The State of the Union Address—What to Expect From the President

For every president, every year, the State of the Union Address is going to be a little bit different and they are not going to follow the same format per say, but nevertheless, the general idea of all State of the Union Addresses are similar. Since the President is required to address certain issues and topics in the State of the Union Address, you can have an idea of what the President will addres s by staying informed with recent and up-to-date political and news information.

The President is required to give the State of the Union address because it says so in our Constitution, article two, section three, “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Historical presidents, such as George Washington and John Adams, sent their Annual Message to Congress in person.

The tradition of appearing in front of Congress to deliver the Annual Message to Congress ended with President Jefferson. He hand wrote his message and had it delivered to Congress. This became the tradition until 1913, when President Franklin took the message a little more seriously. He started up the old tradition of personally appearing in front of Congress. This tradition is still followed by President’s today.

With the invention of radio in 1923, and the television in 1947, the Annual Message to Congress, otherwise known as the State of the Union Address now, became much more popular. In 1942 the State of the Union Address informally became the name of this annual message to congress, and since 1947, when it began to appear on television, it has been known widely as the State of the Union Address.

While there have been many changes to the details of the State of the Union Address since they begun in 1790, there are traditions now that have been followed for quite some time. The State of the Union Address is held before a joint session of the United States Congress, in which the President must now be formally invited to by the Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives.

After the President has formally been invited and introduced, the President will then enter the chamber and take his place in front of the Vice President and Speaker of the House of Representatives. First he will greet and thank the attendees, then he will pass an additional hard copy of the State of the Union Address back to the Vice President.

Before the speech can begin, the Speaker of the House of Representatives must present the President to the session after the spectators’ applaud. The President will then begin his State of the Union Address. Typical information included in the State of the Union Address includes: administration’s accomplishments over the past year, the administration’s agendas and goals for the upcoming year, and honor special guests sitting in the audience.

The State of the Union Address typically lasts about an hour. There is no dedicated date in which the State of the Union Address must occur on, but it is normally addressed before the end of January each year. Today the importance of the State of the Union Address has grown. It is now serves the following objectives: a formal statement to Congress on the condition of the United States, the condition of the nation as a whole, a platform to rally support for the administration’s ambitions for the upcoming year, and an opportunity for the American people to hear the President’s opinion on the state of their country.