CNN: Quench Your Speech Trivia Thirst

Aaron Keyak — February 24, 2009 – 6:23 pm | Democrats | Obama | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

From CNN, “Quench your speech trivia thirst.”

A little more than a month after taking office, President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress tonight, the 76th time a president has done so.

Ronald Reagan was the only president to postpone his speech to Congress.

Tonight’s speech by Obama will not technically be a “State of the Union” address. Since 1977, new presidents haven’t called their first speech before Congress that. When a “State of the Union” isn’t »

Check out other tidbits of presidential address/State of the Union history to quench your thirst for political trivia.

The 2009 speech

• Tonight’s address will be the 220th State of the Union/“annual message” in the nation’s history.

• It will be the 76th time a U.S. president has delivered the address as a speech before Congress.

• The last Democratic president to address a Democratic-controlled Congress was Bill Clinton in 1994.

The history

• Only U.S. presidents give solo addresses to joint SESSIONS of Congress; prominent Americans, foreign heads of state and other officials address joint MEETINGS of Congress.

• The U.S. Constitution requires the president to brief Congress on the state of the union: “He [the president] 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 idea for a State of the Union address originated from a British monarchy ritual. The king would give a speech from the throne at the opening session of Parliament.

• George Washington delivered the first “annual message” on January 8, 1790, at Federal Hall in New York.

• Washington and his successor, John Adams, delivered their annual messages as speeches before Congress. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, discontinued this practice in 1801, saying the elaborate, formal ceremony (which included a “president’s throne”) too closely resembled a king addressing his subjects. Instead, Jefferson’s private secretary carried the written message to Capitol Hill, and it was read to the chamber by the clerk of the House. The practice of written annual messages continued for 112 years.

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