The Speaker’s Lobby: State of the Union

01/17/2019

Will President Trump deliver the State of the Union on Jan. 29th? FOX’s Chad Pergram looks back at the history of the address in today’s ‘Speaker’s Lobby’:

I’m Chad Pergram with the Speaker’s Lobby.

For State of the Union, Congress and news crews convert the House chamber into a massive sound stage for the biggest speech of the year, with all three branches of government packed into the same place. 

The Constitution says the President shall..from time to time, give Congress information on the State of the Union. The speech wasn’t requires.

President George Washington delivered the address in person in New York. But Thomas Jefferson put a stop to that. It said that Jefferson was too shy to give speeches.

And for the next 112 years, presidents submitted a written report to Congress. President Woodrow Wilson rejuvenated the practice of an in-person address, journeying to Capitol Hill.

After FDR’s 1934 speech was the first broadcast on radio. Harry Truman’s 1947 speech, the first on television.

President Lyndon Johnson delivered the first address in prime time in 1965. The State of the Union address is organic and that means change is inevitable.

With the Speaker’s Lobby, Chad Pergram, FOX News.

Follow Chad on Twitter: @ChadPergram