State of the Union
The President will deliver his State of the Union message to a joint session of Congress tonight. How far we have come from those first messages.
In one respect, this is required by the Constitution—Article II, Section 3, Clause 1, to be precise. It requires 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.”
For roughly the first 100 years of our nation, the “Information of the State of the Union” was a written report. The first annual message was delivered by President George Washington in 1790 before a joint session of Congress. President Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, believing it to be too monarchical, like a speech from a throne. By 1913, however, Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice, which continues to this day.
And it used to be delivered at different times of the year, until Franklin Roosevelt began delivering the address in January; now, it’s done early in the calendar year. And it used to be known as the “President’s Annual Message to Congress” until FDR himself starting referring to it as the “State of the Union” message in 1934; by Harry Truman’s time, the name had stuck.
But let’s face it…as with so many things these days, it’s nothing but a show. Yes, the President talks about the country and proposes programs and projects. But we now point to guests in the balcony, the opposition holds up protest signs and tries to shout the President down, and it frankly just takes up a lot of time.
But since we never know what might be said or what might happen…we pay attention. And that’s why you can hear the State of the Union message tonight on KXEL; our coverage from Fox News Radio begins right at 8 o’clock.
