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="NYT 1986-01-29">{{cite news |title=The Shuttle Explosion: Reagan Postpones State of the Union Speech |first=Bernard |last=Weinraub |archive-date=September 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909111348/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/29/us/the-shuttle-explosion-reagan-postpones-state-of-union-speech.html |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 29, 1986 |page=A9 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/29/us/the-shuttle-explosion-reagan-postpones-state-of-union-speech.html}}</ref> Reagan instead addressed the nation from the [[Oval Office]] about the disaster.<ref name="NYT 1986-01-29" />

In [[1999 State of the Union Address|1999]], Bill Clinton became the first president to deliver an in-person State of the Union address while [[Federal impeachment trial in the United States|standing trial]] for [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]]; the speech occurred the same day that Clinton's defense team made its opening statement in [[impeachment trial of Bill Clinton|Clinton's impeachment trial]], though he did not mention the proceeding.<ref name="Politico 2019-12-20">{{Cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/20/pelosi-invites-trump-to-deliver-state-of-the-union-on-feb-4-088744|quote=In January 1999, Bill Clinton's defense team delivered its opening statement in the president's Senate trial on the same day the Democrat gave his second-to-last State of the Union address.|first1=John|last1=Bresnahan|first2=Darren|last2=Samuelsohn|archive-date=September 9, 2024|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240909111752/https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/20/pelosi-invites-trump-to-deliver-state-of-the-union-on-feb-4-088744|url-status=live|title=Pelosi invites Trump to deliver State of the Union on Feb. 4|website=Politico|date=December 20, 2019 |language=en|access-date=December 20, 2019}}</ref>

On January 23, 2019, the [[2019 State of the Union Address|2019 State of the Union]] speech by [[Donald Trump]], originally planned for January 29 was canceled after an exchange of letters with [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Nancy Pelosi]] in which she stated she would not proceed with a vote on a resolution to permit him to deliver the speech in the House chamber until the end of [[2018–19 United States federal government shutdown]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-state-of-the-union/index.html|location=Washington|first2=Manu|last2=Raju|first3=Ahley|last3=Killough|title=Pelosi denies Trump use of House chamber for State of the Union|last1=Liptak|first1=Kevin|publisher=CNN|date=January 23, 2019|access-date=January 24, 2019|archive-date=September 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909112229/https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-state-of-the-union/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This decision rescinded an earlier invitation from the speaker, reportedly the first time in American history that a Speaker had "disinvited" the president from delivering the address.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-first-president-in-history-disinvited-from-delivering-state-of-the-union-2019-1|archive-date=September 9, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909112610/https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-first-president-in-history-disinvited-from-delivering-state-of-the-union-2019-1|date=January 25, 2019 |title=Trump is right, he's the first president in US history to be disinvited from delivering the State of the Union|last=Haltiwanger|first=John|website=[[Business Insider]]|access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref> Trump and Pelosi later agreed to hold the speech on February 5.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/us/politics/state-of-the-union-pelosi-trump.html|location=Washington |title=Trump to Deliver State of the Union Next Week |last=Stolberg| first=Sheryl Gay|date=January 28, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 4, 2019| language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=September 9, 2024|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909112854/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/us/politics/state-of-the-union-pelosi-trump.html}}</ref>